How To Create A Website Architecture

Whether you've just started your own architecture firm and need to know how to create a website or are looking to spruce up your current site, optimizing your firm's website is one of the best things you can do to ensure your business's success. In today's digital age, it's pretty much mandatory that your business has a website, so making sure your's is working for you, and not against you, is a must!

Customers go through three stages when hiring an architect:

Idea gathering
Need specific advice
Ready to hire

These stages act as a funnel, with each subsequent stage including less and less potential clients, as people find the answers they're looking for and either engage with an architect or cancel or delay their project.

So how do you decide what content to include on your site? Follow these rules from Enoch Sears, a licensed California architect and founder of the Business of Architecture blog:

Make the content on your website mirror the three client stages in the following proportions:

80% of content targets the 'idea gathering' stage

10% of content targets the 'needs specific' advice stage

10% of content targets the 'ready to hire' stage

You can find examples for what types of content fit in each category here .

Having great content isn't going to do you any favors if people can't find it! Great site organization goes hand in hand with speed – visitors want to be able to quickly get where they want to go and find what they need. Make it easy to search your projects and filter these searches so people can find exactly what they're looking for with just a few clicks. The longer they have to look for something, the more likely it is that they'll get frustrated and give up. Google Analytics is a great resource for determining if any of your website pages are loading too slowly and also provides exit page data, or information about which pages customers are leaving your website from. This data can help you determine which pages need more work to keep customers engaged to the point of becoming clients.

Why You Need A Great Website For Your Firm

A great website is a must so your firm can:

Show what you can do
Help people find you, and
Generate leads and turn leads into paying clients

Show What You Can Do

Since architecture is a visual field, you need a way to showcase your stunning work. Unfortunately, if you have a terrible website, people will likely transfer that impression over to your architectural work. So, do yourself a favor and follow our tips for making your website a success!

Help People Find You

When people are looking for something, the first place they check is the internet! So you need a great online presence to get people to consider hiring your firm over all the other ones out there to satisfy their architectural needs. Make sure to add your local listing to search engines, like Google , Yelp , Yahoo , and Bing , so you appear in search results. Click the links for helpful how-tos to get your business on each site.

Turn Customer Leads Into Paying Clients

Finally, you want your website to work for you, not against you. This means designing a site that not only attracts customer leads, but also turns those leads into paying clients.

How To Create A Great Website For Your Architecture Firm

So, if building your own website sounds overwhelmingly intimidating, don't worry! We're here to help with a step-by-step guide to show you exactly how to create a stellar website for your firm. We'll review the ingredients that go into making your website a recipe for success, but first let's talk about what not to do!

What Not To Do

Perhaps even more noticeable than a well-designed website, is a poorly designed website. Here are some things to avoid when making your website:

Don't be predictable!

All too often, architecture sites follow the same cookie-cutter design – portfolio, services, and about us pages. The thought process is often, "If people like our existing work, they'll hire us to do work for them." But this isn't always case! This format is called a brochure website – it doesn't offer more than what a prospect would get from a physical brochure.

"What's wrong with that?" you might ask. Nothing, if you just want to show people your work. But to generate viable leads, you need a serious redesign.

The majority of architecture websites are designed by architects, for architects – not clients! These sites are all about you, but the client doesn't care about you – they care about what you can do for them ! Focus your website on communicating to clients that they can trust you to meet the goals of their projects. Here's an example of what not to do:

Rather than making your home page a splash screen of one of your projects, think about what a potential client might want to know about you.

Now, let's take a look at what makes the best architectural website designs so great to give you a better idea of where to start and what to incorporate into your firm's website.

Best Architectural Website Designs

Here are some criteria to consider when creating a great architectural website:

Include some eye candy
Publish regularly
Be human
Be an expert
Keep it clean

Include Some Eye Candy

As you already know, architecture is a visual art, so make sure to include high-quality, professional photos of your architectural work in the projects section of your site to show potential consumers what you're capable of creating. Include sketches to show the substance behind your designs. After all, seeing is believing!

Bonus tip: instead of focusing your home page on photos, put your areas of expertise front and center, so you can guide clients to information that's most relevant to them. Here's a basic example:

Publish Regularly

Not only do you need to make a website for your firm, but you also need to maintain it by updating it regularly with your new projects. People will think you don't work any more if all the projects on your website are outdated. Remember, recent = relevant.

Be Human

"Well, that's easy!" you may be thinking, but here's what it really means: include editorial content and first-person narratives so people who come to your site feel like they're interacting with a person – not a faceless corporation. This will make it easier for potential customers to relate to and build stronger relationships with your firm, leading to higher conversion rates for new customers.

Be An Expert

Finally, don't just copy and paste content from other architectural authorities to your website – become an authority both consumers and other architects can trust by generating your own content and adding your voice and your opinions to the conversation. Don't just give examples of work you've done, show people what they can learn from your experience or teach them something useful. Don't be shy about explaining your process (in terms that potential clients can understand, of course). This information shows that you really know what you're doing, and helps establish trust early-on.

Keep It Clean

While you don't want to do too little, perhaps even worse is doing too much. Make sure your website is simple and clean to make it easy for visitors to navigate through all you have to offer. Too much clutter distracts from your work and prevents readers from being able to focus on any one thing long enough to get useful information. Make sure to distinguish between unbuilt and completed projects. Clear organization is so important for getting eyes on your designs.

Now, for inspiration, let's look at an example of a great architectural website to give you a helpful benchmark on which to model your site. You can check out even more great examples here.

