What’s Your Website Actually For?

Most B2B tech websites are built the way the company sees itself. What we do. What we’ve built. Who we are. They’re all reasonable things to want to say, but nobody arrives at your website wanting a tour of your company. Instead, they’re trying to work something out, fast, and they’re likely to leave the moment it takes too long.

What they’re actually asking is some version of: is this for a company like mine; do they understand what I’m trying to fix; can I trust them to fix it; why these people rather than the other three tabs I’ve got open; and what happens if I take the next step? We believe that a good website isn’t there to tell people everything you know; it’s there to make the next step obvious. Answer those questions well, and the visitor becomes a lead.

So, here’s an audit for the next time you’re on your own site

Can I tell who this is for, in five seconds?

A lot of B2B tech homepages are written to appeal quite broadly, which means they end up speaking to no one. “We provide intelligent digital solutions for forward-thinking businesses” could sit on the homepage of a fintech or an IT support service. If your visitor can’t see themselves in the first few lines, mentally or literally, they’re already reaching for the back button. That means that the language, the examples and the problems you describe should feel unmistakably written for someone in their position, at their size of company, dealing with their kind of pressure.

Does it talk about the problem, or just the product?

Many companies, not just in tech, default to describing what they’ve built. “AI-powered cyber security platform” or “next-generation threat detection” tells a visitor what’s under the bonnet, but that’s not only what sent them looking in the first place. They’re searching because something’s worrying them: a near-miss that spooked the leadership team; a compliance deadline that’s crept up on them. Effective websites reflect that worry back to the visitor before they explain how clever the technology is. Feature first, benefit second is often the wrong order. Say what changes for the customer, then show them how.

Is there evidence?

“Experts in…” and “industry-leading…” are the kind of lines every company writes about itself, which is exactly why they don’t land. We’ve all read a hundred of them. What actually moves someone from curious to convinced is proof: thought leadership content, case studies that reflect the worries we discussed above. Logos of recognisable clients do a lot of work here too, particularly in a sector like cyber security where trust is a crucial part of the sale.

Is it what happens realistic?

“Book a demo” is a big ask for someone who found you a few seconds ago and still isn’t sure you’re relevant to them. Someone early in the process usually wants to read something, not talk to anyone yet. Someone further along wants proof it’s worked for a company like theirs. Someone close to a decision wants to know what working with you is actually like. A site with a single call-to-action is really asking every visitor to be at the same stage of the journey, which they’re not. Giving people a smaller, less daunting next step for wherever they’ve actually got to tends to get more people moving.

Does the site do any of the work of your sales team?

Ask your sales team what they get asked frequently, and you’ll usually get the same three or four answers back: something about integration; something about pricing structure; something about how implementation actually works; something about security or compliance. If your website doesn’t answer those questions somewhere, your team is repeating themselves in every conversation. In addition, every prospect who doesn’t get to ask a question is quietly filling in the gaps themselves, potentially with the wrong answer. A website that’s done its job means that the first sales call starts further along the funnel.

Pushed for time? Here’s a super-quick exercise

Open your website. Pretend you’ve never heard of your company. Give yourself sixty seconds. Can you tell who it’s for, what problem it solves, why the claims should be believed and what you’re meant to do next?

If the answer’s yes on all four, you’re in better shape than most companies. If it isn’t, that’s usually not a copywriting problem or a design problem on its own. It’s a thinking problem, and it’s the bit we enjoy most.