The Ultimate Guide to High-Performance B2B Websites
Ever stumbled upon a B2B website that made you want to hit the “back” button faster than you could say “lead generation”? You know, the kind that’s less than captivating and with information overload, broken links, and a loading time that could rival a snail’s pace?
If so, you’ve experienced firsthand the consequences of a poorly designed website—a missed opportunity for that business to capture your interest and potentially gain a valuable customer. You don’t want your website to be the one users flee from.
In this in-depth guide, we’ll cover the best practices, strategies, website features, and technical aspects it takes to build the best website for your B2B company—complete with design examples you can draw from. Let’s begin.
Understanding B2B Website Foundation
B2B websites serve several critical purposes. They:
- Act as lead generation tools to attract potential clients and gather their contact information
- Help establish long-term relationships by creating content that showcases your expertise
- Enhance brand awareness which positions the company as a leader in its industry
- Support the sales process by providing product catalogs, pricing information, and technical documentation
- Offer customer support resources like self-service tools and knowledge bases
The ultimate goal of a B2B website is to drive sales. But the approach is more nuanced, focusing on building relationships, establishing credibility, and providing the information B2B companies need to make purchasing decisions.
Audience Identification
Understanding your target audience is the first step to creating a B2B website.
Why?
B2B buying cycles involve multiple decision-makers, with an average of six to ten stakeholders involved in the purchase decision. These buying cycles tend to be longer, with an average duration of 2.1 months. Plus, the stakes are often higher compared to B2C purchases since B2B transactions typically involve larger volumes and longer-term commitments.
Getting this right means identifying the key personas involved in the buying cycle. These personas typically include:
- Decision-makers: These individuals have the final authority to approve the purchase. They typically focus on ROI, risk mitigation, and alignment with overall business goals.
- Influencers: While they may not have the final say, their opinions and recommendations carry significant weight. They often possess technical expertise or a deep understanding of specific needs.
- End-users: The individuals who will ultimately use the product or service. Their feedback on usability, functionality, and efficiency is invaluable.
- Gatekeepers: These individuals control access to decision-makers and influencers. They often filter information and may have their own agendas.
- Champions: Internal advocates who actively promote your solution within their organization. Their enthusiasm and influence can be crucial in driving the decision-making process.
Of course, you need to understand your audience’s pain points, motivations, and information-seeking behaviors to engage them.
How? By:
- Conducting surveys and interviews
- Speaking to your existing customer base
- Analyzing industry trends
- Chatting with your sales team and listening to sales recordings
- Monitoring online conversations
- Creating buyer personas
Investing time and resources in audience identification and research ensures you tailor your website to click with the right people.
Best Practices for High-Performance B2B Websites
UI and UX: How They’re Different and Why You Need Both
Read the PostContent Strategy
A content strategy is a plan that guides you in creating and sharing valuable content that attracts and engages your target audience.
A well-rounded content strategy generates leads, builds trust with potential customers, and positions your company as an expert in your field. The numbers support this—84% of B2B marketers believe content marketing helps them create brand awareness and 76% believe it helps them generate demand and leads.
Sprout Social understands this. They create:
Blog posts and articles that offer practical advice and industry insights
Case studies and customer stories that show how their products help
Research reports that provide the latest information on topics their audience cares about
Webinars and podcasts that let them connect with them audience and share their expertise
Balancing Visual Aesthetics and Functionality
You want your site to be visually appealing, but not at the expense of making it hard to use. A website that’s too flashy or cluttered can be overwhelming and confusing, causing visitors to leave without finding what they need.
On the other hand, a site that’s too plain or boring might not hold people’s attention or communicate your brand’s personality.
Find a middle ground where your design enhances the user experience instead of getting in the way.
Take Semrush, for example. They’re a company that provides digital marketing tools and analytics, so their website needs to be informative and easy to navigate.
However, they also use clean, modern design elements and pops of color to make their site visually engaging.
It guides visitors’ eyes to important information and calls-to-action without being distracting.
Advanced Strategies for User Engagement and Conversion
While basic strategies lay the foundation for a successful website, advanced tactics maximize its potential. These strategies go beyond the fundamentals to create a more personalized, interactive, and persuasive user experience.
Behavioral Analysis
Behavioral analytics help you track and study how people interact with your website—where they click, how far they scroll, and where they get stuck or drop off.
This analysis pinpoints areas where your website isn’t working as well as it could. There could be a button that doesn’t do anything, or visitors are leaving before they get to the good stuff.
