In this guide · 8 sections
- 01What buyers want from a manufacturer website
- 02Structuring the product catalogue
- 03Spec sheets, drawings and downloads
- 04RFQ forms that reach the right salesperson
- 05Certifications, approvals and proof
- 06Export markets, languages and Google basics
- 07Do it yourself or get help?
- 08Frequently asked questions
Short answer
A good manufacturer website has a filterable product catalogue with one page per product family, downloadable spec sheets and drawings, an RFQ form that captures part numbers and quantities and goes straight to sales, and certifications you can verify. Add languages only for markets you serve.
What buyers want from a manufacturer website
Industrial buyers are usually engineers, purchasers or contractors working against a specification and a deadline. They compare several suppliers and often shortlist from the website before calling anyone.
| Visitor | What they look for | What the site needs |
|---|---|---|
| Design engineer | Dimensions, tolerances, materials, CAD files | Product pages with full specs and downloads |
| Purchasing officer | Part numbers, MOQ, lead time, quote | RFQ form with part numbers and quantities |
| Main contractor | Approvals, certifications, past project types | Certifications page with proof, industries served |
| Overseas distributor | Range, export capability, language | Clear range overview, export page, language versions |
| Existing customer | Reorder, latest datasheet | Search by part number, current documents |
If your customers order repeat items online at agreed prices, that is a trade ordering portal rather than a catalogue; our guide to B2B ordering portals in Singapore covers that model.
Structuring the product catalogue
Treat the catalogue as data, not as a set of pages. Decide the attributes that buyers filter by, such as size, material, pressure rating, voltage or standard, and store them consistently for every product.
- One page per product family, with a table of variants and their part numbers, rather than hundreds of near-identical pages.
- Filters on the attributes buyers use, so an engineer can narrow 400 fittings to the 6 that match.
- Search by part number, including old and alternative numbers customers still quote.
- Clear units and standards (mm and inches, ASTM, JIS, SS or EN references) shown as text, not only in images.
- Application and industry pages that link to the right product families, for buyers who start from a problem rather than a part.
A catalogue built this way is also easier to keep current: change a spec once and every listing, filter and comparison updates.
Spec sheets, drawings and downloads
Datasheets are often the most-used content on an industrial site, and the most neglected.
Download checklist
Decide which downloads are open and which need a short form. Basic datasheets should be open, because gating them annoys engineers and hides content from search. Detailed CAD files or price lists can sit behind a form if you want to know who is downloading them.
RFQ forms that reach the right salesperson
A generic "contact us" form produces vague messages and slow replies. A request-for-quotation form should collect what sales needs to price the job the first time.
Ask for the essentials
Company, contact, part number or description, quantity, required date, delivery location, and an upload field for drawings or specs.
Pre-fill from the product page
A "Request a quote" button on each product page should carry the product and part number into the form.
Route by product line or region
Send valves to the valves team and overseas enquiries to export sales, instead of one shared inbox.
Log every RFQ
Copy each request into a spreadsheet or CRM with a reference number, so nothing is lost when someone is on leave.
Acknowledge instantly
Send an automatic reply with the reference number and when the buyer can expect a quote.
Our guide on automating lead follow-up from enquiry forms covers routing and instant replies. Under the PDPA, business contact information given for work purposes is outside most data protection provisions, per PDPC's key concepts guidelines, but you still need a privacy notice for anything else you collect.
Certifications, approvals and proof
Quality and product certifications are often the deciding factor for contractors. Make them easy to verify:
- List each certification with the standard, certificate number, scope and expiry date.
- Link to the certification body's public register where one exists, or provide the certificate as a PDF.
- Show product approvals on the relevant product pages, not only on a separate page.
- Remove expired certificates promptly; an out-of-date ISO certificate on the homepage raises questions.
If your website and RFQ forms collect drawings and customer data, the systems behind them deserve the same care. Our guide to OT and factory cybersecurity for SMEs covers keeping office IT and the shop floor separate.
Export markets, languages and Google basics
Add language versions only for markets where you have sales support in that language. A half-translated site is worse than a clear English one.
- Language versions: Google's guide to localised versions recommends separate URLs per language with hreflang annotations, and an x-default fallback for visitors whose language you don't serve.
- Product structured data: Google's product structured data guide describes product snippets for product pages where people can't buy directly, which fits a catalogue with RFQs. Merchant listing markup is for pages where people can purchase.
- Speed: large catalogue images and PDFs slow pages down. Our guide to fixing Core Web Vitals covers the usual fixes.
Google's introduction to structured data is the starting point if your developer hasn't added it before.
Do it yourself or get help?
The hardest part is not the website; it is gathering clean product data. Start by putting every product family, part number, key attributes and current datasheet in one spreadsheet. That work belongs to your product or sales engineers either way.
Once the data is ready, our Website Pro package (S$2,990) suits a focused catalogue: up to 12 pages plus a blog, two languages, enquiry forms and schema markup. For a large catalogue, ask us for a quote. Workflow Automation (S$390 per workflow) can route RFQs by product line, log them to a sheet or CRM and send instant acknowledgements.
Frequently asked questions
Usually not for made-to-order or volume-priced industrial products, because price depends on quantity, specification and delivery. A clear RFQ form with fast replies works better. Standard items with fixed prices can show them, or sit in a logged-in trade portal for approved customers.
No. A single large PDF is hard to search, slow on mobile and mostly invisible to Google. Keep the PDF as an extra download if customers like it, but build product family pages with specs as text, filters and individual datasheets so buyers and search engines can find specific products.
Company and contact details, product or part number, quantity, required date, delivery location and a file upload for drawings or specifications. Pre-fill the product from the page the buyer came from, give each request a reference number, and route it to the right sales team automatically.
Only if you sell into those markets and someone can answer enquiries in that language. If you do, use separate URLs for each language with hreflang annotations, as Google recommends, and translate the product data properly rather than relying on a browser translation plugin.
It can make product pages eligible for richer results. Google's product snippet markup is meant for product pages where people cannot buy directly, which suits catalogues that end in a quote request. It does not guarantee a rich result, and the page still needs clear, useful content.