Your B2B website is for winning new business, not updating existing clients

Update your clients on your socials; win new clients on your website

I see this quite a lot on B2B websites. A company has a perfectly good website that should be explaining what it does, who it does it for and why a prospective customer should get in touch.

Then someone decides the website also needs to become the company noticeboard.

So the homepage starts filling up with news about new employees, office moves, charity days, internal projects, product updates, conference appearances, awards, company anniversaries and photographs of people holding oversized cheques.

None of this stuff is necessarily bad. It is simply in the wrong place.

Your B2B website should have a very clear job. It should help the right prospective customers understand your business and move them closer to making contact.

If you have an Ideal Customer Profile, your website should be built around that person.

Your existing customers already know who you are. They have already crossed the line. They don’t need your homepage redesigned every month because you’ve appointed a new Operations Director.

Use social media for ongoing company updates. Use email, account management and customer systems for information that clients actually need.

Keep your website focused on winning the next customer.

• Your website needs one clear job
• Existing clients and prospects are different audiences
• Build the website around your Ideal Customer Profile
• Your homepage is valuable sales space
• The problem with the traditional news section
• Think about why somebody has arrived on your website
• A focused website also makes sense for search
• Social media is a better home for company updates
• LinkedIn is particularly useful for B2B updates
• Company news can still help win business
• A useful blog is different from a company news feed
• A simple test before publishing anything
• What should you do with existing news content?
• A better B2B content model
• There are some exceptions
• Keep your website focused

Your website needs one clear job.

Before adding anything to a website, I think you should be able to answer one simple question:

What is this website actually for?

For most B2B companies, the primary answer should be something along the lines of:

Generate enquiries from the right type of prospective customer.

There may be secondary goals. Recruitment might matter. Existing customers may need access to documentation. Investors might visit. Suppliers might need information.

That’s fine. But one audience should normally come first.

The problem starts when everybody in the business wants a little piece of the website.

• Sales wants leads.
• Marketing wants campaigns.
• HR wants vacancies.
• PR wants news.
• The Managing Director wants the latest award on the homepage.
• Someone else wants an Instagram feed in the footer.

Before long, the website has stopped being designed for customers and started reflecting the internal structure of the company.

That’s backwards.

The visitor does not care which department requested which section.

They care about their problem. Your website should help them solve it.

Existing clients and prospects are different audiences.

This is the bit businesses often miss.

An existing customer and a prospective customer may both visit your website, but they are at completely different stages in their relationship with you.

An existing customer already knows:

• Who you are.
• What you do.
• What working with you is like.
• How to contact you.
• What they bought from you.
• Why they chose you.

A new prospect may know none of those things.

They might have landed on your site after a Google search.

Someone may have recommended you. They may have seen a LinkedIn post.

They may be comparing you with three competitors.

They could have a board meeting tomorrow and need to put together a shortlist.

This person has a very different set of questions.

They want to know whether you understand their problem, whether you work with companies like theirs, whether you provide the right service, whether you have evidence that you can deliver and what they should do next.

That is the person I would build the website for.

Trying to make the same website simultaneously function as a sales tool for prospects and a company bulletin for existing customers weakens its focus.

Build the website around your Ideal Customer Profile.

If you have done any serious B2B marketing work, you have probably come across the Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP.

The basic idea is sensible.

Rather than trying to sell to everyone, you identify the type of company most likely to value what you offer and be a good fit for your business.

Your ICP might include factors such as:

• Company size.
• Industry.
• Turnover.
• Location.
• Business model.
• Technical requirements.
• Current problems.
• Buying process.
• Budget.
• Growth stage.

You can then go further and consider the individual making the buying decision.

• What do they need?
• What are they worried about?
• What will stop them making a decision?
• What proof will they need before they speak to you?
• What does their boss need to see?
• What questions are they going to ask your sales team?

These are useful questions because they can directly inform the website.

If your ideal customer is a £20 million manufacturing business looking for a specialist software integration partner, your site should be ruthlessly useful to that person.

Every major page should help answer a question they have.

Compare that with:

“We raised £327.52 at our Christmas jumper day.”

Again, well done.

But does it help the prospective customer choose you?

Probably not.

Your homepage is valuable sales space.

