I’ve been designing B2B tech landing pages and websites for over a decade, and if there's one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: A great web experience will grow your business.

I’ve seen this proven time and again, but the greatest example I can think of is a few years ago when my team designed a series of landing pages that generated $3 million in revenue (not pipeline) in just three days. This wasn't even a full website. It was just a few landing pages to support a marketing campaign.

That’s $1 million of revenue generated a day. Talk about rapid growth.

Another landing page we recently created for a tech client generated four to five high-quality leads per day during our campaign. That number may seem unimpressive, but when the offering you’re selling is a multi-six-figure ERP implementation, that’s a pretty good metric for high-quality lead generation.

So, what’s the secret? How do you turn website visitors into buyers?

It’s not easy, but it’s also not rocket science. Keep reading to hear the strategy that works for us and our clients.

A winning tech website strategy doesn't have to be complicated

At Forrest, we start with the three C’s of a profitable website (outlined below). Now, you’ll need way more than just these three things to create a successful web experience, but without these core elements, you’ll have a hard time building a website that stands out against competitors.

If you get this recipe for effective tech marketing right, you’ll position your website to go beyond a digital brochure and become a growth ecosystem.

The 3 C’s of successful tech websites

01 Clarity

Tech experts often want their website content to sound like a robot speaking in tongues. I think it’s because we’ve been trained to think that using big words is impressive. Yet, using tech-marketing jargon just for the sake of sounding smart actually has an adverse effect on readers.

Time is another big factor. You have three seconds to get someone’s attention and convince them to click or scroll, so being clear is always better than being clever.

Your website should help your viewers answer these three questions quickly before they even have to scroll below the fold (the top section of your website):

Who are you?
What problem do you solve?
Who do you solve it for?

Keep it simple. Most people think you have to be clever and sexy above the fold, but that’s just not true.

Marketing expert Donald Miller puts it this way: “When you confuse, you lose.”

Clever is confusing. Make it clear and easy to understand, and if you do this, people will stay on your site longer and increase their chances of buying from you.

02 Creativity

If you’re selling a six-figure offering or implementation and you’re trying to tell your market that you are an industry expert whose solution is worth millions, but your website looks like digital 💩, then you’re already losing trust and sales.

Bottom line: Shitty websites get shitty results.

Creative tech websites that succeed treat great design not as a nice-to-have but as a must-have to generate ROI and stand out in a crowded market.

At Forrest, our hope is that when you come to our website, it not only says that we’re a global brand agency but feels like it from the care and intentionality we put into our design. Creating beautiful, intentionally designed work is a strategic move, not a vanity play.

Say this out loud: “Beauty matters.”

And yes, this even (and especially) applies to tech.

Do not confuse beauty with busyness. Some of the most beautiful websites are the simplest in design.

“Good design is as little design as possible.” - Dieter Rams

If you’re going to play the part, you have to look it. Make sure your web design is simple, minimal, crisp, and beautiful. Your brand strategy should provide you with a framework for how your website should look and feel, all in a way that makes it really easy for you to build, edit, and update on a regular basis.

If you have visual brand guidelines, they should first appear on your website. Use them in everything you create, and you'll be one step closer to a beautiful and creative site without having to spend on outside resources.

03 Confidence

Your website should offer a space where users can get free, helpful guidance and gain the knowledge and confidence to overcome their challenges.

Attention spans are shorter than ever, and nobody wants to read your white paper. They want help. If you have a blog, it needs to be packed with value. Webinars? Make sure they answer your attendees' questions and give practical steps. If they don't, people will bounce.

Make sure you freely share helpful resources and insights, and always think of ways to add more value to your website. This will help tech users who are searching for answers.

Giving away value without selling creates confidence in your brand.

That means your free content can not be a sales pitch for your offerings in disguise.

This is really important for B2B tech sellers because information is a commodity. They can learn what you know almost anywhere. Be the brand that gives it away for free, and you’ll be top-of-mind for your buyers while also instilling confidence in them. This is a win-win!

When your website is a place where users can get the help they need to overcome their problems, they’ll leave feeling like they can take on the world. They’ll be more confident in themselves, and they’ll also be super confident in you and your brand as someone who gets them.

The human way to do marketing is to help, not sell.

How does your website measure up against the 3 C’s?

Now that you know the three C’s — clarity, creativity, and confidence — you can assess your website in light of these factors.

Start by compiling a survey or hosting a workshop for your internal team to ask them the following questions:

How clear is the messaging within our site, on a scale of 1-10?
How creative, beautiful, and nicely designed is our site on a scale of 1-10?
How confident do users feel when they come to our site? Do they get free help, or do they just get sold to?

Next step: Let's get technical

Once you tackle these three foundational elements of a great web experience, you’ll need to implement all the marketing tech needed to really turn website visitors into buyers. This will be a time and money investment, but if you do it right, you won’t have just a website. You’ll have a demand generation engine and a brand that looks and feels like a hundred-million-dollar juggernaut.

At Forrest, we use a mix of tech and tactics to make winning websites. Our recommendation is that you start with something like WebFlow, WordPress, or Squarespace and then get the right CRM in place. HubSpot is the best for tech consultants (in our opinion). Then, you can expand from there. Once you get a good foundation set, you can get creative with some of the tools our experts at Forrest use below.

Tools like this will go a long way when trying to sell a six-figure offering to a major business. Just remember that the tools you use are only worth it if they help you hit your goals. Otherwise, they’re nothing more than bells and whistles that make a lot of noise and no money.

“Great. Am I ready to redesign my website now?”

In the words of John C. Reilly:

Pump the brakes. Don’t hire anyone to redo your website just yet.

Why? There’s a vendor or freelancer on every corner waiting to take your money, and they will without hesitation. Before you pay someone to dive into the work, identify an agency that eats, sleeps, and breathes profitable websites and ask them to give you an assessment of what you already have.

3 qualities to look for when hiring a website vendor

Knows your industry: Are you a ServiceNow, Microsoft, or Salesforce partner, etc? Find someone who knows those worlds and the buyers in them.
Puts your business goals FIRST: Avoid salesy, creative teams who care more about building a pretty website to hang on their wall of fame than they do about helping you serve and speak to your audience.
Talks to your internal team: Sales, marketing, and other C-suite members at your firm will want to weigh in on the web experience. Find a vendor who will host a website vision meeting to understand the expectations of all key players in the website-building process. The right vendor will get everyone on the same page and rally your team around a plan everyone can get behind.

A successful website redesign will cost you money, time, and emotional energy. That’s why starting with the three C’s is a great foundation for creating your nine-figure website. If you can put these three structures in place internally, you will be well on your way to having a digital growth ecosystem, not just another site.

Get a free website consultation

Reach out to our team and let us know you’d like a free tech website optimization consultation*. Beware, we won’t hold back. But we’ll provide honest, helpful insights on how you could take your website to the next level.

Shoot us an email if you’re interested.

*You must be a leader in the digital transformation space.

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