B2B companies need more from their websites than ever before.
The Digital Age has seen competition heat up to the point that having better website could actually make all the difference, even with the longer buying cycles and more-educated buyers found among B2B industries.
To outmaneuver their competitors, many B2B companies have gone to great lengths where their online presences are concerned. They’ve added videos to their websites, scored greater exposure with guest posts on major industry sites, and even invested in influencer marketing.
As those methods have become more and more commonplace, many have begun investing in a new digital asset: an online resource center.
What Is a Resource Center?
A resource center is fairly self-explanatory: it’s a section of your B2B website (which may comprise of multiple pages) that offers visitors and/or users all the resources they’ll ever need to better use your product or service.
It’s more than just a glorified instruction manual, though. For example, many resource centers feature forums, where people can ask and answer questions or discuss relevant topics. They may provide other information that will help customers navigate their industries to greater success.
The information in a resource center may not always relate directly to the B2B’s product or service, either. For example, a company that sells a PPC platform may also offer advice on designing landing pages or understanding ideal bid amounts. It’s not information that will necessarily help users better utilize their platform, but it will help them in a meaningful, relevant way.
To look at an example of this, check out just some of the features Magento’s resource center has to offer:
- “Insights on how the B2B commerce landscape is evolving
- How to reduce cost of service for improved profitability
- Expert advice on how to get your digital transformation started”
None of these topics relate directly to their platform, but they will help their users see better results.
Why Resource Centers Are Helpful for B2B Companies
With so many different types of B2B content to choose from, why spend the time on creating a resource center? What does a resource center have to offer your business’ online presence?
1. Offering One Location for Vital Information
As we’ve already touched on – and as the name suggests – a resource center needs to be chock-full of helpful information. It should provide advice that visitors can immediately put into action to see results.
That kind of content will help you stand out from the crowd and overcome channel saturation two common challenges B2B companies face online.
Furthermore, offering all of this information in one place – as opposed to spreading out over your entire site – keeps your visitors from looking elsewhere (e.g. on competitors’ websites) for the advice they want.
2. Giving One More Reason for the Sale
Resource centers are often paired with services. If you decide to use Magento’s platform, you’ll also receive access to their resource center. That’s an extra incentive to sign up for Magento’s product. Not only do you receive its unique benefits but the “insights” and “expert advice” we identified earlier.
Do their competitors offer the same? If not, it might be an easy decision to choose Magento.
3. Greater Search Rankings
How you organize your B2B company’s resource center is up to you and the kind of experience you want to offer your market.
However, you should work hard to make it as easy to navigate as possible. Visitors will appreciate the effort, but this improved UX will also score major points with Google. You can even interlink with the rest of your website where appropriate. Again, that effort won’t go unnoticed by the world’s biggest search engine.
Of course, you can also leverage a resource center into better rankings by simply using it to place plenty of high-quality keywords throughout your website. There will be no shortage of placing them in anchor text, too, with links that lead to other valuable pages on your site.
Treating Your Resource Center as a Priority
By definition, your B2B company’s resource center shouldn’t be a one-time investment. Think of it as evergreen content you’ll continue to build on over the years. Sometimes, this will mean adding fresh content to it. Other times, you’ll prune away resources that have become out-of-date.
The most important thing is to get started creating it right away. Your resource could someday grow to a sizable library of information. For now, start with what your audience needs most with the plans to continue growing it over time as necessary.
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