Power Up Your Website

Is “founded in 1982 by Chuck and his three sons” one of the first things visitors to your website learn? If so, Heather Margolis has news for you: “Nobody cares,” says the senior vice president of marketing at 360insights.

“I need to know in 30 seconds or less what you do,” Margolis says. “If I get to your website and have been reading for three minutes and still don’t know what you do, that’s a major pain point.”

It’s also a reason for busy buyers to click over to a more customer-focused competitor.

Marketing experts say many channel pros like “Chuck” are missing the mark with their websites.

“Companies feel their website is a lot better than it is,” says David English, president at TSL Marketing. TSL’s recent survey of MSPs, CSPs, VARs and others found just 7% rate their website as worse than their competitors. But English says they’re judging based on a cursory comparison of homepage aesthetics, and not paying enough attention to how websites perform as a business marketing tool.

A modern, well-designed, ecommerce- and mobile-friendly, SEO-optimized website, in contrast, can be one of the most powerful weapons in your marketing arsenal. Here are some tips to designing a website that will help drive business.

Style and Substance

A common mistake channel pros often make is focusing on what they want customers to know, rather than what customers want.

For starters, your website should quickly and clearly explain exactly what problems you can solve for them. It should also be easy to navigate with consistent design throughout, responsive on mobile and all desktop browsers, and accessible for people of all abilities (see “Make Your Website Accessible”).

Make sure your content is relevant, as that will be the top focus area for B2B marketers in 2022, according English. “Whoever you’re targeting, you want to be able to write really compelling and interesting content for them,” he says. That includes blogs, general offerings, and “meatier” pages that dig into specific solutions. Ebooks, webinars, and digital case studies are also extremely important to include on your website, says English.