You’ve seen those flashy (pun intended) sites covered in animation and sound. Sure they seem slick and sophisticated, but do those really work in the B2B environment? Let’s take a look at some of the issues:
According to Adobe (the maker of Flash), 99% of Internet viewers have Flash installed.
Flash content is not accessible by search engine crawlers, making it invisible to search engines (doesn’t help SEO).
Flash content is also not usable by persons using a text reader, and by many mobile phones (for now).
Visitors have to sit through Flash content to get to the information they need. And if visitors can’t find information quickly on your site, they’ll go elsewhere.
There are some types of information that can only be conveyed visually (or are better conveyed visually) with or without sound which can be done better with Flash than on a webpage.
There are other issues, of course, but these get across the big ones. My suggestion is to use Flash as a tool, not as a crutch. Use it sparingly and use it correctly. It should not be the main focus of your site and you should provide as much information as possible in a web page or other text document as well. Avoid creating a flashy website - too much movement and animation is distracting, adds to download times and becomes very annoying very quickly.
B-to-B Magazine:Outsell: B-to-b digital ad revenue to top print revenue by 2009 - The report said b-to-b print revenue is expected to account for 34.3% of total b-to-b media revenue in 2009, compared with a 38.6% share for digital products. Events are expected to account for 27.1% of total revenue.
If you haven’t already, you should consider putting more of your advertising budget online. This data is from advertisers, but the Internet is already the type of media used the most often at work and where decision-making buyers turn for more information and research. You want to be where your customers are - online.
You’ve seen the tags that you can add to your Flickr pictures, YouTube videos, blog posts, submissions to Digg, etc. These are important because they change how we can find and use information:
Why is tagging important? Because you no longer to have to “file” information in one “folder.” Information can be tagged with multiple keywords or keyphrases and then “exists” within these multiple places. Usually you can search for information based on words included within it, meta information (usually invisible information used to describe the type of information), and the keywords. This allows multiple ways to find information and usually results in a more satisfying search experience (more - we still have a long way to go).
Tagging on a customer-centric website allows your visitors to determine how to organize your information (instead of you), which leads to a more satisfying experience (so they’re more likely to come back). Tagging can also be used to tie various pieces of content together which you can use to show your customers what other people tagged with the same tags, most popular content, etc. which also gives your customers a sense of community.
Having a website is supposed to increase your sales (if done properly). How do you know who is looking at your site and who is interested in your products?
One popular way is to put some type of login/registration requirement in place in order for people to see some type of information or content that they are looking for. This seems like an excellent idea from a sales or marketing standpoint, except now you’re dropping all pretenses of having a customer-centric website. Remember to think about what your customer wants. If they are searching for some information on your website (or came from a search engine) and have to register or login before they can get it, how many of them will just leave your site entirely (with a bad taste in their mouth) instead of giving you that information?
Instead, only collect personal information when it is in the customer’s best interest to do so. Offer a form or online chat where people can request more information that includes as little information as needed to help them. This is not the time to get their full contact information, date of birth, credit card, and what color their bath mats are. Name and email or phone are plenty. And guess what? You now have a sales lead that was willingly given to you - this customer is much more interested in your products and services. They are probably further down the sales funnel and therefore a much more valuable contact than just throwing up login requirements to get lots of names.
You may be wondering if all these tips for redesigning your website to be customer-centric work.
A month ago we redesigned the flagship website (a B2B publication) at the publishing company where I work. The redesign focused on increasing the amount of content that is updated more frequently, offering more content (including blogs and video), and making it easier for readers to find what they’re looking for (by following good usability practices).
Since the redesign we’ve been monitoring their traffic using Google Analytics because it filters out all search engines and crawlers. The average weekly visits have increased 34%, average weekly page views have increased 23% and average weekly visitors have increased 36%. The change was so dramatic that the traffic on the first day was higher than it had been in six months (probably due to word-of-mouth or a forum post somewhere) - the publication didn’t advertise the redesign in print until the following Monday which had another increase in traffic.
Website optimization is a constant process so there still is work to do to see what works for our customers (readers) and what doesn’t. Using Google’s stats and site overlay we’re able to constantly tweak the site to help readers find what they’re looking for. Next step is to take a look at few more customer-problem sections as shown by a high percentage of exits on certain pages (through Google analytics) and to consider removing registration requirements from the rest of the content. We’ll also take a look at the keyword cloud on the site (what keywords are repeated throughout the content) and how they relate what readers are looking for through search engines (including our own).
We’ve been talking about customer-centric websites, but what are your customers doing at home? Obviously these results apply to the consumer market instead of B2B, but B2B is usually not far behind:
92%+ use the web when making product buying decisions (research, reviews, retailer location, price comparison, etc.)
54% start their product research at a search engine
55% rely on user reviews most when choosing products
21% rely on expert reviews most
After product selected, most important criteria when choosing where to buy are price (38%) and site reputation (38%)
36% use mobile phone to check headlines
There is a pretty huge jump in the acceptance of many of these technologies, including RSS, tag clouds and videos. All three should be considered in the design of your b2b web site. If you were in doubt about the importance of your website: 92%+ use the web when making product buying decisions and as we’ve shown in the ABM-Harris 2006 Interactive B2B survey, this applies to B2B research as well. And community is important, as is the thoughts of peers in the reviews of products and services.
