No.4 Most Read Article of 2013: 5 Best Practices for a Great B2B Website
When executed well, a great B2B website can do the job of 100 salespeople, scaling your message to the masses and helping drive loads of revenue.
When executed well, a great B2B website can do the job of 100 salespeople, scaling your message to the masses and helping drive loads of revenue.
This story was originally published on June 11, 2013, and comes in at No. 4 on our countdown of the 10 most popular ClickZ stories of 2013. As ClickZ looks back over the past year, we’re celebrating the best of 2013, as determined by you, our readers. Enjoy!
Recently I’ve been helping one of my clients redesign its online presence. As we all know, our website is our brand’s front door – just as important, if not more so, than our company’s physical presence. It’s how potential clients learn more about our brand, and where existing clients will go to stay connected with us. When executed well, a great B2B website can do the job of 100 salespeople, scaling your message to the masses and helping drive loads of revenue. They can help with retention, upselling, and help facilitate customer service. So, why are so many of them so terrible?
In general, a great B2B website does five things:
Best-in-class example: Square‘s website is not only beautiful, but it also has some of the most elegant navigation around. Its footer text darkens when users hover over it.
Best-in-class example: Wildfire does a great job of this; the blue buttons throughout the site help me move deeper into the content – and closer to a sale.
Best-in-class example: Check out the image below – you’d think it was for a movie before you’d think it was for GE! You want to watch the video, you want to “see more stories” – and even before I do either of those things, I’ve learned a bit about the company in action through its stats and copy. GE has also achieved great use of responsive design – take a look on mobile and see how the site adapts, surfacing the most important likely consumer needs. Nicely done.
Best-in-class example: Microsoft is a great example of this. It has a ton of products and a ton of distinct brands, but it’s built a framework that ties it all together – even seamlessly linking its “For home” and “For work” offerings within the same experience. Microsoft’s website is also a great example of the “flat” design that is oh-so-hot right now. Gorgeous.
Best-in-class example: The new AmEx Open Forum, still in beta, is doing a really nice job sourcing, promoting, and curating content from its expert network of…its users! By combining editorial with crowdsourced content, the forum stays dynamic and fresh.
Have another favorite B2B website? Nominate it with a direct message to @kristinkovner for consideration for a future column.