Example

cs design Architects

What They Do Well

Welcome Page

The welcome page is simple and visually appealing, with clear calls-to-action to engage with the firm on social media and by signing up for their newsletter updates.

Home Page

The home page starts off strong by asking potential clients exactly what they're looking for. Featured blog posts show customers some of the informative content the firm has that focuses on addressing potential clients' questions.

Pictures of the firm's stunning work are equipped with Pinterest buttons to make it easy to pin ideas to a board to help prospective clients save everything they like in one place.

The website copy reassures prospective clients that cs design has what it takes to meet their needs – and can work seamlessly with general contractors to make sure the construction process goes off without a hitch. Featured photos of their work at construction sites and the fact that architect Danny Cerezo is also a licensed general contractor, show that cs design practices what it preaches.

The entire home page gives you the information you need to feel confident that cs design can meet your project goals and seamlessly guides you from the information gathering stage to the need specific stage.

Inquiry

The Inquiry Page leads prospective clients through a series of questions to determine their specific project needs while gathering useful client data for the firm. Knowing your customers is so important to be able to deliver what they're looking for, build strong relationships with them, and ensure customer satisfaction. Your existing customers can be an excellent source of new client referrals to your firm, so ensuring they are happy with your work sets your firm up for future success through positive word-of-mouth.

Projects

This site does a great job of not overwhelming visitors with every project the firm has ever done. Instead a curated list of 8 projects serve as examples for prospective clients of the type and quality of work cs design can do for them. These examples include both completed and in-progress work as well as a variety of different project types, including both commercial and residential work. The featured photos can be viewed in both gallery and slideshow formats. The information provided for each project strikes the perfect balance, including all the relevant details of each project without cluttering up the page with overly technical, unnecessary information.

Services

The Services Page further reassures potential clients that the firm is focused on meeting their specific needs. cs design provides more services than your typical architecture firm. Service offerings start in the pre-design stage with evaluative services beginning before potential clients even purchase a build site. This ensures any site a client chooses has been thoroughly researched upfront to prevent surprises down the road. This section highlights the depth of cs design's knowledge and expertise.

About

This section breaks the typical About page mold by not focusing on what cs design is, but about what the firm can do for clients. All communication on the site is client-focused. The firm even goes so far to tell prospective clients what they can't do . This helps manage prospective client's expectations and shows that cs design is always going to be honest and straightforward with them, instead of promising things they can't deliver.

News

The News page features a variety of helpful and interesting content, from updates on current projects to helpful how-tos, as well as credibility-increasing award-winning projects.

The quarterly newsletter provides updates about the firm's ongoing projects. This page takes you to the most recent edition of the newsletter and prompts visitors to subscribe and share it with friends. It also including a master list so visitors can view past issues.

Overall, cs design's website does an excellent job of forming relationships with prospective clients by focusing on their needs, including relevant content that establishes the firm as an expert in their field, in a simple, minimalist design that makes it easy for clients to find exactly what they need. This site checks all the boxes when it comes to great website design.

Now that you know what a great website looks like, it's time to make your own! We focus on a DIY approach, so if you have the resources and want to hire a professional web developer this article includes important questions to ask any potential developer to ensure they can create the website you need.

Step by step instructions of how to make a site for your architecture firm.

Choose your platform
Establish your domain name & host
Choose your theme
Add pages
Add user-centric content
Provide a call-to-action

Choose Your Platform

This is a comprehensive article of resources to help you choose a platform for your website, set up your site, and optimize your site's functionality. WordPress is an especially beginner-friendly platform. Our example site, cs design, uses Squarespace really well.

Establish Your Domain Name & Host

Some variation of your firm name will likely be your go-to domain name, but even if your preferred name is not available, there are common tips for choosing a domain name. While you can choose to establish your domain name and host with the same site, you by no means have to. Hosting platforms like WordPress and Squarespace can help you find a domain name or host any domain name you already have.

Choose Your Theme

Remember to keep it clean! Avoid cluttered themes and go for a design that doesn't distract from your message and work.

Add Pages

Make sure you start with a dynamic home page that captures prospective clients' attention. Include a Project page to show your work, a Services page to spell out what you can do for clients, an about page that provides enough information about your firm to humanize you and help you build rapport with potential clients, but mostly focuses on how you can help them. Finally, make sure to include a blog or content section to showcase the user-centric content you've developed and prompts visitors to sign up for your company newsletter. cs design provides a great example of the types of pages your website should have.

Add User-Centric Content

So how do you decide what content to include on your site? Mirror the three client stages, or the steps clients go through when looking for an architect. As we mentioned above, provide the necessary information to engage with prospective clients and move them from the "idea gathering" stage, through the "needs specific" stage, and deliver them to the "ready to hire" stage.

Provide A Call-To-Action

Make sure to include prompts to encourage visitors to engage with your firm through your site. Focus on "Tell Us About Your Project" or "Contact" sections to make it easy for potential clients to get in touch with you.

Bonus tip: Add options for "contact me in (1 month), (2 months)" etc. to help prospective clients who visit you site, but aren't quite ready for your help yet, engage with you when it's most convenient for them. Make sure you follow through with these requests and actually contact them as it's a great way to show clients you do what you promise!

In Conclusion

Now you have everything you need to create a website for your architecture firm that converts prospective clients to paying clients. Here's a Priority Matrix template you can use to check off all the steps in this article and build a stunning website for your firm.