There is of course, MEGA competition in B2B, and esp in the tech industry. Ensuring your brand stands apart from the crowd for B2B buyers is one of your number one challenges. The following website design suggestions could mean the difference between your site delivering on lead generation (and putting a smile on your face) or struggling to encourage anyone to show interest:
Growth-driven design (GDD)
For start-up tech brands and those looking to save time and money while getting the best results, growth-driven design or GDD can work well. Instead of constructing a fully traditional website during the early stages, it can make sense to produce a high-performance launchpad that offers only the highest-value pages.
GDD evolves through learning and continuous improvement resulting in a measurable, high-performing site. It offers a more agile and data driven method to web design and development.
Don’t compromise on performance
While size might not matter too much, performance does. Website speed is a vital component to good SEO, and it will also prevent B2B buyers and researchers from becoming frustrated and looking elsewhere.
If your website pages don’t load within three seconds or less, there is a reasonable chance you’ll never reach your lead generation goals. Time is money, and nobody knows that better than potential B2B clients who are attempting to discover new products and services that will assist them in saving both.
Build hubs and pillars
B2B buyers and researchers are using ever longer search queries these days, and that’s why content hubs and pillar pages have become essential. A pillar page covers all aspects of a broad subject, and usually contains internal links to other web pages that provide more in-depth information about specific topics. Be sure to use them wisely within your web design.
Use topic clusters as your content strategy. For example, a software company might publish a pillar page that explains the ins and outs of automating accounting and inventory within a business structure. It would then contain internal links to other pages that go into more detail about each type of program or application they supply that helps businesses work towards their automation goals.
Be mobile
Over 40% of B2B researchers will use a mobile device at some point during their purchase process. Not only will mobile-friendly or responsive designed ensure your website displays correctly across all devices, but it will help to instil a sense of trust and confidence in your brand.
Can you really expect B2B buyers to feel confident spending money with a technology company that doesn’t have a website accessible from mobile devices? Pages that do not display correctly will make your brand appear well…amateurish at the very least.
Encourage backlinks
For SEO and lead generation purposes, it’s vital you gear your tech website up for attracting as many relevant backlinks as possible. That is why blogging, video, and visual content can become critical.
If you plan to include a blog, don’t make the mistake of only publishing posts that blatantly advertise your products or services. They will never attract as many backlinks as articles that naturally mention the things you supply within valuable content on a broader subject.
Writing posts that offer fresh comments and perspectives on recent industry news tends to work well, and it is much more likely visitors will offer a backlink from their own site or share the articles with their audiences on social media.
Develop lead gen mechanisms
Lead generation mechanisms including clear calls-to-action are vital for all B2B tech brand websites. In many instances, the sole purpose of the platform is to gather leads and encourage buyers to begin their purchase journey.
So, be sure to include sign-up forms, free-consultation offers and any other form of call to action you believe will persuade the researcher or buyer to seek more information directly from your team.
Chat
It often takes B2B buyers a long time to research a product or service, gather information, weigh the pros and cons, and convince coworkers the purchase is necessary. The last thing your tech company wants to do is prolong the process by taking forever to reply to customer service requests.
With that in mind, adding a live chat feature to your website is the best way to keep buyers and researchers focused and moving in the right direction.
Consider the use of chatbots specifically programmed for your company with answers to the most common questions B2B will ask when contacting your team, but make sure it is possible for human beings to step in and take the reins for more complex issues and queries.
Consider the best tech stack integration
A tech stack is a collection of tools used by your brand to help achieve your lead generation objectives. Your stack might include tools for marketing automation, landing pages, analytics, ad technology and more.
Integrating stacks into your website can become somewhat of a game changer. When you get leads from new potential clients and pass them onto your sales team, they have the ability to view the full history of interaction with the click of a button. It’s then easy to assess the status of the lead and include or exclude them from emails and different methods of contact aimed at achieving sales and conversions.
Is gated content right for you?
Gated content and the use of landing pages can be a great way of generating top of funnel new leads, particularly if you do choose to use marketing automation technology integrated with your website.
By investing in quality content production such as guides, whitepapers or other forms of high value resource, you can set these up on your site to be traded for contact information, and leads can then be captured in your marketing tools.
Personalise the site based on IP address or behaviour
IP address and behaviour personalisation can allow tech brands to offer different information to various visitors and buyer personas. An IP address generally gives you as many as fifty data points that can be used to tailor the online experience for different audiences and needs.
Personalised customer experiences are becoming more vital every day in the evolving online tech marketplace, and IP addresses and on-site behaviour are some of the best ways to differentiate between potential customers and ensure you present them with the most suitable content and buyer information.
Show off your best work
A successful website needs to consider a huge range of content formats, but case studies or success stories are a part of that winning combo. With B2B customer journeys often being lengthy and involving numerous steps, as well as costs being high in the enterprise technology and software space, case studies can be a hugely effective piece of content.
Not only can they demonstrate how your product or service has helped solve the pain points of your previous or current customers, but they are an extremely effective way of talking to multiple user personas within a decision making unit. Whilst a technical buyer might love your latest product data sheet, a CEO or CFO is likely to be more interested in the business value delivered by a product or solution, and a case study is a great way of someone else demonstrating this for you.
So, do you want to put a smile on your face? Gaining a winning edge for your site is NEVER easy, especially in such crowded tech markets - but with a strategic approach to prospect and user experience, careful evaluation of available tech platforms plus a heavy dose of planning, patience and pluck – it can happen for you!
f you’d like to re-appraise your demand generation strategies and implement better prospect and account based marketing - do get in touch for:
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