Business-to-business websites are often the most neglected in the UK. Plenty of excellent engineering firms, manufacturers and industrial suppliers have a website that says little more than “quality, service, reliability” over a photo of a factory. Meanwhile their buyers, many of whom now research suppliers online before contacting anyone, move on to a competitor who explains what they can actually make.
This guide covers manufacturers, engineering firms, fabricators, industrial suppliers, distributors and professional B2B services. The principle is the same across all of them: be specific enough that a technical buyer can shortlist you without a phone call.
Who reads a B2B website
A B2B purchase usually involves several people. An engineer checks whether you can meet the specification. A buyer or procurement team checks price, capacity, lead times, accreditations and whether you can be added to the approved supplier list. A manager or director checks whether you are a credible, stable business. Each needs different information, and the website should give each of them a route to it.
That usually means capability pages with real technical detail, sector pages that speak to specific industries, a downloads area with datasheets and certificates, and an about section that shows the business behind the work.
Pages a B2B or manufacturing website needs
| Page | What it must do |
|---|---|
| Home | What you make or do, for which industries, key capabilities, accreditations and a request-for-quote button. |
| Capabilities | A page per process or service: machines, materials, tolerances, sizes, batch sizes, finishing and lead times. |
| Sectors | A page per industry served (aerospace, food, construction, medical) with relevant work and standards. |
| Case studies | Real projects: the problem, what you did, the result, and photos, with the client’s permission. |
| Quality and accreditations | ISO certifications, industry approvals, inspection equipment and certificates to download. |
| About | History, facilities, team, ownership and financial stability signals. |
| Request a quote | A form that accepts drawings and files, asks the questions you need to quote, and says when you will reply. |
Be specific about capability
Engineers and buyers search in specifics: “5-axis CNC machining aluminium”, “laser cutting stainless steel 10mm”, “injection moulding low volume UK”. A capability page that lists your machines, the materials you work with, maximum part sizes, typical tolerances, batch sizes and secondary processes answers those searches and those questions. Vague claims do not.
Photographs of your facility, machines and real parts matter, as long as they do not reveal anything confidential about clients’ designs. A short video of a process can help too, if it loads quickly and does not autoplay with sound.
The request-for-quote form
For most B2B firms, a request for quote is the conversion that matters. Make the form easy to find on every page and ask the questions you actually need: material, quantity, delivery date, drawings or files (with support for common CAD formats and a sensible file size limit), and any certification requirements. Tell the buyer how quickly you will respond and who will reply.
Treat uploaded drawings as confidential and say so. Many buyers will want an NDA before sharing sensitive designs, so explain how you handle that.
Legal and governance information
Every UK limited company must show its registered name, company number, place of registration and registered office address on its website, under the Companies Act disclosure rules. If you are VAT-registered and sell online, show your VAT number. A privacy notice and cookie consent are needed as for any site.
Larger businesses have additional publication duties. Commercial organisations with an annual turnover of £36 million or more that supply goods or services in the UK must publish a modern slavery statement each year and put a prominent link to it on their homepage, under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Employers with 250 or more staff must publish gender pay gap figures and the government expects them on their own website as well as the government service. Large companies also have other reporting duties. Check the current thresholds on GOV.UK.
Product-related rules, such as UKCA or CE marking, and technical documentation requirements depend on what you make. Where relevant, make declarations of conformity and safety data sheets easy to download.
Mistakes B2B websites make
- Generic claims (“quality, service, value”) with no technical detail.
- No sector pages, so buyers in a specific industry cannot see relevant experience.
- Case studies with no detail, or none at all.
- Certificates mentioned but not downloadable, or out of date.
- A quote form that cannot accept drawings.
- Missing company details or modern slavery statement where required.
- A site that looks twenty years old, which buyers read as a sign of how you run the business.
What a good B2B website looks like
A good manufacturing website tells a technical buyer within a few seconds what the company makes, for which industries, and to what standards. The homepage shows the main processes with real photos, the accreditations, a few named sectors and a prominent request-for-quote button.
Each capability page reads like a specification sheet with context: the machines, materials, sizes, tolerances and lead times, plus a few relevant case studies. Each sector page speaks the language of that industry and shows relevant work and approvals. Certificates are downloadable and current. The about page shows the facility, the team and how long the company has been trading.
Buyers can find a named contact, see how quickly quotes are turned around, and upload drawings in the formats they use. The site is fast, works on a phone on the shop floor, and is updated when capabilities change.
What a B2B website costs
B2B and industrial websites vary widely. A small firm might spend £2,000 to £6,000 with a freelancer or small studio. Agencies building larger B2B sites with product catalogues, distributor portals and CRM integration commonly quote £10,000 to £50,000 or more. Product configurators, trade portals and ERP integrations are usually priced separately.
We design B2B and manufacturing websites from scratch, write capability and sector pages with your engineers, and build request-for-quote forms that take drawings. A smaller firm fits Own It at £1,795 plus £49/month for up to 25 pages. Established manufacturers with product catalogues, several sites, trade accounts or CRM and ERP integrations fit Pro at £6,950 plus £299/month, which includes unlimited pages, integrations, ongoing SEO and a monthly strategy call. Nerdsharks builds for small workshops and large industrial companies alike.