Behavioral analytics tools like Hotjar help you do this detective work. Four features that help you do this:
- Heatmaps: These colorful maps show you where people click the most and how far they scroll down your pages.
- Recordings: Hotjar can record visitors’ sessions, so you can spot any confusing parts or places where they might give up.
- Funnels: This feature lets you track how people move through different steps, like filling out a form or making a purchase.
- Feedback Polls: You can ask visitors questions right on your site to get their opinions and suggestions.
For example, social listening platform Brand24 used Hotjar’s Recordings feature to see how people interacted with their sign-up forms. Too many distractions on the page and a confusing promo field were causing a leaky funnel.
They created a sleek sign-up form which led to a 300% increase in conversions.
Like Brand24, use tools like Hotjar to see how users are really behaving, and then make changes based on those insights.
Lead Generation Optimization
Lead generation optimization involves making changes to your site that encourage more visitors to share their contact information, so your sales team can follow up.
Lead magnets like Adobe’s 2023 State of Work offer value in exchange for a visitor’s email address.
Here’s how you can also optimize your lead generation:
- Create Compelling Offers: Think free ebooks, white papers, webinars—content your target audience will appreciate enough to give you their email address.
- Use Strong Calls-to-Action (CTAs): Make your buttons and links stand out with clear, action-oriented words like “Download Now” or “Get a Free Consultation.”
- Optimize Landing Pages: Keep your forms short and make sure the page design matches the offer you’re promoting.
Generating leads is just the first step—you also need a plan for nurturing those leads and moving them through the sales funnel. Optimizing your site for lead generation gives you a steady stream of potential customers to work with through email marketing, social media, and other channels.
Conversion Rate Optimization
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) involves getting more site visitors to take a desired action. Like filling out a form, signing up for a free trial, or making a purchase. The goal is to turn casual browsers into customers.
Why does CRO matter?
Even small improvements in your conversion rate can make a big difference on your bottom line. If you get just a few more people out of every hundred visitors to take action, that adds up to a lot more revenue over time.
Here’s how you start optimizing your conversion rates: identify the key actions you want people to take on your site.
Then, look at your analytics to see where people are dropping off in the process. Are they not seeing your calls-to-action? Are they starting to fill out a form but then abandoning it?
Make changes to smooth out the conversion path once you know where the roadblocks are. It might mean simplifying your forms, adding more compelling copy to your CTAs, or redesigning your landing pages.
The key with CRO is to let the data be your guide. Don’t make changes based on gut feelings—look at the numbers to see what’s actually moving the needle.
A/B Testing
A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a method of comparing two versions of a webpage, app, email, or any other digital content to determine which one performs better in achieving a specific goal.
Essentially, you create two versions (A and B) of the content, each with a single variation, and show them to two similar-sized audiences. By analyzing the results, you can determine which version resonates better with your users and drives more conversions.
Why is A/B Testing Important?
A/B testing eliminates guesswork and relies on concrete data to inform decisions about your content and user experience. By identifying the elements that resonate best with your audience, you can create a more engaging experience, leading to increased time on site, lower bounce rates, and higher conversions.
Through testing different variations of your content, you can uncover the optimal combination of elements that drive more users to take the desired action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading an app.
Most importantly: A/B testing is an ongoing process that allows you to improve your content and user experience.
(By the way, Stratabeat is the only B2B SEO agency that uses behavioral analytics and A/B tests on tech companies’ content. If you’re looking for an agency that will lift the heavy load for you, contact us!)
Technical Aspects of B2B Websites
The Advanced Guide to B2B SEO
Read the PostSecurity Considerations
B2B websites often deal with sensitive information like financial data, trade secrets, and customer details. A security breach could damage your reputation, cost you money, and even put you in legal trouble.
Here’s what good B2B website security involves:
- SSL Certificate: This creates a secure connection between your website and your visitors’ browsers, making sure any information they share stays private. Look for the padlock icon in your browser’s address bar to see if a site has an SSL certificate.
- Strong Passwords and Authentication: Make sure your website’s login system requires strong passwords and consider adding extra layers of security like two-factor authentication.
- Regular Software Updates: Keeping your website’s software up-to-date helps protect against vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): This acts like a shield for your website, blocking malicious traffic and attacks before they can do any harm.
- Regular Backups: Make sure you regularly back up your website’s data, so you can quickly restore it in case of a disaster or security breach.
- Security Monitoring: Keep an eye on your website for any suspicious activity, like failed login attempts or unusual traffic patterns.
