Web Design for B2B Marketing Benefits of Having Your Website Re-designed Websites are so much more today than a simple collection of products and prices. World-class internet sales platforms, like Clarity eCommerce, offer extraordinary features such as customer self-service options, automated intelligence gathering, machine learning capabilities, third-party connections, and inbound marketing. Technology advances geometrically every year, but many companies added technology applications haphazardly for years without retooling their basic websites. This often leads to disconnected systems, confused navigation, and inconsistent design. That’s why many forward-looking companies choose a website redesign. Customers make decisions instantly based on a website’s appearance. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who is one of the world’s most respected experts on business, conducted a study at Harvard that found website visitors make subconscious judgments about a website’s appearance and professionalism within 50 milliseconds of viewing a given site. [1] During the early days of the internet, many companies experimented with design, and many older websites still feature annoying features such as flashing lights, popup overloads, poor company descriptions, keyword stuffing, and long loading times. Web Design for B2B Marketing B2B websites face increasingly demanding technical imperatives that include providing better security for customers, complying with government and industry regulations, running multiple stores, warehouses, and operations, and delivering powerful customer experiences. Websites that haven’t been updated in several years could have security vulnerabilities, operating inefficiencies, and lower rankings on search engines. For example, Google updated its search algorithms many times over the last decade, which keeps negatively impacting sites that don’t adopt and implement constant updates. It’s crucial to update content and change it frequently to rank highly on search engine result pages, or SERPs. Redesigning the company's website could give the company a higher SERP ranking while making the site more user-friendly. B2B companies deal with many new technologies and trends including proprietary apps, Omni channel sales, adaptive design, and social media two-way communications. Many companies sell products in multiple online forums such as marketplace platforms, social media, brick-and-mortar stores, and other specialty channels. Customers and stakeholders use custom portals to view custom product displays, order products based on their interests, and manage administrative functions. B2B companies create special website programs for custom ordering, dealing with multiple decision-makers, and connecting with different shippers directly on a given website. Customers want advanced features, but they don’t want delays in page loads and processing. Without a responsive, integrated website, companies can’t keep up with all these demands. Older systems can’t match the average speed of today’s processors and lightning-fast page loads. Global customers want special features such as automated calculations of B2B sales tax and duties from multiple global tax jurisdictions, translation services, and currency exchanges at current rates. Integrating all these features is difficult in a slow system that doesn’t have a robust API layer for integrating services and software. Benefits of Upgrading Your Website Redesigning a website allows developers to correct some of the problems that come with age such as slower processing times, weak architectural structure, security holes, and displays that don’t adapt well on mobile devices. (B2B mobile apps can give you a dedicated platform for your business.) Some of the most important benefits of a website redesign include: Improved SEO Rankings Search engine algorithms evolve constantly, and websites need to adjust accordingly. Google alone makes 500 to 600 changes in its algorithms each year. Natural language is gaining popularity, so websites need their content adjusted to rank well in searches. Fast page loads are also a factor in SEO rankings, and improvements to the speed of page loads benefit both SEO and the user experience. Some of the essentials for upgrades include updating sitemaps, rewriting copy to include keywords and natural language, creating better quality content, and incorporating adaptive design. This is also an opportunity to clean up keyword stuffing and over-used meta keyword tags, as Bing has already implemented penalties for overusing them. Integrated Design Companies that develop new logos and color schemes often fail to carry these over to old websites. A redesign allows designers to correct this oversight. Designing web pages is akin to painting or decorating a brick-and-mortar store--it creates interest and attracts new customers with a “fresh” look. Savvy designers can conduct A/B testing of images, colors, use of whitespace, and different navigation pathways to determine which works best. Better Access Many sites now include third-party integrations, stakeholder portals, proprietary apps, and custom content. A redesign can facilitate backend access to update content, change catalog prices and descriptions, post blogs and testimonials and grant or remove permissions. Enhanced Security Security is one of the most important benefits of designing a website. It’s easier to build from the ground up than try to patch security holes and breaches with temporary fixes. The new design can incorporate the latest security updates and technology to verify new data in real time so that it can be incorporated into all channels immediately. That prevents problems with real-time inventory figures that are caused when new accounts and orders can’t be verified immediately. Increased Social Sharing It’s easy to design a website that features social sharing buttons to encourage customers to share content with their friends. The Visual Appearance of Your Website Matters Aesthetics and functionality are equally important for both B2C and B2B customers. about 93 percent of customers consider the visual appearance of a website a crucial factor in whether or not to purchase a product. [2] A redesign allows designers to highlight specific content, plan web design based on the type of device being used, draw focus to calls-to-action, eliminate clutter, and split visual illustration into thirds to create nine horizontal and vertical grids, which is a great way to balance a website’s overall design. Redesigning Your Website Redesigning your website isn’t a luxury but a necessity given the speed with which technology evolves and the fact that every visitor assigns a personal “professionalism” score sub-consciously based solely on design. If you own B2B auction sites, regular upgrades are even more urgent if you want to stay competitive. Choosing a strong development partner that understands B2B auctions, web design and the importance of an automated, integrated website is the best strategy for success. This kind of design will last longer, incorporate new technology and scale up as your business grows. Clarity has launched over 1,300 websites successfully over the course of 18 years. Give us a call today and let us help you improve your site. References: [1] Tandfonline.com: Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression! https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01449290500330448 [2] Executionists.com: 6 Ways Website Redesign Can Help Your Business https://www.executionists.com/benefits-website-redesign/