Brochure Website: What Is It And Why Is It Good for Businesses?

As a digital marketing company, creating high-authority, trusted websites comes as naturally to us as leading a duck to water. While our expertise lies in building local SEO websites that help clients attract customers searching for their products or services in their area, we understand that not every business needs a fully SEO-driven website.

For some companies, such as those that rely on referrals or repeat customers rather than search-driven leads, a comprehensive SEO-focused site might not be the best fit. Instead, these businesses may benefit from a high-quality online portfolio—a “brochure website”—that effectively showcases their brand, offerings, and essential information.

In this blog, we’ll explain what we mean by a brochure website, highlight its key features and benefits, and outline the differences between brochure websites and SEO websites to help you determine which option best suits your company needs.

What Is A Brochure Website?

When we talk about brochure websites, we encourage customers to picture an online version of a printed business brochure. These websites are crafted to highlight a company’s products, services, or brand rather than directly facilitating online sales.

While a brochure website showcases the goods and services a company offers, its primary goal is to provide visitors with the information they’re seeking about the business and encourage them to take further action—whether that’s reaching out, placing an order, or booking a service.

Brochure websites are typically static, with a focus on user-friendly, visually appealing design whilst delivering key information that potential customers need to know, concisely. Since they do not rely heavily on search engine rankings or keyword optimisation, content tends to get straight to the point, emphasising your business’s core values, key differentiators, and the benefits of your products and services. This minimalist approach often results in fewer pages, focusing on the essentials such as a homepage, about us, services, and contact information.

If you’re seeking a website that builds brand credibility, provides quick and relevant information or inspiration, and creates a polished online presence without the complexities of SEO, a well-designed brochure website is an excellent choice. It allows you to visually capture visitors’ attention and highlight your unique selling points effectively to potential customers.

The Key Differences Between Brochure Websites and SEO Websites

While an SEO website should impress with its design, much like a brochure website, it also needs to work in harmony with Google’s algorithms to ensure your business appears in search results for queries related to your products and services.

For an SEO website to rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs), it must be well-optimised. The focus is on driving organic (unpaid) traffic using targeted keywords and local SEO strategies. This requires extensive keyword research, ongoing optimisation, and regularly updated content like blogs and case studies. Plus, SEO features such as Google Business integration play a crucial role in helping the website appear in relevant search results for your offerings.

In short, while brochure websites focus on showcasing your brand and providing information, SEO websites are designed to attract and convert visitors by leveraging the power of search engines. Here’s a handy table summarising the key differences between brochure and SEO websites:

Who Would Benefit from a Brochure Website?

• Small businesses with established clients: A brochure website works for businesses that rely on referrals or repeat customers rather than new search-driven leads.
  For example, envisage a small, family-owned hairdressing or cleaning business that has been operating for many years. Let’s assume they have a loyal base of repeat customers and gain most of their new clients through word-of-mouth referrals. As they don’t rely heavily on search engines to attract new customers since their primary leads come from referrals, a brochure website would offer them an affordable and professional way to provide credibility, showcase their services and talent, as well as offer key details and contact information.
• Service providers: Freelancers, consultants, or specialists who need a professional online portfolio.
  For example, an independent career coach who works one-on-one with clients to refine CVs and practice interview skills etc. The work is entirely referral-based, with past clients recommending to others. A brochure website will provide an online presence to introduce services, list packages, and display client testimonials. A clean, 5-page website would establish credibility and professionalism while giving potential clients an easy way to get in contact.
• Luxury or high-end brands: Businesses wanting a clean, elegant website to establish prestige.
  For example, a boutique interior designer who offers premium home interior design services for affluent clients. Their business model focuses on exclusivity, with new clients typically coming through industry connections or luxury property agents. A brochure website can highlight their portfolio with high-resolution photos of their past projects, emphasise their brand’s elegance, and include an exclusive contact form. By keeping the site minimal yet visually stunning, the interior designer conveys sophistication without needing extensive SEO.
• Niche businesses with offline focus: Businesses whose primary operations happen offline and just need an online presence for credibility.
  For example, down the road from our MML office there is ‘Rollin Records’, a brick-and-mortar shop selling rare and collectible vinyl records. They host regular in-store events and have a loyal base of customers but don’t sell products online. A brochure website would be a perfect fit for them as they only need a basic site to share their store’s location, hours and upcoming event schedule. Including a gallery of their collection and a brief history of the store would build trust and credibility with potential customers who might look them up before visiting.

In comparison, businesses that would typically be suited for SEO websites would be:

• Local businesses seeking visibility: Electricians, plumbers, roofers, glaziers and other service providers that want to appear in local search results.
• Startups or new businesses: Companies needing to establish brand awareness and attract customers from search engines.
• Competitive industries: Businesses in saturated markets that want to stand out by dominating search rankings.

The Benefits of Having a Brochure Website?

If you’ve been paying close attention up to this point, you will already have a good grasp of some of the benefits a well-designed brochure website will bring to your business if it is the right match to your goals and audience. Here’s a quick reference guide:

1. Professional online presence

• You’ll establish credibility and trust with potential clients.
• You’ll make your business look modern and professional.

2. Showcase your work or services

• You will be able to visually display your business portfolios, products or services. Ideal for industries like construction, design, hairdressers, or artists.

3. Supports referrals and word-of-mouth

• You will benefit from a central place for referred clients to learn more about your business.
• Helps convert recommendations into sales or enquiries.

4. Clear communication of essential information

• Clearly display your contact details, opening hours, location, and FAQs in one convenient place. Ensures clients can find key information easily.

5. Affordable and cost-effective

• Lower upfront costs compared to complex, feature-heavy websites.
• Perfect for businesses not relying on SEO for lead generation.
• If you need to add pages, brochure websites are easy to scale, so you don’t have to incur the costs of building a new site as your sales increase.

6. Simple to maintain

• Includes hosting, backups, and minor updates as part of the monthly retainer (our retainer is £30 a month).
• No need for frequent content changes of SEO optimisations.

7. Visually appealing design 

• Clean, branded designs that align with your business image.
• Makes a positive first impression.

8. Responsive and mobile-friendly

• Works seamlessly across all devices, ensuring accessibility for all users.

9. Ownership of content

• You fully own the site and its content, giving you control over your digital presence.

10. Ideal for offline-focused or niche businesses

• Perfect for businesses whose operations are primarily offline but need credibility online.

So, now you have all the information you will need to weigh up whether a brochure website is a good fit for your requirements. Remember, a brochure website is ideal for your business if;

• your goal is to inform, create credibility, and showcase important information and brand identity,
• you are looking for an online presence which is less expensive and easier to maintain,
• most clients already know your business and the majority of your leads are from referrals, or
• long-term growth isn’t a priority for you.

Alternatively, if you are looking for a website that;

• attracts new customers through search engines (and you are willing to invest in ongoing optimisation and content creation to achieve this goal),
• reaches new audiences, or
• is designed to scale and evolve with your business growth plans,

then an SEO website is probably more suited to your needs.

Luckily, at Make Me Local, our team has expertise in building both types of websites.

If you are still not sure which website is best for your business, arrange a free consultation with us today, and we’ll help you make the right decision.