B2B

5 Best Practices for Better B2B Website User Experience

August 19, 2015 by Mark Mapp 1 Comment

It’s generally a good idea to start your web design project using best practices, especially if you haven’t accumulated any data to support a specific design change, or direction. Remember that you shouldn’t end your design solely implementing best practice solutions; however, you should use the data feedback, by use of analytics, to optimize and improve user experience. Here are five effective best practices that can help you get started.

1. Make Your Navigation and Visitors Location on the Site Highly Visible

Users should know where they were, and where they are on your site. This can be accomplished using elements like breadcrumbs, page-headers, highlighted menu options, progress bars, thank you and confirmation pages. Not using these elements can cause an unhappy user experience when they try to navigate deeper into your website or try to navigate through a purchasing process. Always remember that creating a smooth and comfortable user experience is your ultimate goal when designing your B2B website.

2. Match Your Content to Real World Language by Eliminating Jargon

The language used on B2B websites should be familiar to the visitor rather than using industry specific terms or jargon. Using jargon, or language that is too technical to comprehend can create a disconnect with the visitor. To find out what words and phrases your website visitors are using it’s best to do a little keyword research. This will help you define how you go after potential customers or leads using language they are comfortable with.

3. Allow Total User Control and Freedom From Automated Processes

Simply put, eliminate anything that takes control out of the user’s hands. If not implemented correctly, elements such as popups, auto-play videos, and automatic carousels can cause lack of user control and freedom, hence creating a bad user experience. If the user doesn’t want to subscribe to a newsletter popup, or watch a demo video they should have a way of exiting or navigating away from that element without any complications.

4. Create Your B2B Website Using a Minimalistic Design Approach

For the past several years, taking a minimalist approach seems to be the most effective way to create a B2B website. In a study conducted by Google, it was scientifically proven that minimalist design are more appealing to buyers. In addition, an effective use of white space can clearly guide buyers to the important sections of information. Cluttered websites don’t effectively allow this to happen and that’s why it is best to focus on the important information visitors are looking for.

5. Offer Solutions and Help Documentation

If designed correctly, your website shouldn’t need much of this best practice solution. However, offering help solutions is a big plus. Help solutions such as live chat pop-ups, FAQ’s, pricing tables, and microcopy, which are little words or phrases that enhance the subscription or buying process that helps to reduce friction and get people taking action. Usually, if you submit a form without the required information being entered, you may receive a prompt in the form of microcopy letting you know that the information for that field is needed to submit the form request.

Conclusion

Whether you are creating a new website, redesigning, or just optimizing an existing one, utilizing best practices will offer a great peace of mind. Although the best practices mentioned aren’t actual principles or laws of web design, they provide a good starting point in most cases. Also, remember that these best practices are backed by data which support their effectiveness.

What other B2B website best practices do you recommend not mentioned in the blog? Please provide your comments below.

Successful Tips for B2B White Papers

August 5, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Pardot states that “86% of B2B marketers are producing content.” Your company may be part of this percentage, but are you creating the RIGHT content specifically for your customers? White papers at times get bypassed by blogs or other social platforms, but using them as a medium to inform clients about relevant information is a fantastic idea. One you will not regret. Forgetting about this form of communication and focusing more on the others can be a gigantic mistake for your company. When a white paper is executed correctly, it can be an incredible attribution to your company and impact it positively. Business can attract new customers and educate followers by writing white papers with these best practices. Before you begin, sit down with your team to create a strategy and set objectives of what your white papers will look like altogether.

Assure each white paper is written to capture attention

The most fascinating topic will be meaningless if the paper is poorly written. It will instantly lose your reader’s attention. Write in a tone that your audience will clearly understand and will want to continue reading. As Pardot says, these papers do not have to be “cut and dry.” Captivate their attention with humor, compelling stories, and quality content. Add personal character to your business’s white paper to allow a distinct uniqueness to set yourself apart from the rest. Other options include adding pictures, quotes, and sidebars. Being visually friendly is just as important as the content itself.

Gain quality content

After choosing a familiar topic that will be useful for your readers to gain additional knowledge, find ways to get reliable information to support what you already know. Content Marketing Institute suggests conducting interviews with other experts in the industry. Ask for the marketing material they are currently using and what their most popular or trusted resources are. Use dependable search engines, such as Google Scholar, and other well-researched white papers to complete your research. It does not matter whether your company writes a five or fifty-page paper as long as the content is entertaining and entirely relevant. Cushion your content with facts and quotes by respected professionals that pertain to the topic.

Educate, Do not sell

Customers, clients, and competitors read your white papers to become educated and to see what exactly does your company know. Your content is to educate and NOT directly sell your product or service. While reading it, they want to be intrigued. Displaying your company’s expertise without pushing a sale may bring in new clients you might not have originally thought of.

White papers can be an essential way to connect with your clients. It can be the first step in signing a new customer for your service. Entice them to contact your company personally. Spark their desire to work with you by writing a successful B2B white paper they will learn from and enjoy.

Check out our white papers! Contact us today or leave us a comment below to share your thoughts or receive additional information on our services.

Tips for your Business-to-Business Company Blog

June 17, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

The Internet is the main source of information for today’s generation. Businesses see this trend and take the initiative to write their own blogs of expertise. Providing quality content within your blogs will increase brand awareness which will help develop your business-to-business company as a leader in the industry. Pardot reports there are over 152 million blogs in the world as of 2014. Out of all of these, 43% are B2B companies competing with yours. What will make your business stand out amongst the rest? How will you build a relationship with your readers and prove to be a force in the industry? Consistency, creativity, and content all help you achieve successful credibility and viewership.

Scheduling leads to consistent maintenance for the blog

Maintaining a regular schedule for new posts not only allows your employees to know when their piece must be submitted, but it informs devoted readers when to check back to read about a new topic. In order to get new readers, you must promote your business’s blog. Setting up a HootSuite account, or any other social media management account, enables your business to assign future social media posts on several platforms at once without having to manually do it every single time. Keep reminding your followers to check out the post later that day and even a couple days later because they might have been offline during your first posting.

Become creative about how to attract new readers

Not everyone has the same schedule. Posting during the day may be ideal for your company, but not for your audience. Who is your audience? When is the most appropriate time to post to get the best views? A study done by TrackMaven stated there were more social shares for posts released between 9PM and midnight. Learn about your readers online habits and post when it is most convenient for them and not your company. These social shares boosts the possibility of someone finding your post. Outside of social media, you can also attract new readers by incorporating search engine optimization best practices inside each post. This will raise the chances of your company blog showing up in a simple Google search.

Share your knowledge and content through guest blogs

One of the best ways to bring more traffic to your blog is to ask to guest blog on other sites pertaining the same topics (industries, associations, etc). Create a list of respectable sites that your CEO approves of. This is an incredible way to become known to other business people who may enjoy the content on your blog. It will differentiate your company from your competition and reinforce your expertise in specific subject matter.

Measure the Performance of Your Blog & Evolve with Your Audience

It is useless to have a blog if you are unable to track how your blog is performing and how your company is benefiting from it. By setting up a Google Analytics account to track its performance, you will be able to track the click-through-rate, monitor who visits the blog, how long they stay on the website, and where they go after they read the blog. (Do they click on another tab or do they leave the website altogether?) This is all critical information to obtain to see what is and is not working.

There are several ways to build up your blog. Adding a personal touch to your B2B blog sets you apart from others writing about the same material. Find what your audience will enjoy, appreciate, and value the most for them to continue reading your company’s blogs in the future.

Start implementing these tips to drive relevant visitors to your site and start generating leads. Contact us today or leave us a comment below for more advice and information.