The homepage often gets hit hardest by company news.

Everyone sees it as the obvious place to promote whatever happened most recently.

• We’ve won an award.
  • Stick it on the homepage.
• We’ve employed somebody.
  • Homepage.
• We’re going to an exhibition.
  • Homepage.
• We sponsored the under-12 football team.
  • Homepage.

Eventually, the homepage resembles the noticeboard next to the kettle.

But your homepage has limited attention to work with.

A prospective customer lands there and starts making decisions immediately.

• Am I in the right place?
• Does this company do what I need?
• Do they work with businesses like mine?
• Can I trust them?
• Where do I go next?

Your homepage needs to answer those questions quickly.

Every irrelevant section makes that harder.

If you have five strong pieces of information that help a buyer and then insert four internal company updates between them, you have diluted the page.

Visitors now have to work harder to find the useful stuff.

Don’t make them do that.

The problem with the traditional news section.

The company news section is almost part of the standard corporate website template.

• Home.
• About.
• Services.
• News.
• Contact.
• Nobody seems to stop and ask why “News” is there.

There are some businesses where a news section makes complete sense. I’ll come back to that.

For a lot of B2B companies, however, it quickly turns into a graveyard.

You tend to see one of two things.

The first is endless low-value updates.

“Dave attended the Midlands Widget Expo.”

“We have a new van.”

“Meet Steve, our new Account Manager.”

“We’ve updated our phone system.”

The second is even worse.

The news section was launched with enormous enthusiasm in 2021 and contains four posts.

The last one says:

“Big plans for 2022.”

That’s not a great look in 2026.

A neglected news section can make an active company look inactive.

It adds another part of the website that someone has to remember to maintain, and it rarely contributes much to the actual buying journey.

Think about why somebody has arrived on your website.

One of the most useful concepts in SEO is user intent.

Forget the terminology for a moment and it becomes very simple.

Why is this person here?

If someone searches for “industrial refrigeration maintenance Birmingham”, they probably aren’t looking for photographs from your charity golf day.

They need an industrial refrigeration company.

If they search for “Microsoft Dynamics integration company UK”, their next questions might concern your experience, integrations, support model, process, costs and previous projects.

If someone searches for your company name after receiving a recommendation, they are probably checking you out.

Again, they are looking for evidence.

Your website should meet that intent.

Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines put a lot of emphasis on understanding user intent and on how well a page meets the user’s need.

That principle also works perfectly well without thinking about Google at all.

Give the visitor what they came for.

It sounds ridiculously obvious.

Yet many corporate websites don’t.

A focused website also makes sense for search.

I would not suggest deleting company news because there is some magic SEO switch that suddenly makes everything rank better.

SEO does not work like that.

The stronger argument is about focus and usefulness.

Google’s people-first content guidance asks whether a site has a primary purpose or focus and whether visitors leave feeling that they have learned enough to achieve their goal.

That’s a useful way to look at your whole website.

If your website exists to attract B2B buyers, the content should primarily support B2B buyers.

This does not mean every page needs to sell something.

Far from it.

You can publish extremely useful educational content without trying to close a sale in every paragraph.

In fact, that can be some of the best content on the website.

But it should still connect with the needs, problems and interests of the audience you want to attract.

Google also warns against creating large volumes of content across different topics simply in the hope that some of it attracts search traffic.

The same common-sense rule applies here.

Publishing content because “we need something for the news section this month” is not much of a strategy.

Publishing something because your prospective customers repeatedly ask you the same question is far more useful.

Social media is a better home for company updates.

This is where social media makes far more sense.

Social platforms are built around streams of current information.

Something happens today.

You post about it today.

People react to it today.

Next week, something else happens and the conversation moves on.

That’s how company updates naturally work.

You don’t normally need someone reading about your office move three years later.

You don’t need that post sitting permanently within the structure of your website.

You don’t need to optimise it as a landing page.

You certainly don’t need it competing with genuinely useful content for someone’s attention.

Social media also lets the people who actually want regular updates choose to follow you.

That’s important.

Your customers, suppliers, employees, prospective recruits, partners and industry contacts can follow your company on the platform they use.

Your website doesn’t need to carry all that communication as well.

LinkedIn is particularly useful for B2B updates.

