What is B2B web development, and why is it important for your business?
While B2B and B2C web development share many similarities, they are not exactly alike. Your websites and web apps should be built specifically to cater to your target audience and make the most of your opportunities. The importance of websites wasn't
always what it is today. Once upon a time, websites only acted as a small part of a business's presence and operations. But today, that is no longer the case. Today, websites are critical as buyers, search engines,
internet consumerism, and interactivity have all changed.
Buyers once relied on business salespeople and adverts for finding relevant products and services, but now control of the process from the point of attraction is in the hands of the buyer.Thus websites are a core part of the initial buyer journey, often
found during research, and usually account for the buyer's first impression and interaction with the company.
Web development should simultaneously meet both buyer and seller's needs. A website or app doesn't have to cater to one while sacrificing the wants of the other. Your website could help users find what they want while increasing your sales.
In 2022, anyone looking to improve their lead generation, conversions, and sales rates must first enhance their web development.
"I run the largest B2B LinkedIn ads agency in the US. The Web Choice team are amazing. I've known the co-owner, Sam for years on LinkedIn. Followed his actionable tips for SEO and websites. We recommend Web Choice for any SEO, paid search or website requirements. Always excellent feedback and results. They are your team."
Justin Rowe
Founder/CMO @ Impactable
""I run the largest B2B LinkedIn ads agency in the US. The Web Choice team are amazing. I've known the co-owner, Sam for years on LinkedIn. Followed his actionable tips for SEO and websites. We recommend Web Choice for any SEO, paid search or website requirements. Always excellent feedback and results. They are your team."
"
John Foshee
CRO @ Porter Logistics
"I vetted 4 providers and put them through a fairly strenuous knowledge test on web design, marketing, and SEO. Web Choice delivered an excellent looking, fast-loading website along with solid content and technical SEO. I like to move fast and they were able to keep up. We now rank position 1–7 for multiple search results. I'll be going back for updates in the future."
Phil Hussey
Managing Director Advanced Card Bureau Ltd
"Since the new website and branding went live we saw an instant improvement in the quality of the new leads we were receiving. We have also received lots of positive comments about our new look branding. Working with Web Choice has been a breath of fresh air. They kept us up to date on every stage of the project through phone calls and emails. Because of the ease of the whole process and how impressed we were, we have now increased spend with Web Choice to help us with SEO & PPC."
Jason
Director at Leading Marketing Company
"Web Choice helped us out of a terrible hole, and they were great about it. In just two months, WEB CHOICE successfully delivered a quality website - the code was clean, the team stayed on time and within budget. Moreover, they were helpful and proactive; they handled the project effectively and were responsive through emails and phone calls and quick to solve issues."
Matt Wiggins
Director at Southern Cross Flooring
"We had next to no online visibility or rankings. Thanks to Web Choice clear improvements were made. The keyword research, content and targeting has taken us from just 100 organic keywords to almost 2000 in under a year, we also rank on the 1st page for
numerous keywords when before we'd be languishing on page 3, 4 or more! Inbound leads are up and our bookings have been fuller than ever. I would thoroughly recommend speaking to Web Choice
to see if they can help you with SEO."
Jan Mikulin
Owner
"Web Choice were keen to understand both our short-term and long-term goals, and more than happy to advise on technical details. They even shared a couple of eBooks with zero obligation. Their patience and support across my detailed selection process
were indefatigable and they consistently demonstrated commitment to the project's success."
Jacob Mummery
Manager at TreeSOS
"After speaking to Web Choice, they had the knowledge and professional edge compared to other web companies. A brand new website was designed, with checks all throughout the process to see that we were happy with it. An ongoing SEO project which we are
updated on every month. A huge amount of work is done by Web Choice for this and it has benefited our growing business. PPC campaign is being run by Web Choice which has tripled our leads."
Shane Jeavons
Sales Director @ Jeavons
"Sam and the team have taken care of our website design, complex portal to link in with our management software and marketing management. Sam and the team are reliable, responsive and I would have no doubt in recommending them either for website design,
SEO or Adwords management."
Mark Grindey
Director at UKBSS GROUP
"We have used Web Choice for 2 websites now and also our marketing/SEO for our hosting company. They were able to take our idea's and get it exactly how we envisioned it. They kept us updated on every step and the team were very quick to make any changes
we needed. We now have an ongoing relationship with Web choice and look forward to working with them more in the future and on our marketing campaigns."
Alina Kantville
Director @ JK Doors
"Their incredible web design and development, SEO and paid ads management performance is shown on our company's increase in sales and traffic. Because of Web Choice, there's also an increase in conversions, providing us with a consistent flow of daily
leads!"
What is B2B Web
Development?
Web development refers to the process of building, testing, and tweaking websites and sometimes web apps. Websites and apps must be built with the users in mind, and in the case of B2B web development, this means building for other businesses. While professionalism
is necessary when marketing to other businesses, you must not forget that a company is ultimately made up of people. Therefore, you mustn't make your page too boring or unapproachable.It doesn't hurt to appeal to this human
side of businesses when you are trying to attract and convert leads.
