The build
A site written for a technical buyer
Specs, materials, tolerances and capacity laid out in the terms a buyer already searches with — so they can qualify you without an enquiry, and enquire already half-scoped.
Materials & Packaging
Steel & metal processing
Steel stockholders and processors are chosen on two things a buyer decides fast — do you hold the grade and size they need, and how quickly can you process and deliver it.
The work is grade (mild, stainless, aluminium, structural sections), form (plate, bar, tube, sheet) and processing (cut-to-size, sawing, profiling, drilling), and buyers reorder the same lines week after week. Most stockholder sites list products but never make stock or turnaround legible, so a buyer rings round three suppliers instead of reordering from you. I build a site that makes your range and cut-to-size capability searchable, and turns a repeat buyer into a standing trade account rather than a phone call you have to answer.
What I'd build you
A site that gets found, believed and quoted.
Found
Ranked for what you actually make
A page per process, material and sector instead of one “Services” page — every one its own door into the site, matched to how buyers search rather than how the business is organised.
Asked for
Named in the answer, not the results
Buyers ask an assistant before they ask a supplier, and it quotes whoever actually answered. Question-led content and structured data put your words in that answer.
Measured, not claimed
2.9s.
Time to main content on a phone, against 6.9s for the median of 5 comparable firms.
Reported
Numbers you can put in front of the MD
Speed, search visibility and enquiry volume measured on a regular cycle and reported back — so the site is answerable for something rather than just existing.
What I build for steel & metal processing
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Grade-and-form range pages (mild steel, stainless, aluminium; plate, bar, tube, sections) buyers search by
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A cut-to-size / processing enquiry capturing grade, dimensions, tolerance and quantity
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Trade-account and reorder journeys, with an optional stock/order portal for repeat buyers
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Processing-capability pages (sawing, plate profiling, drilling, laser/plasma) that show turnaround
Frequently asked questions.
What manufacturers ask before they hire me. If yours is not here, ask it — the answer is usually short.
Can buyers find us for an exact grade and size, not just "steel supplier"?
I structure the range by grade and form so a buyer searching for 316 stainless plate or a specific structural section matches to your stock, instead of scrolling a flat product list that ranks for nothing.
Can we show cut-to-size and processing capability, not only stock?
Each processing service — sawing, plate profiling, drilling, laser/plasma — gets its own page with turnaround, because cut-to-size is where your margin and your stickiness sit, and most stockholder sites bury it.
Most of our customers reorder the same lines — can the site make that effortless?
I build a reorder journey (and a portal where it earns its place) so a fabricator can pull their regular grades and sizes in a couple of clicks, which is what keeps them buying from you rather than shopping around.
Do we need live stock visibility, or is that more than we can maintain?
Only if it genuinely helps — for many stockholders clear range, pack sizes and a fast enquiry beat a stock feed you’d struggle to keep accurate. I build to what you can actually sustain, not a feature that goes stale.
How do processing enquiries get captured with enough detail to quote?
A cut-to-size enquiry captures the grade, dimensions, tolerance and quantity up front, so you quote from complete information the first time instead of chasing missing detail.
Can we win trade accounts from fabricators and manufacturers who buy weekly?
Yes — a trade-account onboarding and reorder path aimed squarely at weekly buyers is the fastest way to convert a one-off order into contract-volume, repeat business.
More in materials & packaging
Proof — recent manufacturer work
All case studies
Welding supplies & equipment — trade wholesale
Weldability-SIF
A trade portal for a welding wholesaler founded in 1925 — 3,400 pages, contract pricing, credit and reordering pulled live from the ERP.
Industrial distribution & engineering services
Tidyco
A rebuild for a Derby fluid-power and rail engineering group — seven divisions, one front door, and a 50-guide library that answers buyers before they enquire.
Precision CNC machining
Milltech Precision Engineering
A rebuild for a Norwich CNC subcontractor — four divisions, capability pages that state the tolerance, and a quote path that asks for the drawing.
Related reading
All articlesHow-to
What "fast" actually means for a B2B product site — and why Lighthouse 95+ isn't vanity
Site speed sounds like a developer's obsession. For a B2B manufacturer it's a commercial signal — one of the few technical things a buyer notices without realising.
Teardown
Teardown: the components supplier whose website sends every buyer to the phone
An anonymised teardown of a typical industrial-components site — a catalogue that looks fine until a buyer tries to use it, and funnels every enquiry into a phone call.
Comparison
Trade portal vs a catalogue with a contact form: what actually pays for itself
When does a manufacturer need a real trade portal instead of a catalogue and an enquiry form? An honest look at what each costs and what actually pays for itself.
Next
Be the steel & metal processing supplier AI recommends.
The snapshot checks what assistants currently say about a business like yours, and where the answer comes from. It takes about a minute.