HubSpot Website Design Best Practices for B2Bs

• Michaela Phillips

In B2B and manufacturing, customer needs are always evolving. Why shouldn’t your website along with them?

No one wants their business to get left in the digital dust. But what really works for modern websites in 2026? How do you use your website as a lead magnet, and what kind of content can you provide that’ll bring visitors there in the first place? What makes a well-designed website by modern standards?

I interviewed one of protocol 80’s website pros, Kathleen Melvin, to see what’s succeeding with real-life clients today. Whether you’re thinking about redesigning your B2B website or just want to know what today’s expectations are for user experience, you’ll find practical, tested advice.

Below are the highlights. If you instead want the full story, watch above or peep the Inbound Unbound podcast. You can listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!

Q: Why is a well-designed website so important, especially for B2Bs in 2026? 

A: As we're all seeing every day, how we're accessing information, it's changing right before our eyes. And it’s happening pretty much live – we can't even predict the biggest shift that's probably going to happen next month. So the need for websites to be able to go with that flow is more important than ever. For B2B, a user or a potential customer could be searching for something on ChatGPT, Google, you name it.

The website needs to be there to really back up everything that they're about, and it needs to be their big reference point for everything that they stand for, what their values are, what their selling points are. And then when those bigger changes come that we're all not expecting, the website lets them be more adaptable to those and prepared, right? Having a strong foundation is so important.

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Q: Have you seen expectations shift for B2B websites over the last few years, especially industrial manufacturing?

A: Yeah, definitely. When some of (our clients’) websites used to be a little bit more outdated, that was OK. They were getting a lot of their client base through the same tried-and-true ways that they always had. They have these great legacies, but that shifts over time. The competitive landscape changes.

Some of the needs and expectations for websites change with that, they realize, hey, having all this information on this one page might not be the best way. We're still getting the (same questions). They're not reading this information. They don't know how to contact us. Those types of things.

That really ups the expectation of, hey, we do need to make this for the end user. And then they also want it to be really shiny and nice. They're so excited about the renovation of it, and the design and the look and the ‘paint colors,’ and every decision feels so crucial.

However many years ago, every wall was gray. And now, every wall can't be gray, and we've got to keep up with this and that.

As the population as a whole just gets more web-savvy, I know you guys have had a ton more website projects in recent months. For the most part we're building those out in HubSpot. We might be a little bit biased because that's our primary tool, but could you give us a quick breakdown on why HubSpot is such a great CRM/CMS for manufacturers?

HubSpot makes it fantastic to truthfully understand and build a really nice website. If you still want a web developer to build, they can, but the fact that you or I as non-developers can go in, access the pages, easily access content …

Let’s say I need to switch an image on the website. HubSpot makes it so accessible to make those changes. But then on the other side of things, like the CRM (customer relationship management) system, HubSpot closes that loop. So if you've got your website, if you've got your CRM, if you've got forms on HubSpot, and your leads are coming in that way. You're managing your client base that way. You've got your deals. You've got all of your marketing. 

We're able to really see what's effective (from a reporting standpoint). And so having the website there, on top of the usability of the website, it really does help make data-driven, informed decisions.

 

Closed-loop reporting is one of the things Josh mentions a lot when people are talking about starting a website project. Having it in HubSpot and it being a CMS (content management system) and a CRM is perfect for that. As you said, the data to drive those decisions when a contact is in the CRM and visits a page, you can actually, very creepily see what they're looking at and tailor next steps, workflows, automation, even 1-on-1 sales follow-up based on what you're seeing. Having that all in one place is irreplaceable almost.

Truly, because when you launch a website, you're wanting to learn and catch up so quickly on how users are feeling about it, how they're interacting with things, how it’s working. We can see how those pieces of the website puzzle come together.

What should manufacturers be thinking about before they start redesigning their website?

A: They need to really be thinking about, as simple as this sounds, their larger message. What they want to convey truthfully to say, ‘This is our company. This is our culture.’ They might know it very well, and they live it day to day, but it's tricky to put that to paper or website.

From there, I think the rest comes together.

On top of knowing exactly who they are, they also need to know who their clients need them to be – and marry that together and find that path and ways to explain that. Taking the time to build out a persona or doing buyer interviews can be so, so impactful. Sometimes you get different players that come and go during a website build – sometimes it's the CEO; sometimes it's the head of marketing. It's tricky – they have to be thinking from the  perspective of, ‘This isn't just about what I like.’

Even from mine and [our developer] Rob's perspective when we're doing websites, anything we do, we say, ‘Is this what we like, or is this what the persona would like?’ You have to check yourself regularly from a design aspect.

What common misconceptions do manufacturers have when approaching their website design?

A: There’s also a few other things. It's some unrealistic expectations for sure. Maybe chasing a competitor or someone that's a bit larger. They have a different type of website, different type of end user.

I'd say the biggest thing is thinking too much about what you like. It’s so hard to regulate that. When you go into planning, it's really important to have the correct person who's going to have that final say and take all these different perspectives and know what's best.

