5 Concepts to Consider for B2B Website Design

Better B2B website design is not difficult. You visit websites for various products and services everyday and probably make a pretty quick judgement on which sites “work” and which don’t. Trying to see your website design as a visitor and not as yourself, or your business, can lead to a stronger user experience and increased lead activity. Consider these five concepts as a quick guideline to better website design.

1) Create clear user paths to targeted audience content – don’t make your main customer segments search for the information they need, consider a “I would like to…” or “I need help with…” drop down menu for popular customer requests. Develop simple, concise “silo points” that allow visitors to self-identify based on their business type or problem/need. Guide them in a helpful, informative way and in a language they will understand, not your internal company jargon. Start the journey with identifying the customer need, lead them from there to benefit-driven features and have those lead to deeper content about your product, a consultation session or a demo. Your product or service is meaningless until they know they need it to solve their problem.

2) Build for responsive – mobile responsive websites are now a “must-have”, even in the world of B2B. Recent studies show mobile usage continues to grow every year on both tablets and smartphones. There is no faster way to lose a prospect than with a bad mobile experience. There are some current design trends that are making an impact on designing for the mobile experience. The first is flat design, it renders quickly, scales better on various devices and offers a crisp visual style to your website design. The second is “tile or card design”, this is similar to Pinterest tiles and boards, but can be more versatile than just that example. It’s a great way to draw interest to deeper content, all on a single page while keeping it very compatible for mobile platforms.

3) Think content first, design second – an important first step to consider in any website design or redesign is to perform a current content evaluation and then map out an ongoing content strategy. You need to determine any existing content available that you can launch with as well as the necessary content you will be adding in the future. Use this knowledge to guide your design of the website. Direct visitors to the right content at the right time in their buyer’s journey. This process also helps you determine where you may have gaps in your content that do not cover all stages of the buyer journey. Keep in mind, content is the fuel that will drive your new website and amplify lead generation for your business. It can be a blog, eBooks, reports, short videos, podcasts, webinars and many other forms of content. Next, formulate a “content team” that will plan, create and deliver this ongoing content either internally or with an outside source.

4) Engage visually – icons, infographics, charts and diagrams can tell your story in an engaging way, much quicker than a page full of bulleted text. Most of your visitors will scan your website very quickly trying to find what they need. By giving them visual cues, you can assist them in finding your valuable content that is most helpful and relevant to them. A well-designed, concise diagram can replace paragraphs of text to illustrate a process or explain the features of your product.

5) Consider some razzle-dazzle – there are many ways to add some excitement to your website, especially on the homepage where you are trying to attract visitors quickly and engage them. Background video headers work well if they are not too long, support your brand message and are being used as added visual texture through motion. They do not have to take up the entire page either, you can be creative with the height and how you crop the clips you use. Animations can be used in a variety of ways: tickers, video previews and illustrations that add some motion and interest to your page. Just be careful not to over do these techniques and know that many of them do not translate over to mobile devices in every case.

These tips are just a start for designing a better website experience. If you would like to discuss this further, comment here on our blog or contact the team at MLT Creative and we can guide your design process to a better website.