Dynamic Content Personalization
Dynamic content personalization means showing different visitors different versions of your site based on what you know about them. It could be as simple as greeting a returning customer by name, or as complex as completely redesigning your homepage for visitors from a particular industry.
Personalizing the experience boosts engagement, conversions, and customer loyalty.
Dynamic content personalization involves collecting visitor data (like their location, job title, or past behavior) and using tools to provide customized content. It could be through something like smart content modules that swap out blocks of text or images, or via personalized product recommendations and offers.
Real-World Website Examples
Now, we’ll look at how these B2B businesses integrate the strategies discussed above, to create a cohesive user experience.
Asana
When it comes to SaaS, your homepage is a potential customer’s first impression of the UX and UI of your product. If your homepage sucks, users may believe your product sucks. And vice versa.
Asana’s website nails the fluidity and ease of use.
The first thing you notice is how clean and straightforward the homepage is. There’s no clutter, just a big, bold value proposition about being the #1 AI work management platform. It’s inviting and makes you want to click “Get started” or “See how it works” without hesitation.
Take a look at that section with the team gathered around a tablet. It subtly illustrates collaboration in action.
Then there are these intuitive prompts like “Generate campaign workflow” with clear steps: When, Check if, Do this. It breaks down what could be a complex process into manageable chunks.
Scrolling down, you see how Asana connects work across different departments. The tabs for Marketing, Operations, IT, Product, and Company-wide are clickable and the animations change the content.
When you hit the section on what sets Asana apart, the clarity and accountability theme stands out. The visuals here show progress tracking and goal-setting in action.
The case studies featuring Overstock, HubSpot, Figma, and Zoom are cleverly placed. Each one comes with a brief success story too.
For example, Figma reduces meeting time by 50% with Asana. These snippets build trust and reliability without overwhelming you with too much information.
Finally, the “Get started easily” section wraps it up perfectly. Whether you want to see a demo, explore resources, or start with a template, everything is one click away. The images show actual screens from the platform, so you know exactly what you’re getting into.
The call-to-actions are clear, and the web design is consistent, keeping you engaged throughout your visit.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp’s website design shows fluidity, ease of use, and responsiveness effectively. Let’s break it down.
The homepage starts strong with a bold headline, “Turn Emails into Revenue,” and a prominent “Sign Up” button. This clarity of purpose and call-to-action (CTA) immediately guides users on what to do next.
The minimalist design with ample white space ensures users don’t get overwhelmed.
Mailchimp also presents four clear goals: Convert with email automations, Create faster with generative AI, Refine with segmentation, and Optimize with analytics & reporting.
A visual and a brief description supports each goal which makes it easy for users to understand the benefits at a glance.
Mailchimp also builds trust by showcasing their credentials right on the website. It displays stats like “Up to 25x ROI” and “11M+ Users globally” prominently.
The website also personalizes the onboarding process. “Get started easily with a personalized product tour” section is a great example of making onboarding easy and user-friendly.
The image of an onboarding specialist ready to help gives a personal touch, reinforcing that new users won’t be left to figure things out on their own.
The CTA to learn more about onboarding keeps the user journey smooth and informed.
In the pricing section, Mailchimp’s offer of “Try our Standard plan for 50% off!” is clear and attractive. The detailed breakdown of what’s included—generative AI features, advanced segmentation, enhanced automations—provides transparency, making it easier for users to decide which plan suits them best.
Finally, the integrations section showcases various tools like Canva, Shopify, and Google Analytics that can be connected with Mailchimp. Clearly, Mailchimp can integrate with existing workflows thanks to its wide range of integrations.
Virtual, Inc.
We redesigned Virtual, Inc.’s website. The results: 107.4% increase in organic site traffic within six months and 114.9% increase in page views within six months.
Here’s why the new website works so well.
The homepage immediately captivates visitors with a bold message and a clear call-to-action button, inviting them to explore further. The sleek design and professional visuals create a strong first impression.
The website also presents Virtual, Inc.’s services using a combination of images and strong messaging. The success stories and testimonials provide concrete evidence of their impact, with impressive statistics and client quotes that build trust and credibility.
Throughout the site, the user experience remains seamless and intuitive. The responsive design makes the website look great on any device, including desktops, phones, and tablets.
The clear explanation of their process, broken down into three simple steps, helps potential clients understand how Virtual, Inc. can support them at every stage of their growth.
It also shows Virtual, Inc.’s awards and achievements, proving its expertise and industry recognition. Including specific, quantifiable results, like more traffic and page views for a client’s site, shows how their work is making a difference.
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