Usually gets the most traffic and is often a landing page for paid ads or SEO
Visitors should quickly see:
What you do
How you help
Option to contact/learn more
Case Studies / Proof of results
Back up your claims with social proof e.g.
Case studies
Testimonials
Client review videos
Logos of accreditations and clients helped
Pricing Page
Why send your sales team poor-fit leads?
A great pricing page shows your are transparent, qualifies in good fit clients
You can reinforce your rates with client reviews/testimonials etc.
Service or Product Pages
These share how your offering and features solve problems and help people.
We recommend having a page for each key core offer and geography you service. This will benefit organic SEO rankings.
About Page
This isn't a time to brag about your awards or accolades (you can do that on case studies/in your footer/elsewhere).
Why not share your company founder's story.
Along with the key problems that your solution fixes.
Then direct visitors to contact you, case studies or useful resources.
Contact/Request a demo
Here's a few best practises:
Consider hiding menu navigation on contact or demo page to keep visitors focused on page
Place contact form or calendar booking tool above the fold (before scroll)
On forms - only ask for main fields you need
Have a testimonial or results gained for a key client next to or under the contact form or calendar booking tool. This can help conversion rates.
Thank You Page
The 'Thank You' page is often forgotten about. Here's a few ideas after someone fills in a contact form or books time on your calendar:
Explain when a sales rep will be in touch e.g. within 24 hours.
Have a funny GIF e.g. someone popping champagne
Put out links to helpful videos/podcasts/articles
Get potential clients eager to chat to you
Set up tracking to thank you page with an analytics tool
What Should B2B Web
Development Do?
Some of the most commonly used and required aspects of B2B web development include creating an online space that allows businesses to do everything they might need.
This may include:
Viewing services and products.
Learning more about your services and products, as well as how your business can help solve their problem.
Watch videos and read content; this is an important part of the buyer's research journey.
Contacting your business to arrange a demo or find out more.
Purchase your products or services. This is likely one of your business's main goals and should be made as seamless as possible for the buyer.
This is, of course, not a definitive list of aspects to include in your B2B website, but it does cover the most critical. Today it is far more commonly expected that a website can aid a buyer in their journey, from start to finish. However, if you make
things too complicated or leave out essential parts, you may find that buyers either never find your website or do not stay on it.
Why Should You Care About B2B
Web Development?
Businesses not planning for web development in 2022 are in a precarious situation where buyers may not find or have access to more information about their business.
For B2B businesses, some of the most significant reasons B2B web development matters are attracting and converting leads, reducing the visitor bounce rate, and standing out from the competition.
Attracting And Converting Leads
We have already noted that a business's website is the first thing they see for many buyers. So the design and functionality of your website will be responsible for creating the first impression.
The user experience is essential if your company want to convert website visitors into sales. Web development can again help with this. Ideally, your fast-loading page, excellent page layout, and intuitive navigation
designs will keep users on your page, and from there, you have the opportunity to increase your sales.
Reducing The Bounce Rate
If and how long a user stays on your website depends almost entirely on your web development processes. People spend less time on and are more likely to leave a website that doesn't quickly meet their needs. And once they have left your website, where
will they go? They will likely end up on one of your competitor's sites.
B2B web development factors that can massively transform your bounce rate include site navigation and page layout. When users can't find the answers, services, or products they want, they leave and look elsewhere.
You will also need to consider load times during web development. A slow-loading website could lose you a lot of revenue, given that around 53% of internet users abandon a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
So that little time could lose you a lot of money.
Standing Out From The Crowd
The age of the internet is also the age of choice. Internet users, whether consumers or businesses, have a world of options and can access this range more efficiently than ever before. Your website must stand out as something better, faster, and more
helpful if you want your potential clients to choose you over the competition.
You can use web development to improve their rankings and drive more traffic to your business's website. The more people see your website, the better your chances of increasing sales.
Have you ever been on a website that makes it almost impossible to find what you are looking for? If you have, you probably didn't stay on the site and almost certainly didn't make any purchases.
Within the foundation of any website, a well-thought-out layout is critical. But before you can decide how to structure your arrangement, you must first determine what pages you will have. Depending on your business and your customers' needs, this can
vary from website to website. Most websites have:
Product or service pages
An 'About Us' section
A home page
An area or page for customer testimonials and reviews
A dedicated blog or news page
You want to have web pages to suit your customers' core needs. Once you know what pages you want, you can plan how to arrange them and how they will look.
Simplify Navigation
After deciding on the design of your website layout, it's time to consider how you can make navigating as easy as possible. Users should be able to locate and visit the various pages on your website and find the
information they need without difficulty.
