What makes for good B2B website design? If you’re a business owner or marketer asking yourself this question, you probably already have a couple of ideas. A good B2B website is intuitive and original. It’s replete with tools that enhance the customer experience. And of course, it’s totally optimized to attract and capture the right web traffic.
Knowing what a good B2B website looks like and making it happen are two different things. Especially if you’re just starting out, the prospect of building a successful website (or revamping an existing one) can be quite overwhelming. There’s a lot that you have to consider, and there’s also a lot riding on doing it right.
We feel you though, which is why we’ve put together a quick guide to all of the components that your B2B website needs. Follow our advice and you should be able to get a great B2B website up and running in just 30 days—or less! Here’s how.
8 Necessary Components of a B2B Website
If your B2B website is going to convert, it needs to have these eight essential elements.
A well-thought out infrastructure
Functional web designs start on paper. Map out a blueprint for how your website will look before you ever sit down to code or build pages, starting with your homepage and building out each tab. Doing it this way gives you a big picture view of the flow of your site and lets you identify any navigation missteps earlier rather than later. Try to think like a consumer when you’re seeing how all of your pages connect with each other. Does the flow make sense? Is it easy to get where you’re looking to go?
Keywords
Putting the right keyword on a page doesn’t mean you automatically get to jump to the top of the search engine results page. That being said, a keyword strategy is a necessity if you want to be a strong competitor for all of that traffic. Be organic with how you work keywords into the page (platforms like Google are very adept at seeing through blatant keyword grabs), and be sure to optimize every single page with the right focus, primary, and long-tail phrases so searchers end up on your site, and not on your competitor’s.
Accessibility
A good B2B website is accessible for all users, not just some of them. Choose color contrasts that make your site easier for those with visual impairments to view, include alt tags on images, caption all videos, and so on. You can learn more about accessible web design for accommodating individuals with disabilities here.
Originality
You already do everything you can to stand out from the pack, so shouldn’t you do the same with your website? Opt for a brand-centric design instead of a boring neutral template, and personalize all aspects — from language and tone to add-on features — to speak specifically to who you are. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but a strong impression is a lasting one, so put plenty of care into your design.
“About Us” page
Sure, on-site demos and shopping carts are key, but a good “About Us” page is just as critical. A thorough, well-written “About Us” helps instill trust in your brand, which is a necessity when you’re nurturing leads without the initial benefit of human-to-human interactions. Try to tell a story instead of just outline what you do, and put faces to your brand by including images of each of the key players on your team.
Automated technology
The more tech you can integrate into your B2B website the better it is for both you and your potential (and current) customers. Innovative tech tools like chatbots, CRM software, and Google Analytics allow you to do deep dives into the data around customer behavior, which in turn lets you provide better customer service and connect with leads about the things they really care about.
Social media
Your website and your social media pages are all part of one digital strategy, so doesn’t it make sense that they’d be connected in some way? Include shortcuts to your pages, or use add-on tools to stick your live feeds directly onto your site. That way, leads can travel seamlessly between your various digital platforms, plus guiding traffic to one helps guide traffic to the others.
Killer content
It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, if you want to compete, you have to knock it out of the park with your content. Everything from your general site content to your blog to your downloadable whitepapers needs to be well-written, informative, and targeted to your customer base. With customers having so much choice available to them, even a typo can be costly.
Some of these components can be incorporated into your page in less than an hour, while others are going to take a bit more time. But put in the effort and in just 30 days you can have a completely functional B2B website that’s totally optimized to convert. Once you’ve got the foundation down, work on building it up over time, putting in tweaks where needed and adapting as things like SEO algorithms and accessibility requirements change.