A website is the core element of the B2B marketing strategy of a business. As a result, 51% of B2B companies spend a large amount of their marketing budget on website development. The decision-making process in the B2B world starts with an online search, which means your website meets the prospect before you do. The visitors perceive trust and authority from the look and feel of the website, and no one wants to waste their time on poor-quality websites. There is so much information on the internet that if your visitors don’t like your website, they are just a few clicks away from your competitors. Therefore, knowing what separates a good website from a great and winning website is important. In this blog post, we will share the top 10 important features of a B2B website. Continue reading this post to learn how you can transform your existing website into a successful and client-generating website.
1. Clear messaging
Website visitors should get to know what you do within the first few seconds of their visit. This is only possible when your website clearly and concisely explains what you do. Most businesses check out a website in search of solutions for their business problems. They expect and prioritize a website with clear messaging that answers their key questions. It is important to state goals, offer solutions, and avoid jargon. Visitors should not get confused with too much information. A good website is one where a business speaks for itself and offers solutions. If you want to share a detailed description, you can use the ‘About Us’ page.
2. High-Quality Content
Content is the core of a website. Every business conducts research before making a purchasing decision. Usually, they search for information online regarding a product or service, which makes high-quality and relevant content important for a B2B website. Websites are involved throughout the buying process, so having appropriate content for visitors at various stages is important. Content like blogs, eBooks, case studies, customer reviews, and white papers help engage and retain prospects’ interest. You can also use business tools to strengthen your B2B content marketing strategy.
3. Blogs
Every B2B website must have a blog section because it boosts the overall website quality. This section includes industry news and guides people may find through an organic search. It is also an opportunity to create more pages with informative content, ultimately resulting in increased online visibility, traffic, and leads. A new blog post increases the chance of being found online for a keyword term relevant to your business. You can also provide a preview of recent blog posts to showcase that you update your website content regularly. Many B2B consulting experts suggest that the blog is the heart of the website and can boost your B2B marketing efforts.
4. Call-to-Action
‘Contact us’ is not the only call-to-action you should use everywhere on your website. It was widely used 10-15 years ago when the sales process revolved around salespersons. At that time, speaking to the business’s sales team was the only choice to learn about their services and products. In recent times, prospects research a business, and salespeople are involved much later in the sales cycle. Therefore, B2B businesses should use a variety of CTAs to engage prospects. Such as ‘find out more’, ‘learn more’, and ‘download now’ to encourage action and cater to people in the initial stage of the sales cycle. You can place a call-to-action on the website’s footer and every subpage of your website so your visitors can get directions on what the next step is.
5. Landing Pages
The landing page is a web page that visitors can land on, and where you make a special offer, or provide a piece of information in return for contact information. It also helps generate inbound leads. When someone arrives on your website or reads a blog on your site, the CTA will direct the visitor to the landing page for more information. This can be in the form of an eBook or other content format, and you can ask the visitors to fill in the form to download that item . The ultimate aim is to gain the contact information so that you can nurture them with relevant content. Other benefits include capturing and converting leads, moving leads through the sales funnel, and growing the keyword ranking.
6. Visually Appealing
Your B2B website should have a sleek, modern, and minimal design because massive texts or multiple fonts are no longer in style. An aesthetically pleasing website with flowing modules and clear text attracts visitors. Additional items that you can add to your website to make it look professional and appealing are :
- Use a mixture of long and short web pages.
- Avoid using bright and distracting colors.
- The CTAs should be in vivid colors so they are visible in the background.
You can also check out B2B website design trends to learn more about website designs.
7. Search Engine Optimized
The journey of prospects starts with a search engine. Usually, people type what they are looking for, and the search engine result page shows them a list of web pages that includes the term they searched for. This means if your website does not show up in the list when your prospect searches, you miss out on various growth opportunities. Optimizing the website is important to gain organic traffic, boost brand awareness, and business exposure.
8. Mobile-Friendly
We are all familiar with the popularity of smartphones and other mobile devices to browse the internet. According to Statista, website visits from mobile phones account for 52.2% of all website traffic worldwide. Mobile devices include smartphones, tablets, and other smart devices. If you want to retain your website visitors, your B2B website should be mobile-friendly . Another important reason for making a mobile-friendly website is that search engines like Google prioritize mobile-friendly websites. However, this does not mean you should not optimize the website for desktop as well. The best thing to do is to optimize the website for desktop and mobile so that everyone can have a great experience with it.
9. Clear Navigation
Navigation is an overlooked factor in website design. Usually, businesses focus on other aspects such as the website design, web pages, layout, and color, but they forget about the website navigation. There is no benefit to having an interesting and creative website if users cannot find the information they want. Navigation is an important element of the website because visitors don’t want to dig around to find important information. Website navigation helps users access the information as quickly as possible. Clear and easy navigation improves the user experience and results in better visitor retention and website traffic. Though you can use strategic planning tools and get professional help to learn more, we will share some website navigation tips to help you:
- Link the logo on the home page.
- The navigation system should be placed at the top and left of the page. It should include tabs like “About Us,” “Contact Us,” “Products,” “Services,” or “Site Map.”
- Navigation should be clear, consistent, and structured.
- Avoid linking terms like, “click here,” you should rather link the location where it will take you, such as “Contact Us.”
10. Analytics and Reports
Lastly, you should be able to track, analyze, and get reports on your business website. It will help you decide what features are important for your website and what changes you should implement. Your B2B website should report on website traffic, and you should track activity on the website to see how it’s performing. You can do this by analyzing the organic traffic, direct referrals, paid search, social media, and email marketing to check which channel is generating the most traffic. The analytics and reports are also important for making data-driven decisions on the marketing budget. You can use various sales and marketing tools to analyze the traffic, conversions, bounce rates, and other digital aspects.
The Bottom Line
A high-performing B2B website can be your game-changer to attract visitors and generate leads. Following website best practices is crucial to stand out amongst the flood of competing websites. Whether you are planning to redesign your site, or update your current site, you should keep the points mentioned above in mind.
If you need more help to boost your B2B website and marketing strategies, you can partner with a B2B consulting firm like Company Expert. We work with professional services companies every day to refine, adapt, and optimize strategies designed to accelerate growth. Our skilled and experienced professionals develop and implement effective marketing strategies to inject accelerated growth into the DNA of your firm. Feel free to get in touch with us to learn more about our services.