You Used Social Media to Increase Website Traffic to Your B2B Website—Now What?

If companies continue to offer inadequate user experiences and don't help guide prospects through buying processes (that are often complex and lengthy), the average B2B buyer won't become a lead, let alone a customer.

What Does It Mean to Have a Website Focused on B2B Usability?

When someone reaches your B2B website, regardless of how tech-savvy they are, they immediately need to understand who you are, what you do and why they should care.

This is essential.

Once they understand all of the basics, they need to be able to navigate your site intuitively. In other words, you need to make sure they can easily find the information they're looking for and be able to contact you when they're ready—without running into confusion or complications.

Optimizing Your Website for Lead Generation

One of the places to start optimizing for usability is design. Go to your website and click on any page. Ask yourself whether it clearly conveys the following:

• The site you're on
• The topic of the web page you're on
• The main topics found throughout your site (i.e., those typically listed in the main navigation)
• Where you can go next
• How you can search the site

If you can't answer any one of these, then there's a problem.

Since there's no guarantee that a website visitor is going to visit your home page first, it’s crucial that each page of your website answers all of the above. If not, users will get frustrated and leave your site—and will likely not come back.

How to Make Your B2B Website Less Confusing

Poor B2B website design can make site visitors think that doing business with your company will be just as confusing.

This is why you should add the following components to every website page. Doing so will help alleviate confusion.

• Your company logo
• A relevant website page title (your home page is the exception to this rule)
• The main navigation
• The secondary navigation
• A site search option
• Breadcrumbs or other "you are here" indicators

These components can vary in look and placement on your site, but it’s important to remember that you shouldn't reinvent the wheel for the sake of being different. Generally speaking, site visitors expect certain elements to be in specific spots and for them to look a certain way. Providing an alternate experience can negatively impact usability.

For example, company logos are usually placed in the top-left corner of your desktop screen. When clicked, they lead site visitors back to a home page. This is what people expect. So, if your logo isn’t clickable or it takes visitors to a page that isn’t your home page, you'll frustrate and confuse your site's visitors.

The more frustration and confusion you create, the less likely a visitor is going to trust what you have to say. They'll likely move on.

Enhanced B2B Usability Establishes Trust

The more you think through the usability of your B2B site, the better experiences you'll create for your target audience. And better experiences help establish trust—which puts you one step closer to turning site visitors into leads and customers.

Is your B2B company struggling to convert site visitors into leads despite generating a lot of traffic from your social channels, pay-per-click ads and other means? There are many more website usability best practices to consider. Reach out and request a consultation today. to learn what they are and to figure out how you can increase your website's conversion rate.