Posted on by Dave J.

Is this the best B2B website in 2010?

My company website needs a refresher. The home-page is functional almost to a fault.

I found a couple good examples of consumer websites (Subaru & REI) that had layouts that could work for us. And lots of style cues to consider. So what could be more fun than a redesign with a neat jquery ‘slider’ effect on the home page? Very 2010, I think, while still being functional!

Best practices?

Then I googled for best current B2B examples and found the WebAwards B2B winner for 2010. Take a look at the winner, Airclic.com. Go ahead.

There is a lot to like, style-wise. Sliders with bold ‘purpose statements’, lots of white space.  Navigation by industry application.

But what the heck do they do? What business are they in?

They missed one of Vincent Flanders’ red flags: “It takes longer than four seconds for the man from Mars to understand what our site is about.”

Worse yet, the website is full of text with precious little images or effort to engage the visitor. And where the heck is a picture of the product on the home page (let alone any SEO terms).

Beauty before strategy

What we have here is an agency that did its job. And a company with enough sense to get a cool-looking website. But who forgot the content? Who forgot the STRATEGY?

Their Staples customer profile video on the website is 10 times … no … 100 times more effective in telling what they do and making their technology look cool. It should be up front on the home page instead of that cool ‘slider’ thingy with the truck and traffic light. (And proof how video can tell the real truth about a company so much more effectively.)

You’re a manager: get pushed, be pushy!

Handing off your website to an agency doesn’t mean you don’t have to do any work. Expect them to push you with questions. “What is your number one strength?” “We need some images to go with that copy, please.”

Push them with appropriate questions, too. “Why a picture of a truck and not our product?” “I can’t read that ribbon thingy at an angle on the corner of the slider.” “My mom still has no idea what I do at work after seeing this website.”

Maybe I’m being too harsh. It is a new website, and there certainly is some break-in time. Regardless, there is quite a bit of work left to be done. You know your story best, make sure it gets told.

11 Replies to “Is this the best B2B website in 2010?”

  1. Dave-
    Amen! Well said and to the point.Way too many firms miss the point on website design. If it does not tell the visitor what you do, who you do it for and give them some clue as to why your clients choose you in 3seconds there is room to improve it. Perhaps that’s a bit harsh (OK,say 5 seconds if you want to go easy on yourself) but so many sites just sit there and look pretty.Eye candy should make a marketing point and reflect a business strategy. Beauty and function can co-exist. You must demand it.
    Thanks for a great post…lwf

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  3. It happens because people don’t think and act as entrepreneurs. What is the marketing guy responsible for? For the Website, for communication, for road shows etc., right? Wrong! He should be responsible for revenue, profit and growth, on his own field and with his own tools (website, communication, road shows etc.). Marketing is not about being cool, it’s about being effective!
    Andreas
    http://blog.businessleadersmc.com/

  4. It is always interesting to see critiques of other websites. There is a ton of great website designs out there that leave you scratching your heads as to what is going on.

  7. Dave, you bring up many good points about what’s necessary in developing an effective B2B site. The site you referenced had a lot of “inside-out” thinking without a lot of “outside-in” strategy. Who’s wants and needs does the site address? What’s engaging? And what is the specific strategy to create a conversion or other advancement in the selling process. I’d suggest to any B2B firm that the marketing objectives need to be clearly defined including the wants and goals of the specific stakeholders for your site. Those are the requirements for the user interface and functional components. What you highlight is the focus on creative before a sound strategy is in place.

  9. I completely disagree with your conclusions.

    1) Your Mom is not the target market for this product, so it really doesn’t matter what she thinks. Same for the man on mars.

    2) I had absolutely zero problems locating and clicking the “company overview” button that is prominently placed in the main nav. to learn about what the company does. Was it really that hard for you to find that yourself or are you just being stubborn?

    3) A company is more than products. It is an idea. A brand. This is why there is a broad brand message as the main image rather than a random screenshot of some technical software which would not really communicate anything.

    4) If clicking a button to read about the company is too hard for you, and you still don’t know what the company does…. just gaze up to the title of the page and there is the phrase “global logistics mobile software” right at the very top. Was that so hard? Do you really need a photo of the product? Really? A truck more accurately communicates that they focus on transportation. A photo of their actual product would not communicate anything about mobility.

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