What a manufacturer's website needs

A manufacturer's website is a sales engineer that works nights. Engineers come to check whether you can make their part or whether your product fits their spec; buyers come to request a quote and confirm you're qualified; customers come to find a distributor. Give them specs as text on the page, downloads they can get without a phone call, a quote form that accepts drawings, an up-to-date "where to buy", and certifications they can verify.

The basics every small business site shares, such as owning your domain, security, speed, and upkeep, are in WordPress for small businesses.

Who visits, and what they need

Every page should lead at least one of these people to a next step: a download, a quote request, a distributor, or a job application.

Capability pages (contract manufacturers)

If you make parts to customer drawings, your "products" are your capabilities. Give each process its own page: CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, injection molding, assembly. On each, list:

• Materials you work with
• Part size range and achievable tolerances
• Production volumes, from prototype to production runs
• Secondary operations: finishing, heat treating, plating, kitting
• Key equipment, with makes and capacities
• Industries you serve with this process, and a short example project

Specific numbers ("±0.0005 in. on parts up to 40 in.") answer an engineer's question; "high-precision machining" doesn't. Only publish numbers your shop actually holds.

Product pages (product manufacturers)

Organize products the way customers think about them: by product family, then individual models. Each product page needs:

• What it is and what it's for, in one or two sentences
• The main applications and industries
• A spec table as text on the page, in the units your customers use (both metric and imperial if you sell both)
• Available models, sizes, and options, with part numbers
• Downloads for that product: data sheet, manual, CAD, certificates
• A Request a quote button

Don't publish specs only inside PDFs or images. Text on the page can be searched (on your site and on Google), copied, and read on a phone. Engineers often search by part number, so put part numbers in text too.

Data sheets, manuals, and CAD files

Put every download in one library that can be browsed by product and by document type (data sheet, manual, CAD, safety data sheet, certificate), and show the relevant files on each product page.

• Name files clearly: ACME-PV200-data-sheet-rev-C.pdf, not scan0042.pdf.
• Show the revision or date, and replace old versions instead of adding new copies.
• Make PDFs readable on a phone and searchable (exported from the original document, not scanned).

Should you gate downloads behind a form? Asking for contact details before a download brings in leads but frustrates engineers, who may pick a competitor whose files are one click away. A common middle ground: keep data sheets, manuals, and safety data sheets open, and ask for details only for high-value files such as CAD models or detailed design guides. Always offer a way to skip the form if the file is something customers need to use a product they've already bought.

The request-for-quote (RFQ) form

The RFQ form is often the most valuable page on the site. Ask for what you need to quote, and nothing more:

• Name, company, email, and phone
• Part number or description
• Material and finish
• Quantity per order and estimated annual volume
• Target delivery date
• Drawing upload that accepts the formats your customers use (PDF, STEP, IGES, DWG, DXF) and files large enough for real drawings
• Anything else: tolerances, certifications required, notes

Then say what happens next: who reviews it, and how quickly you reply.

Uploaded drawings are often confidential. Limit who can see form entries in WordPress, delete old uploads on a schedule, and if you handle export-controlled or classified drawings, tell customers not to send them through the website and use your secure transfer process instead.

Make sure quote requests reach a person. Send notifications to a shared inbox, not one salesperson's email, and test the form after any change. See Fix contact form emails that don't arrive.

Where to buy: distributors, dealers, and reps

If you sell through distributors or have sales reps by territory, a "where to buy" page saves calls and sends customers to the right partner.

• Let visitors search by location, or browse by region or country.
• Show which product lines each distributor carries, if it varies.
• Keep contact details current. A partner who left two years ago, still listed, sends customers to a dead end.
• Have each distributor's listing reviewed once a year by your sales team.

Certifications and quality

Buyers often need to confirm certifications before they can add you as a supplier. On a Quality page:

• List each certification or registration you hold (for example ISO 9001, AS9100, IATF 16949, ISO 13485, or UL listings), with the certifying body, the scope, and the expiry date.
• Link to a current PDF of each certificate, and replace it when it renews.
• Describe your inspection equipment and quality process in a few concrete lines.

Only list certifications you currently hold, for the sites and processes they actually cover.

Proof: industries, case studies, and the shop floor

• Industries served: one page per industry (aerospace, medical, food processing) with the parts or products you make for it. These pages also match how people search.
• Case studies: the problem, what you made, and the result, with photos if the customer allows it.
• Real photos of your facility, equipment, and team. Generic factory stock photos tell buyers nothing.

Careers

Many manufacturers are always hiring. A careers page with open roles, shifts, location, pay range if you can share it, benefits, and a short application form gets better applicants than a job board listing alone.

Common mistakes

• The whole catalog is one large PDF.
• Specs say "contact us for details".
• The RFQ form rejects CAD files or caps uploads too small for real drawings.
• Every download sits behind a form.
• The distributor list is years out of date.
• Expired certificates are still posted.
• No phone number, or no named contact for sales.

If your site runs on Dirigible

• Download library: Dirigible Documentation builds a searchable library of manuals, spec sheets, CAD files, and other downloads, organized by Doc Type, Doc Product, and Doc Brand. The Documentation Explorer block lets visitors search and filter it, and the Product Downloads block lists one product's files on its page. See Set up a documentation hub with lead gating.
• Gating and member files: lead gating puts one Gravity Forms form in front of every public doc's page, with an optional No thanks button to skip it. The Product Downloads block links straight to the file by default (Direct Download), so files listed on product pages stay one click away; set it to Landing Page if they should go through the form too. For distributor-only files such as price lists, set a doc's Access to Selected users: only the people you choose can download it. See Add downloadable docs and control who can see them.
• Where to buy: Dirigible Locations lists distributors, dealers, or offices by Region and Type, on a map, or in a search by US zip code. See Add locations and a store locator map.
• RFQ forms: Gravity Forms matches your site's styles, and hidden fields can save the campaign (UTM) details a quote request came from. See Save UTM parameters with Gravity Forms entries.
• Product comparisons: the Comparison Matrix block compares up to six products against a shared feature list. See Comparison Matrix.
• Case studies: Dirigible Portfolio lists projects with filters and collections. See Create a portfolio page.
• Leads: Dirigible Analytics, in Dirigible Optimize, counts form submissions and phone and email clicks. See Dirigible Analytics.