If you are writing a B2B website think clarity, content and following completion of those two, then tackle the issue of image.
When prioritized in a different manner, your bounce rate is going to be significantly higher, while your conversion rate will prove significantly below that of other organizations in your vertical.
Furthermore, if you are writing a business-to-business website, keep in mind that within two to three seconds of the visitor getting to your website, they should know exactly what you do.
Despite this formula being straightforward, many B2B websites prioritize formats that are visually catching and have lots of add-ons, but remain vague in content. When this happens, that pretty layout becomes unappealing to the visiting decision-maker who does not have time to weed through the beauty to get to the necessary information.
Then What To Do About Style?
It is at this juncture where website writing and the related design for a business-to-business driven site gets more complex.
Obviously, if you are a business-to-business firm, you do not want to have 100% of your information available for the casual reader. The website visitor ought to have some interaction with the site, which makes the balance between image and information evermore crucial.
What percentage between image and information works best? A B2B website functions best when the balance between image and information is roughly 70% information-focused and 30% image-focused programming in mind.
The image aspect (e.g. pictures, designs and other aesthetics) must come into play right off the bat when someone lands on the website. After these initial seconds, your site then has to transition and be content- or information-driven from that point forward. Think "image for the first few seconds," and once your firm passes the first-impression test, the visit is going to immediately be information-driven.
Here are some tips to ensure you have the aforementioned ratio in the manner necessary:
1. Write the content yourself first, then outsource the design. It is always best that your design is based off of your content and not the other way around. Come to terms with the fact that you are the best content writer for your website and you know (not anyone else) what is needed and what drives your buyer. Only after content writing is done properly should work be done on the aesthetics of the site.
2. Play around with the content, keeping close tabs on Google Analytic s's bounce rate, time spent on site and number of pages viewed per visitor, after writing a 300+ page recruitment and staffing website, I suggest you feel comfortable enough with content to put aesthetics into play. If you do both content and aesthetic changes at the same time, you could find yourself with a very high stress level and a very low conversion rate, not to mention high programming costs - because the aesthetics need to be constantly adjusted.
3. See what other firms in similar spaces (though not direct competitors) have done to balance out this ratio. Never copy: use what these firms have done as a basis of what routes you think may be best.
In closing, your website is the face of your company. Therefore, treat its formulation with the utmost importance and urgency. Doing so will show you an outcome that is not only satisfactory, but is highly advantageous.
All of Ken's articles can be found out his blog: KAS Write Recruitment Ken is Pres. of KAS Placement Sales Recruiters Marketing Headhunters a employment agency NYC staffing firm specializing in sales and marketing recruitment.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/the-right-way-to-write-a-b2b-website-2011-6
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