The more seamless and efficient your website navigation design, the better the user experience. And the better the user experience, the more likely people will stay on, return to, and purchase from your business
website.
Improve Your Visual Design
Website appearances can completely alter the impression someone has of your site. Therefore, spending time during web development is worthwhile to see if each of your website's pages is visually appealing and matches
your brand.
You will want to consider the design themes and colours especially. These should be in line with your brand's image and should catch the eye of your visitors. A compelling visual website design can even improve
brand recognition. In fact, colour alone can help improve brand recognition by up to 80%.
Visual aids like videos, photos, graphics, and infographics can also increase the attraction of your website. They are vital for breaking up long pieces of text and can make processing information much easier for
your website users.
Visuals like photos and videos have also been shown to improve conversion rates and encourage visitors to make a purchase. For example, a video on your landing page could increase customer conversion by up to 80%.
Remember That Not Everyone Is Visiting From a Desktop
Approximately 50% of Google searches are now completed via Google. The rate of mobile users on B2B websites is generally lower than those on B2C sites, but this is changing. More and more people, including those
visiting B2B websites, are now searching and viewing via their mobiles.
To compete and continue standing out from the competition, you must optimise your website for mobiles and other devices. First impressions matter whether someone is coming to you from a desktop, laptop, phone, or
tablet.
You can make sure every user has the most positive experience of your website by optimising for mobile and implementing responsive web design.
Responsive designs ensure that your website looks and works perfectly, no matter what device and what device size someone visits your page using. You can significantly improve user experiences and increase the chances
of getting yourself a repeat customer if you utilise responsive web design and optimise for mobile.
Take Advantage Of Digital Marketing
Once your website is live, you will want to find ways to keep new visitors coming to your website. Digital marketing can help with this.
Some of the most popular digital marketing strategies include:
Email marketing
Content marketing
PPC (pay-per-click) ads
SEO
While not a definitive list, these marketing methods are a great place to start. It is also worth noting that some can take longer than others to see results. SEO can typically take 3 to 6 months before you start
seeing a difference, so it is best to use various digital marketing strategies to ensure that you're getting visitors now and in the future.
Use SEO
SEO, or search engine optimisation, has been around for many years. However, many businesses still do not make the most of their potential despite this.
The digital marketing strategy aims to improve your rankings and ability to appear on search engine result pages (SERPs). Effective SEO can help you rank higher so your website gets more visibility, traffic, and,
ultimately, more sales.
SEO experts estimate that the first page of a search engine like Google gets 71% of clicks. Therefore, the lower your website ranks, the fewer people will see your page and the fewer visitors you will have.
What SEO Web Development
Practices Should You Look Out For?
Web development can significantly impact SEO, and there are some things your developers should do to ensure your site ranks well and gets traffic.
Insert Keywords
Keyword research can tell you what people are searching for and when. Once you know these words, you can insert them into your website to improve your rankings on the search engine result pages and maximise the number of people who find your site.
Speed Up Load Times
It's not just users that want faster load times. Google also values page load speeds. This is because faster loading means more people stay on your website for longer. So by improving your load times, you can improve your rankings by ensuring your website
loads as quickly as possible.
Enhance User Experience
Google tracks user interactions and uses these to judge whether or not your website is providing a positive user experience. For example, if your website receives visitors that stay longer and return often, Google will consider this a positive user experience.
According to Google, the better your user experience score, the higher your website will rank.
Get A Helping Hand With
B2B Web Development
B2B web development can be challenging. There are plenty of things to consider, many that can transform how users interact with your website. To make the most of your website and to grow your sales, thoughtful web development is a must.
Our B2B sites with a custom design tend to start at £7k and go upwards depending on the amount of bespoke pages needed, key features required, integrations and more. Book a free consultation to discuss your project with a specialist.
What are the key goals of a B2B website?
In our opinion a B2B website for lead generation should:
Clearly share what you do and problems you fix
Share proof of results (case studies/portfolio/testimonials/reviews)
Show pricing
Educate (blog/resources/video/podcasts)
Share processes
Make it easy for prospects to contact sales
How long does a B2B website take to develop?
We typically provide a 1 month timeline for B2B information / lead generation sites to develop and code up after the designs are approved. If your website has 100s of pages and custom features then this will increase design and development time.
Do you use templates for B2B websites?
Our preference is a custom design as most of our B2B clients want their design to stand out in the market, attract and convert ideal clients. Generic templates aren't always the best fit here. However, we do offer template builds if budget is an issue.
What code does your company build B2B websites with?
We tend to use open source code so you aren't locked to our company. Often platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Webflow. Giving you the easy ability to make updates.
Can we update our B2B website easily after you launch it?
Yes, we provide your website with a CMS (admin side) - so your team can securely login and make updates.
Can you help us with marketing our B2B website?
Yes - we provide SEO and paid search and can guide on the channels that make sense to attract and convert ideal clients with your site.
Ready To Grow Your Business With
B2B Web Development?