Wind back just a few decades and no one would have predicted how reliant we are on the internet and how it's intertwined with our lives. It's stated that there are around 8 billion websites online spanning every niche imaginable.
If you have a website how are you going to make yours stand out from the billions of others out there? Whether your business works in product development, consulting, or service-based sector good web design is essential for the longevity and success of your company.
But what constitutes as good and even great web design and how do you turn viewers into customers? What are the key things you should be considering on your B2B website?
If you want your website to bring more attention to your B2B services, this article goes into some of the top web design ideas right now as well as the importance of building brand awareness. Read on to find out more.
What Is B2B Website Design?
B2B web design is the approach taken to create a website for your B2B company. It's specifically geared at the parts of your website that visitors will see and interact with.
Essentially, it focuses more on the visual aspects and user experience of your site, more than the coding, structure, and behind-the-scenes stuff. These are some of the key things that a B2B website emphasizes.
Font style
Color scheme
Page structure
Load times
When it comes to designing business websites make sure you're optimizing these things. Not only are you creating something that's aesthetically pleasing but user-friendliness encourages your site visitors to spend longer there. This increases the number of conversions which turns into more revenue.
The Importance Of Branding & Good Design in Product Development
When it comes to designing website pages, there are a few simple rules to follow. Even if you don't have a degree in graphic design, you'll be able to create a decent-looking website by following these tips.
Stick to a maximum of three fonts, one for the header, one for sub-headings, and one for the main body
Use branded colors and limit yourself to three or four colors
The colors should be used on every page on your site to promote your brand
Be consistent, and make all the pages look like they belong together
Pay attention to white space, it helps your site look clean and professional
10 Great B2B Web Design Ideas
If you're in the process of designing your B2B company website, you're probably looking for some inspiration. Here are some of our favorite websites that work for a whole range of niches.
1. HireLevel
The bold and contrasting color scheme that HireLevel use on their B2B website really pulls the visitor in from the start. The contrasting colors clearly show the two sides of the company so makes it clear to the viewer where they need to go.
2. Zendesk
A well-established B2B company, Zendesk offers a clear, no-fluff design that gets straight to the point. This helps to reflect their company mission with intuitive calls-to-actions. Even though this is quite a simplistic design, there are fun graphics and animations to add a hint of fun to the site.
3. Love Yourself Org
Love Yourself Org is a theme by Behance and just oozes comic book nostalgia. If you're looking to appeal to a young and trendy audience, then this is it. The bold design and bright colors make sure it stands out and it's filled with illustrations to catch a visitor's eye.
4. Powerwest
Powerwest's website is clean, clear, and informative. As soon as you land on the page, you're greeted by a large image that reflects exactly what the company does with the addition of a clear statement about the company. It also makes use of some great widgets, such as company statistics.
5. MOO
These guys at MOO make some of the most adorable business cards out there, and their site reflects this. Their website is clean ad easy to navigate thanks to its use of white space. This is a great example of an online shop with the use of sliders to showcase its high-rating products.
6. Rocka
Rocka's B2B website design makes the most of a one-page scroll design. It utilizes the whole of the screen to give a graphically strong appearance. Rocka makes visiting their site a whole experience through the use of bold statements and CTAs encouraging the user to explore more.
7. Packlane
This B2B site guides customers through packaging design making use of video to show how to create a custom package for your product step by step. Packlane is a great design for anyone needing to show instructions.
There are lots of fun mouse-click effects as well as an FAQ section at the bottom making this an incredibly customer-centric site.
8. Buffer
Clean and minimal with lots of white space that clearly delivers the company's message. There are plenty of interactive features here, including introduction videos to talk users through their business.
The design on Buffer also makes use of parallax scrolling which encourages visitors to focus on the page content without distractions.
9. Bentobox
An Incredibly clean B2B website designing Bentobox that makes use of subtle color to add some personality. It's clear in its message by keeping its copy straightforward and minimal while making use of bold headlines and strong calls to action.
10. Advanced Dynamics
Advanced Dynamics B2B website design makes a bold statement through its use of white space twinned with neon elements. It also uses video which is played through the shape of their company logo. Their branding is clearly evident throughout the site with the neon green accent to tie it all together.
Best Practices for Creating Your Website
If you're inexperienced with building websites, then it can feel overwhelming if you have to learn how to build one, with multiple moving parts. Where do you start? Below are some best practices you should follow to help you design and create the website of your dreams.
Know Your Audience
Before you start, be sure that you've determined exactly who your audience are as this will define every element of your site.
Look at the demographics of your current customers, and work out what to include on a website. If your design had a young and trendy look to it, but the data on your client suggests that your audience is affluent couples, then you're not going to appeal to your target audience.
Optimize For Mobile Devices
Around half of the internet traffic comes from a mobile device, plus Google recently brought in mobile-first indexing. What this means is that if you're not designing a mobile-friendly website, you're going to be losing traffic.
Make sure you're using a responsive design that will automatically adjust the layout of your site to fit the screen it's being viewed on.
Keep Your Site Fast
The ideal speed that your site loads in should be under 3 seconds, if your site isn't fast, then customers are going to hit the back button and move away. This also affects your bounce rate, which in turn affects your ranking ability.
Make Your Site Visually Compelling
So your site not only needs to load fast, but it also needs to look great. You need to make it appealing to entice visitors to stay on there and interact with your content. Think about the things we mentioned about branding, if this isn't your forte, then it's worth investing in a design team to do this for you.
Is Everything On Brand
Even if you've created an aesthetically pleasing site, it's not going to communicate with your customer if it isn't on brand.
This should be included in logs, text, writing style, images or graphics used and of course, the color scheme. An experienced designer can provide a branding kit for you, with relevant file information your design should include to ook on brand.
Easy To Navigate
When a potential customer visits your site, can they find their way around easily, or is it a frustrating experience for them? Be sure to have an intuitive navigation setup that guides you, customers, through a journey in a logical way.
Check Your Site Is Secure
If you're marketing B2B services then your site must be secure for visitors. Make sure that there is a security certificate on your site. This will make the HTTP at the start of your site show as HTTPS. This is a nod to Google that your site is legitimate and can help to boost rankings.
If your site doesn't have an SSL certificate, you can purchase one separately. This is a necessity if customers can make purchases through your site and ask a web development team to set it up.
How's Your Brand Looking?
If you need creative solutions for your brand, whether it's a website or product packaging development, contact MiLK&BULL.
MiLK&BULL has a team of expert designers, who can help with your brand development, product development, and visual storytelling, whatever niche your business is in to help turn visitors into loyal customers
Contact our team today, to discuss a strategy for your business.