For the majority of companies around the country, a website is one of the first things that launches alongside their own brick and mortar business because they recognize the importance of having a web presence. However, for a long time, industrial companies were apprehensive to set up a website because they didn’t understand the overall gain of having one.

However, in recent months and years, more industrial companies having been adding a website to their marketing repertoire. And, according to the semi-annual survey put out by ThomasNet (Laser Cutting Services) , the website is having a big impact. The IMB surveyed 3,370 industrial companies around the country. The majority come from small business which have fewer than 100 employees and less than $10 million a year in revenue.

For manufacturers and custom manufacturers, websites did quite a bit of good for them. When asked “in what ways did your website contribute to your company during the last half of 2010,” many saw great things. 48% of manufacturers and 60% of customer manufacturers said that their website allowed new sources of business to open. Even better were the 35% of manufacturers and 40% of custom manufacturers that saw new revenue come from the website.

One of the things that the survey found was that client retention and customer service was an important strategy for companies to stay afloat. With the economy in shambles, many businesses lost many of their clients which was hurting them. 52% of manufacturers and 34% of custom manufacturers revealed that their website allowed them to serve their customers better which has helped them to stay in the black and moving forward.

Unfortunately, many of these websites aren’t built in a way that allows them to help those customers as effectively as possible. And, for many of these websites, they’re missing out on more revenue because of problems on their site.

The leading problem for 47% of buyers was the lack of comparison features. Buyers want to be able to compare two similar products side by side to decide which is better. That with 42% of buyers wanting more product information combines to form a nasty situation for those wanting to know more about the product. And, in an age where Internet users click away faster than search for more information, it’s very important for websites to snag their visitor from the start and provide this information.

Should websites make these types of changes and incorporate pricing and technical specs, there’s no reason why buyers won’t flock to purchase from these industrial websites. And they’re not difficult changes; they just require some technical help.

The economy is looking to recover, but it is going to require a lot of different moves including an increase in American manufacturing. What the IMB reveals is that companies are seeing quite a bit of growth. And, one of the big factors that is contributing to this growth is the reliance on a well constructed website.