For most of the B2B businesses I work with, LinkedIn is the obvious example.

A LinkedIn company page and the personal profiles of senior staff give you somewhere to talk about what is currently happening in the business.

This could include:

• New staff.
• New customers, where appropriate.
• Awards.
• Events.
• Exhibitions.
• Office updates.
• New equipment.
• Staff achievements.
• Charity work.
• Partnerships.
• Short company announcements.
• Behind-the-scenes content.
• Comments on current industry issues.
• Links to useful content on your website.

LinkedIn also has something your website does not have.

Distribution.

People do not generally wake up on Tuesday morning and think:

“I wonder whether Acme Industrial Components has employed a new Sales Manager. I’ll visit their website and check.”

That’s ridiculous.

But they might see the announcement in their LinkedIn feed.

They may congratulate the person.

Someone might tag an old colleague.

A prospect may notice the company is growing.

An employee might share it.

The post travels.

That’s exactly the sort of content social media handles well.

Company news can still help win business.

This does not mean company news has no commercial value.

Some of it absolutely does.

The mistake is confusing the event with the useful evidence created by the event.

For example, imagine you win a major industry award.

The obvious approach is to publish:

“Acme Ltd wins the 2026 Best Industrial Widget Company Award.”

That goes into the News section and gradually disappears down the archive.

I would do something different.

Announce the win on LinkedIn because it is timely news.

Then decide whether the award provides useful proof for prospective customers.

If it does, add the award logo or a short reference to an appropriate permanent page.

Now the useful bit is available to prospects without forcing them to read an old press release.

The same applies to other updates.

You complete an interesting client project.

Don’t just publish:

“We recently completed a project for XYZ Ltd.”

Turn it into a proper case study.

Explain the problem.

Explain what you did.

Explain the result.

Show the evidence.

That is useful to future customers.

You employ a specialist engineer.

Announce it on social media.

If their expertise is commercially important, update your team or expertise page.

Something happens once.

Social media carries the announcement.

If the event creates lasting value for prospects, extract that value and place it in the correct permanent section of the website.

That’s a far better system.

A useful blog is different from a company news feed.

I am certainly not suggesting B2B companies stop publishing content on their websites.

Quite the opposite.

I want them to publish better content.

There is a massive difference between a useful resource section and a stream of internal company news.

Your blog, knowledge base, insights section or whatever you call it should answer questions prospective customers care about.

If you’re an accountant, write about issues your ideal clients regularly ask about.

If you’re an engineering company, explain technical decisions buyers need to understand.

If you’re a software business, explain integrations, implementation issues, data migration, costs and common mistakes.

If you’re a commercial property consultant, explain decisions property owners have to make.

Use your knowledge.

Google’s helpful content guidance specifically encourages original information, analysis, substantial coverage and clear evidence of first-hand expertise.

This is exactly where a B2B company has an advantage.

You speak to customers every day.

You answer their questions.

You know where projects go wrong.

You know what buyers misunderstand.

You know which options cost more.

You know where money gets wasted.

You know which apparently cheap option comes back to bite people later.

Write about that.

That’s valuable website content.

“We’re delighted to announce…” usually isn’t.

A simple test before publishing anything.

I would put every proposed piece of website content through a very basic test.

Ask:

Would this be useful to our ideal prospective customer before they decide whether to contact or buy from us?

If the answer is yes, it probably has a place somewhere on the website.

If the answer is no, ask a second question:

Does this need to remain permanently available on our public website?

If the answer is also no, you’ve probably got a social media post, email or internal communication.

For example:

We’ve appointed a new Finance Director.

Useful to a prospect? Possibly slightly, but probably not enough to justify a permanent article.

Social media.

We’ve developed a new service specifically for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Useful to prospects? Absolutely.

Create a proper permanent service page. Then use social media to announce and promote it.

We’ve completed a project that reduced a client’s processing time by 42%.

Useful?

Yes.

Create a case study containing the commercially useful evidence. Share the case study on social media.

We’re attending an industry exhibition next month.

Time-sensitive.

Post it on social media. Email customers and prospects you specifically want to meet.

Our office will be closed between Christmas and New Year.

This is customer information.

