A fabrication shop sells capability
Customers come to a welding and fabrication shop with drawings, a sketch on the back of a quote, or a broken part in the back of the ute. What they want to know first is whether your workshop can make it. That means the materials you work with, the processes you run, the size of job your floor and lifting gear can handle, and whether you can do the finishing or arrange it. Shops that make this obvious online get better-matched enquiries and spend less time on the phone turning work away.
A shop also has a real address, which changes the local picture. Walk-in repairs, pick-ups and drawing reviews happen at the counter, so opening hours, parking and directions matter more than for a trade that only works on site.
List the processes and materials plainly
A capability page is the most useful page on a fabricator’s website. Keep it factual:
- Welding processes: MIG, TIG, stick, and any automated or robotic welding
- Materials: mild steel, stainless, aluminium, and thicknesses you work comfortably
- Cutting and forming: plasma, laser, guillotine, press brake, rolling
- Finishing: in-house painting, or the galvaniser and powder coater you send work to
- Lifting capacity, workshop size and whether you install on site
For structural work, builders and engineers will look for welding to AS/NZS 1554 and fabrication to AS/NZS 5131, along with qualified welders and inspection records. Only state the standards and certifications your shop actually works to and can document.
Fabrication work worth separate pages
- Structural steel for builders: beams, columns, portal frames
- Balustrades, handrails and stairs
- Custom gates, fencing and screens
- Stainless and aluminium fabrication
- Trailer, machinery and equipment repairs
Two kinds of customer, two kinds of page
Builders and engineers are the repeat buyers. They send drawings, expect shop drawings back, and judge you on pricing accuracy, lead time and whether the steel fits when it arrives on site. They need a trade page that explains your quoting process, typical lead times, how you handle shop drawings and variations, and how delivery and installation work. A drawing upload on the quote form saves a round of emails.
Homeowners, farmers and small businesses buy one-off pieces: a driveway gate, a set of stairs, a stainless benchtop, a trailer repair. They search with plain words, “custom steel gates Campbelltown” or “aluminium welding near me”, and want to see similar finished work and a rough idea of cost. A gallery organised by job type, with a sentence about each piece (material, finish, how long it took), sells better than a carousel of unlabelled photos.
Our website design work for workshops sets up these two paths so a builder and a homeowner each find their way to the right form.
A quote form that matches the job
Ask what is being made or repaired, the material if known, rough sizes, whether drawings exist, the finish wanted (raw, painted, galvanised or powder coated), whether it needs installing, and the date it is needed by. Builders will skip most of that and attach a PDF. Homeowners appreciate the prompts, because they rarely know which details a fabricator needs before pricing a gate or a set of stairs.
Search, maps and paid ads for a workshop
Because you have a storefront, the Google Business Profile carries weight. Choose a category such as welder or metal fabricator, list the services you offer, keep the hours accurate, and post photos of finished pieces and the workshop floor. Questions like “do you do aluminium” come up often; answer them in the profile and on the site. Local SEO builds the service pages around the suburbs within easy reach of the workshop.
Paid search suits specific, higher-value work such as structural steel, balustrades or stainless fabrication. Exclude welding courses, welder jobs and equipment sales, which attract a lot of irrelevant clicks. Google Ads management can then be judged on quotes requested for each job type rather than raw click volume.
Track quotes by job type
For a fabricator, useful measures are quote requests by category, drawings received, quote-to-order rate, average job value, workshop hours booked and repeat orders from builders. If you also run a ute for site work, keep those enquiries separate; our mobile welding marketing page covers that model, which runs on very different urgency.
Questions about welder marketing
How should a fabrication shop present its past work?
Group it by job type rather than date, so a builder sees structural steel and a homeowner sees gates and balustrades. For each piece, name the material, finish, rough size and anything difficult about it. Include a few workshop shots showing equipment, because buyers want to see the gear behind the result. Get the customer’s permission before naming a builder or showing a home address. Refresh the gallery as new work finishes so it reflects what you do now.
Should we quote from photos and drawings online?
Accept them, and be clear about what you can price from them. Simple pieces like gates or brackets can often be estimated from a photo and dimensions. Structural work needs engineer’s drawings and usually a site measure before a firm price. Explain this on the quote page so customers send the right files, and confirm how quickly you respond. An upload field on the form saves time for both sides.
What should a welding shop include on its Google Business Profile?
Accurate opening hours, a category that matches your main work, a full service list including materials, and plenty of photos of finished jobs and the workshop. Add answers to common questions such as whether you do stainless or aluminium, whether you install, and whether walk-ins are welcome. Ask happy customers to mention the type of job in their review. Keep the address and phone number identical to your website.
Where does a workshop start with Quinn Marketing?
Send through your site for a free marketing audit. We look at whether your capabilities, materials and job types are clear, how your Google Business Profile compares with nearby fabricators, and whether paid traffic is turning into quote requests. The result is a straightforward checklist, with the quickest wins marked. If you want us to carry out any of it, we quote separately.