Sometimes we'll be able to be a third party that can just say, ‘Hey, you're not being a bad guy by pushing back on this,’ or, ‘Hey, why don't we move forward with this idea?’

You don’t want to totally stifle those ideas. Some of those best ideas come along the build, maybe a month out from launch. Hopefully not same week. Sometimes you have to see it to know it.

What are the most common mistakes you're seeing manufacturers make, either starting a website process or having a site that needs touched up?

A: Overkill. I'm seeing that quite a bit. It's really tricky to balance everything as far as content modules that (slide) in or fade out. Sometimes, too much happening on a website is very overwhelming.

On a day to day (basis), everyone is accessing so much from social media, from work, we're getting alerts from school. Sometimes, when we're trying to collect information, we might (leave) straight away if a website is a little overwhelming.

You need to find that right balance of, ‘This is such a cool effect,’ and, ‘Maybe we should chill on the lower half of the page.” But also not overloading with information and finding that correct (conversion) path. We're telling them this, but where do they go from here? And do they know where to go from here?

Do you have any advice for manufacturers on balancing that branding and visual appeal versus the functionality?

A: You really do have to start with the basics. What's our colors? What's our look? What do we like about the things we're currently doing?

Are there things that we like that other people are doing? Same with examples of things we don't want to do. 

It's another huge plus if there are already images, video assets. We can work on collecting those as we go, but it's a nice thing (if they’re ready to go).with a website.

Such a good point about the graphics, the video, the elements like that. It can be so hard to see what the website is going to look like until you have those. Outdated images often make for an outdated-looking website.

And it's so nice to bring the human aspect. It's manufacturing, it's business-to-business – it's nice to see that person there and see the people that work there (rather than stock photos). It’s also nice to see for someone who's looking at jobs. Hiring is such an issue everywhere. 

It can be hard to get really beautiful images of the manufacturing process. Our team does a really great job of that here. Having some of that human element, maybe someone working on a machine, just makes the images a bit more interesting. It can get dull with just another part, just another machine.

How often should a B2B manufacturer update or audit its website? Is there a sweet spot?

A: We've seen where once the website launches, everyone starts to pay attention, and it can get scary for everybody because you've got all these new insights. It's really helpful first to have your overall yearly plan and then do quarterly audits. Obviously looking at website health, looking at the off-site SEO portion of things, how's it performing on mobile? And then what else do we need to add to the website this quarter to support our larger goals?

Hey, we've got this new machine coming. Does this require a new section on the website? Does this require a new page, a new form? We can use the data we're getting, use the yearly goals, and try not to move too hastily unless necessary. 

Yeah. Monthly reports where it makes sense, but deeper dives quarterly, seeing what content is driving leads and can inform what else should be added to the site. 'Can we build out some more content around that topic? Can we make a conversion point?' I think letting the results and the data drive what comes next for the website is really beautiful, merging reporting and website development all together.

Yeah. Absolutely. You can use that information, and if you're not seeing the results, it's time to to look at that strategy a little bit deeper.

Any other advice for companies so they can evolve with today’s user expectations and digital best practices?

A: It's really helpful if you see a website you like and you write it down so you're always staying aware of competitors. Competitor audits, we do those regularly, but those are really helpful to see.

Sometimes it's hard to see in real time (the slower) shifts, but then when you monitor those and you capture these ideas over time, you see how to better mold things moving forward. 

The other thing that's helpful is staying in touch with your current customer base. It's not a bad idea to get a (website) survey out there to some core customers that you know would give good feedback. What are you thinking? What could be more helpful? That's where a lot of good ideas come from as well. You can do that with your employee base as well.

Can you walk us through a recent success story where a manufacturer saw real ROI from a HubSpot website design?

A: We've had more website launches the last few months than we have ever. So, some really exciting takeaways from that. 

One, we'd only launched it maybe the week before, and (the client) hadn't really done a lot prior as far as SEO goes and didn't really show up on search rankings. And we saw one of its main products already rank above larger competitors, above large manufacturers. And that was just from very basic things: a solid page structure, nice on-site SEO, H1s, the meta, all those little things you check the boxes on to make sure they’re there. That was a first for them, so that was so cool. 

Sometimes the (existing) website design makes you have to clean house. Another one that we did, their subdomain that they housed actually outranked (the main web address), but didn't really link correctly back to the (main) website. So you couldn't really ever get to that website.

We launched, and now they're ranking #1 for that (main address), for their own keyword. That's a huge win for them, because if you searched for it before, you might not have truly ended up at the website.

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Manufacturing (& Your Website): More Than a Pretty Face

The best manufacturing websites aren’t just pretty. They’re designed with users and real business goals in mind. 

As you consider your own web presence, start by clarifying your message. Get to know your buyers better, and remember that adapting to new data and feedback isn’t a one-off event.

If you’re wondering which HubSpot themes or features might help you get there, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re always happy to share what we’re learning, so your next website project can be your best yet!