Your website is your brand and image and storefront on the Internet. Every search people do for your company will (hopefully) lead to your website. Most people do not bother to use paper yellowpages anymore to look up businesses. Going to a company’s website is part of the research in a purchasing process for 80% of B2B executives according to the 2006 ABM-Harris Interactive B2B Internet Usage Survey.
Finding a good web designer (or web design company) is key to a good B2B website (and I’m not just trying to toot my own horn). When you need to have surgery, you look up the best doctor you (or your insurance) can afford. You shouldn’t skimp on a web designer either. The best way to find a good one is to either ask someone you trust for a referral or to contact a company whose website you like and ask them for the name of their designer. It is probably best to get a few companies or names so you can compare them.
Once you have your list, take a look at the websites of the designers. Are they pleasing and well designed? In my experience, classically trained designers (ones with a college degree in design, web design, electronic arts, or computer science) tend to be the best, but occasionally you get someone without a degree who has either devoted a lot of time to learning or just has a natural talent. Every designer should have a portfolio or a resume to show their past work and experience. Avoid designers who do all the talking and tell you how to run your business. You are the expert at what you do - a good designer will listen for much of the first consultation and ask a lot of questions. Many will also show you a proof or ‘wireframe’ of what their design would look like before they take any money. At the very least you should get some type of document (even an email or statement of work) that details what they think your site should look like once they’ve listened to you, taken a look at your site (if you have one), and done some research into other sites you like. Run from any designers who want payment up front.
Please, please, please do not have your children or your 14 year old nephew put together your site unless they are trained and professional web designers.
Is Blogging on your B2B website a good idea? Blogging, especially for your business, has its pros and cons. Here are a few to consider:
Cons:
Anything you post is available forever on the web. Search engines and other sites cache results which means that even if you delete a post, it may still be available somewhere on the web.
Any opinions expressed in your blog can affect the image your business portrays. Keep clear of political, religious or controversial opinions unless you’re ok with those opinions being associated with your blog.
Takes a lot of time. While writing a blog post sometimes only takes 5-10 minutes, there are times when it can eat up a lot more - especially if you feel compelled to post on a schedule and are feeling writer’s block.
Pros:
An easy way to add content to your site (and lots of it). A blog can be a great way to add content to your site very frequently. Visitors are more likely to visit if your site is up-to-date and has a lot of content to offer.
An easy way to share valuable expertise. Do you have experience or information you’d like to share with your customers? Blogging is an easy way to show your knowledge in your industry and get your name out.
A good way to reach out to your customers. Blogging with a comments allows you to share experience, expertise and opinions with your customers. Most importantly, it allows them an easy way to give you feedback on how you can improve your products and services. These are all important to creating a good customer-centric website.
Overall I think blogging can be good for a B2B website, if you go into it with commitment to post regularly and understand how it can affect your business. It certainly is a good way to establish communication with your customers and share your experience and expertise with them. Keep in mind that the above pros and cons also apply if you have a personal blog. If you blog under your real name, it can affect your business image, even if it is in a personal setting.
Once you have your new site design launched, the next step is to see how well you figured out your audience. Yep! That’s right - more research - and testing.
You’ll once again need to take a look at your website analytics/stats and see if people are staying on your site longer and going further into the site. You should also see less use of your search engine for the items that you linked to from the homepage. Take a look at your site overlay if you have one and you should also see where people are clicking on each page.
Now you need to continue to improve your site by looking at your analytics/stats and seeing what you can do to make the site even easier to use. If you can, call some of your website visitors and see what they like and dislike about the site. What do they have problems finding? What do they like?
Usability is a constant process of improving your site. Having a customer-centric site means making your site with your customer in mind. The goal is to help people (your customers) find the information they need so they’ll return to your site next time they’re looking. You should see more traffic as more and more people turn to your site as an information source.
Now that we’ve done some research on what your visitors are looking for and at on your website, we can take our first stab at our layout, or where things should go on the website. Here are a few basics:
The menu should be either across the top or down the left. A link to the homepage should be the top or left-most link. Menu items should be links to what people are looking for on your site. Examples: Products, Services, About, Contact. You should setup a hierachy that makes sense. All your products should be listed on the first Products page (or have links from there). All your services should be listed on the first Services page (or have links from there). You get the idea….
A search box, if you have one, should be in the upper right. There should be a text box to input your search terms and then a button right to the right of it which says ‘Search’.
Your most important and/or most frequently updated content should be in the upper left. Visitors scan left to right and then back to the left further down the page, continuing until they have to scroll down the page. Use the research gathered in Part 1 to select the items that are most important and lay them out left to right, then down the page as if you are reading (you probably find yourself scanning down pages in this same manner on other sites). To borrow a term from print newspapers, items above the fold (or what is immediately viewable without scrolling) should be your most important content, products or services.
Provide text links at the bottom of each page to your highest level or most important links to make them easy to find.
White space should be incorporated to break up text and make it easy for visitors to scan your website for what they are looking for.
Minimize movement of pictures, ads and movies - they are distracting and annoying to visitors who are looking at your site.
Once you put your layout into place, you are ready for B2B Website Usability Basics - Part 3 - Testing.
Free Business Website Analysis. We’ll take a look at your website and offer tips to improve your return on investment and to satisfy your customers. If you need additional assistance, we are happy to help with affordable hourly consulting rates. Sazbean Consulting Call 248.707.9666
Email Saz@sazbean.com