Email customers. Post it on social if appropriate. Add a temporary website notice if visitors genuinely need to see it.

Then remove it.

The website does not need a permanent article announcing that the office closed for Christmas in 2024.

What should you do with existing news content?

If your website already has ten years of company news, I would not simply delete everything without looking at it.

Go through it properly.

Some articles may have value.

You might find project stories that should become case studies.

There may be useful technical articles hidden amongst the announcements.

An old acquisition announcement may explain something important about your company.

There might be press coverage worth retaining.

Other content will have no lasting purpose whatsoever.

That 2018 article announcing that Janet joined the accounts team probably isn’t doing much for anyone.

Review the content and sort it into sensible groups.

• Keep useful evergreen content.
• Rewrite valuable material into proper resources.
• Turn strong project stories into case studies.
• Move lasting evidence onto relevant service pages.
• Remove obsolete announcements that serve no useful purpose.
• Redirect removed URLs where there is a genuinely relevant alternative.

Do not blindly redirect every old news article to the homepage. That’s lazy and often makes no sense.

If there is no equivalent useful page, the correct response may simply be to remove it.

A better B2B content model.

I think B2B companies can make this far simpler by separating their content into three groups.

1. Permanent website content.

This exists primarily for prospects and other important website visitors.

It might include:

• Service pages.
• Product pages.
• Sector pages.
• Problem-led landing pages.
• About content.
• Team and expertise.
• Case studies.
• Testimonials.
• Technical information.
• Useful guides.
• Detailed articles.
• Pricing information where appropriate.
• FAQs that answer genuine buying questions.
• Contact information.

Most of this content should remain useful for a reasonable period and should support the visitor in understanding, evaluating or contacting the company.

2. Current public updates.

These go on social media.

They include the day-to-day signs of company activity.

New hires. Events. Awards. Staff activity. Small wins. Opinions. Photos. Short updates. Industry observations.

This material helps keep the business visible and human without allowing transient information to dominate the website.

3. Customer communications.

Some information isn’t marketing content at all.

If your existing customers need to know that your support hours are changing, tell them.

Email them.

Speak to them.

Use your CRM.

Use a customer portal.

Send an account management update.

Don’t publish the information on the website and assume the people who need it will stumble across it.

This is another reason I dislike using websites as customer noticeboards.

It’s a fairly rubbish way of communicating something important.

There are some exceptions.

There always are.

Some businesses genuinely need a public news or announcements area.

A listed company may need an investor relations section.

A large organisation may have formal corporate announcements.

A charity may need to publish updates for donors and stakeholders.

A membership organisation may have a genuine member audience visiting its website regularly.

A software business may maintain public release notes or a product changelog.

An organisation dealing with public services may need to provide operational updates.

A company with significant media coverage may need a press centre.

Fine.

These have a clear purpose.

They are not there because somebody decided every corporate website needs a News button in the navigation.

And even in these cases, I would separate that content properly.

Investor news belongs in investor relations.

Product release notes belong in product documentation.

Press materials belong in a press section.

Customer information belongs in customer support.

Do not dump everything into one enormous bucket marked “News”.

Good website structure starts by understanding what the content is for.

Google’s quality guidance takes a similar approach by asking assessors to consider the true purpose of a page and then judge how well that page achieves its purpose.

Your own website planning should be at least as clear.

Keep your website focused.

Your website cannot do everything equally well.

If new business is important, build the site around new business.

Define your Ideal Customer Profile.

Understand the questions those people ask.

Understand the problems they have.

Understand what makes them hesitate.

Give them the information they need.

Show them relevant work.

Demonstrate genuine expertise.

Explain why your approach is different.

Give them clear routes through the website.

Make it easy to contact you.

Then stop filling the site with stuff intended for people who have already bought from you.

Your current clients should have better ways of receiving important information from you.

Your followers on LinkedIn can see the everyday life of the company there.

Your website can get on with the important job of turning strangers into prospects and prospects into enquiries.

I have always argued that the content should dictate the structure of a website rather than simply filling whatever sections happen to have been designed. A website works better when you decide what it needs to say and who it needs to say it to before worrying about the presentation. That same principle applies here.

A company news feed might make the business feel busy internally.

But your prospective customer doesn’t need busy. They need useful.