Business-2-Business Websites

     Business-2-Business websites are primarily used to generate leads, as well as to sell their products to other businesses that would be used inside their company, in their day to day lives.  In building websites, all websites are built upon using and incorporating social media, email, mobile feeds, possibly video or Youtube Links or uploaded videos, links to Facebook or Twitter and everything along those lines to make it informative and appealing for the consumers when they are on their website.

     Business-2-Business sales are very relationship-based.  However B-2-B sites do not usually have e-commerce functionality. 
Their main goals that B-2-B companies usually focus their web resources on are:

- Reinforcing their brand name
- Establishing that they understand their clients "pain points" - which are the critical issues faced by potential clients in their particular industry and those faced by the decision-making individuals within those companies
- Proving that they can deliver the products and services necessary to ease the aforementioned pain
- Showing themselves to be leaders in their industry
- Moving potential visiting clients to take action by contacting a sales representative

     Business-2-Business websites are built upon using CMS, which is Content Managing System; it is used to store the content of the website, much like how html coding does.  There are three commonly used programs today for content managing systems in B-2-B websites and they are: Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla. Drupal is the most commonly used one.

     When creating a website, your purpose is to make it as visually appealing as possible to people and businesses who are looking at the website. With the website looking neat, easy to read, and organized, people will take your website and company more seriously than if the website looked outdated, or poorly made.  Making the website easy to navigate and find information on, is another key element in creating a B-2-B website, mainly because your desire is to have businesses use your website to find what they are looking for quicker; instead of getting frustrated with your site, which could potentially  lose business as well as get bad reviews.

     When creating a website if you decide to create it yourself rather than have an expert help you, there are many helpful programs, such as templatemonster.com, that have been fashioned with the purpose of assisting you in creating a website.  It will make it easier to understand, if you are trying to make it on your own, without the CMS expertise in Drupal or WordPress. Templatemonster is also a great example of a program to help design an esthetically pleasing website for a business, if you are not using Drupal or WordPress.

 

 

There are 9 Design elements that are used in creating websites:

1. Using copy and information rather than graphics and animation

2. Case studies and client testimonials to illustrate their beneficial services

3. Scheduling educational video Webcasts

4. Authoring white papers on key industry topics and offering free downloads of those papers

5. Providing informational brochures in PDF format for easy downloading

6. Developing a cyber-newsroom that shows how the company has been improving, growing, and evolving

7. Include an "About Us" section that gives details of biographies of key management to create trust

8. Offering a password protected area where clients can log in to review invoices, company files, time sheets, and other account information

9. Presenting company contact information including email links and phone numbers on an easily accessible contacts page.

 

 

In conclusion, B2B companies typically have a limited audience that they need to reach, which can pose a significant challenge.  Unfortunately many B2B companies do not understand that while their clients are other companies, their target audience is made up of individual people in decision making positions.

Bibliography:
Dmzinteractive. "How to Build a B2B Website." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7gO7683B6I.
Miletsky, Jason I. Principles of Internet Marketing: New Tools and Methods for Web Developers. Boston, MA: Course Technology, 2010. Print.



Brad Johnston
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