B2B website foundations

Your website works while you sleep, but only if visitors understand what you do within seconds. Build pages that answer questions before they're asked and make the next step obvious.

B2B website foundations

Introduction

In 2014, I completed a seven-month traineeship at CXL, where I learned everything there is to know about conversion optimisation. Since then, I’ve built websites for my own marketing agencies and run experiments across e-commerce and B2B funnels.

One thing I’ve learned is that you don’t need huge amounts of traffic or complex A/B tests to start improving your site. Most B2B websites fail on the basics: structure, clarity, relevance and fixing those makes a big difference.

This playbook gives you a no-nonsense, step-by-step approach to improve your site’s performance. Whether you’re starting from scratch or want to refine what’s already live, you’ll learn how to boost conversions without overcomplicating it.

You don’t need perfect data to make progress. You just need to know what to fix and how to fix it. This guide will help you do exactly that.

Chapters

1

How to run qualitative research

Use heatmaps, recordings, and survey data to uncover friction. Discover confusion and blockers that hurt your conversion rates and user experience.

2

How to write an about page that builds trust

Tell your story in a way that establishes expertise, demonstrates values, and shows why buyers should choose you over competitors in the market.

B2B website foundations

tools

Webflow

Webflow

Webflow builds custom websites visually without code, offering designer control, CMS capabilities, and hosting for professional web projects.

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

From

18

per month

Figma

Figma

Collaborative design for interfaces and assets excellent for landing pages, ads, and prototypes when marketing and design need alignment.

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

From

15

per month

Hotjar

Hotjar

Hotjar captures user behaviour through heatmaps, session recordings, and feedback polls to understand how visitors use your website.

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

From

39

per month

Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity provides free session recordings, heatmaps, and user behaviour analytics without traffic limits or time restrictions.

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

From

0

per month

Unbounce

Unbounce

Unbounce creates landing pages with drag-and-drop building, A/B testing, and dynamic text replacement optimised for paid advertising conversion.

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

From

79

per month

Instapage

Instapage

Instapage builds post-click landing pages with A/B testing, personalisation, and collaboration features for paid advertising campaigns.

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

From

99

per month

Leadpages

Leadpages

Leadpages builds landing pages, pop-ups, and alert bars quickly with templates and basic A/B testing for lead generation campaigns.

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

From

49

per month

Squarespace

Squarespace

Squarespace builds complete websites with beautiful templates, hosting, and e-commerce features for creators, small businesses, and portfolios.

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

From

15

per month

Books

Breakthrough Advertising

Eugene M. Schwartz

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Breakthrough Advertising

A field guide to message market fit. Use stages of awareness to pick angles, craft offers and brief ads that speak to real pains and jobs.

Dotcom Secrets

Russel Brunson

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Dotcom Secrets

Translate funnel templates into clean journeys. Focus on offers, sequences and pages that convert instead of tactics that age badly.

Wiki

Mobile responsive

Ensure websites display and function properly on all devices to avoid losing mobile traffic that bounces from broken layouts or tiny unclickable buttons.

Page speed

Optimise how quickly pages load to reduce bounce rates and improve rankings since slow sites frustrate users and get penalised by search algorithms.

Social proof

Display evidence that others trust and use your solution to overcome scepticism and reassure prospects they're making a safe choice by buying.

Trust signals

Display security badges, guarantees, and credentials to reduce purchase anxiety and prove legitimacy on pages where visitors make buying decisions.

Hero section

Design the prominent first section of pages to communicate value immediately and guide visitors toward conversion without requiring them to scroll or search.

Above the fold

Place critical information and calls-to-action in the visible area before scrolling to capture attention immediately when visitors land on pages.

AIDA

Map the buyer journey from attention to action, crafting messages that guide prospects through each stage to conversion.

Stages of awareness

Match your messaging to prospects' current awareness level from problem-unaware to solution-aware to speak directly to their mental state.

Offer

Structure your pricing, deliverables, and guarantee into a compelling proposition that makes buying decisions easier and more confident.

Customer journey

Map every touchpoint from initial awareness to repeat purchase, creating seamless experiences that guide prospects toward conversion.

Heatmap

Visualise user behaviour through colour-coded overlays showing clicks, scrolls, and mouse movement, exposing hidden friction points.

Call-to-Action (CTA)

Craft clear, compelling prompts that drive specific user actions across platforms, from clicking through to converting.

Related topic

Growth foundation

What needs to be in place before any growth tactic actually works?

B2B website foundations

Other playbooks

Data & dashboards

Data & dashboards

Build the dashboards and data pipelines that show your growth engines in one view so you can spot bottlenecks and make decisions in minutes, not meetings.

Planning & project management

Planning & project management

Set up project boards, sprint rhythms, and communication habits that keep growth work on track without endless status meetings or lost context.

Increase pricing

Increase pricing

Raise prices strategically through better packaging, value communication, and positioning so revenue grows without adding customers.

Increase line items

Increase line items

Develop cross-sell and upsell motions that expand accounts by solving more problems for customers who already trust you.

Increase contract length

Increase contract length

Build retention strategies, success milestones, and renewal processes that keep customers committed for longer periods.

Improve win rate

Improve win rate

Strengthen your closing approach — objection handling, negotiation, and follow-through — so more proposals turn into signed contracts.

Keep reading