Gone are the days when you could conduct a successful business exclusively with connections and referrals, where a potential prospect could be nurtured with a series of face-to-face meetings and presentations. In this hyper-competitive and charged marketplace having an online presence via a website is of utmost importance. Your prospects are now more likely to Google your business to first identify it and then gauge it with other similar websites before considering you as a potential partner.
With no online presence or with a meek site lacking in b2b website design and website strategy, you are missing out on enormous opportunities. The sooner you accept the change – to design lead-generating websites that can convince prospects – the sooner you can take advantage of today’s internet-based marketplace.
What is a B2b website?
A B2b website (business-to-business website) is used by companies or firms that serve other businesses. It could provide services, expertise, software, or even tangible products to other businesses. Similar websites like B2B are those which serve individual customers (B2C or business to customers) or government organizations (B2G or Business to governments).
A B2B website strategy is a plan a business has for its website’s role, b2b website design, functionalities, and end goals. It is a must-have guide for developing and optimizing the website.
This article is primarily catered toward business owners, where we will signify the importance of having a B2B website that could help achieve your business development goals.
Does my business need a website?
Short answer, YES.
We are not suggesting that sales teams and face-to-face interactions are not important anymore. However, it is always better to have a multi-faceted approach with several strategies working in parallel.
A study by Hinge Marketing shows a shift in how firms tend to find their potential partners and providers.
- 80% of the buyers admit to vetting a company’s credibility based on its website before engaging in business with them.
- 30% of the buyers do not engage with a company because they were not impressed with the website.
What does this mean for you?
It means that a lot of your potential prospects will go looking for your website before engaging with you.
Your website, then, needs to fulfill two key objectives:
- Make your website easy to find by people and potential prospects.
- Convince your buyers that you offer what they need.
Two Types of B2B websites
When it comes to B2B websites, they can generally divide into two.
1. Branding Websites
Known as ‘brochures’ websites are designed to depict your brand message and stipulate general information about your firm. It has basic information like who you are, what you do, and whom you do it for.
A few reasons that you might opt for simple branding websites could be:
- Your firm does not necessarily need to generate leads online and have other sources for new businesses.
- You are a startup that has not figured out its target audience.
- You do not have the resources to support a lead-generating website.
Branding websites need not be boring or bleak. You can add plenty of inter-activity and educational content for your clients. A well thought out branding website with good B2B Website design can still play an important role in bringing in new business closings.
If your business development strategy aligns with the above reasons or similar you can opt for a branding website. It is less costly to make and will require low maintenance.
2. Lead Generating Websites
Lead-generating websites, also known as ‘high performance’ websites are meant to generate leads, nurture them, and eventually close them with a new business partnership. The success rate depends upon how successful they achieve the mandate. There can be several themes to accomplish this, based on the nature of your business, clients, market niches, etc.
Lead-generating websites are the more sought out and recommended of the two. Let’s discuss more below.
Why a B2B website that can generate leads?
Why? Two main reasons, Growth and Profit. And we have statistics to back this up. Research done on over 20,000 professional firms by Hinge Marketing shows that firms that generate more leads online are more profitable and grow Four times more than the firms that do not.
As illustrated in Fig. 1, as the leads generated online reach 40 – 60%, firms’ growth rate is increased four times and then levels off. Profitability has more of a linear pattern and is proportional to the % of leads generated online.
The same study also suggests that more and more firms are opting for generating leads online. 77% of the firms are already generating some leads online, while 46% have redesigned their websites within the past year to generate more online leads. More importantly, 66% of the firms are planning to spend more on online lead generation. Therefore, competitive pressure in the marketplace should be enough reason for you to consider lead generating website, lest you get left behind.
Benefits of Lead-Generating Websites
A site capable of generating and nurturing leads requires more effort and extra functionalities within it. It also costs you approx. 20-50% more than a branding website. However, you should absolutely choose lead generating website if you want to:
- Increase growth & profit
- Generate new leads for your business
- Have the expertise to share with your clients
- Find new business partners or employees
- Increase visibility of your brands
- Looking to expand into international markets.
- Have the resources to fund the site until it gives you profitability and long-term growth.
A lead generating website requires extra functionalities like a blog, a good b2b website design, a resource library with free educational content, social media pages for your business, well thought of content and its strategic placement, a clean and sleek design, and be search engine optimized. In addition to the above, determining the role of your website and what you expect it to do for you is called B2B website strategy.
Now that we have established the benefits you could have in having a website for your B2B business, moreover a website that can generate leads, it goes without saying the necessity of including a well-established website in your Business Development plan. Consumers and businesses want to see your presence online, rival firms are rapidly joining the online lead generation bandwagon. Needless to say, if you do not have a lead-generating website, it is high time you get one.
What Ehsan Labs can do for you
Your greatest asset in your business should be a ‘high performance’, lead generation website with great b2b website design. Ehsan Labs can not only create an aesthetically pleasing website but also the right website strategy for your business. By working together, we can create a platform that can generate leads, nurture your clients, and establish long term business partnerships.
Farhan Saddique
Farhan, the CIO of Empiric Fashions, comes from a business family in Bangladesh, where his father & uncle were businessmen, owning B2b stores in fashion & clothing. He personally runs the digital marketing division of the business, also reviewing their in-house brand’s web apps. He believes that innovation is the backbone of any business and that every business should constantly be looking for new ways to innovate.
