So many B2B websites try to speak to everyone. Which means they speak to no one.
The wrong traffic costs you money: wasted ad spend, and the harder-to-measure time spent on leads that were never going to close.
Your website should filter as much as it converts, by:
- attracting the right people
- making it obvious to the wrong ones that they’re in the wrong place
Here’s a quick guide on how to tell if yours is doing its job.
1. The First Impression Test
Open your homepage. Read the hero section and the first value proposition.
Ask yourself: Would your ideal customer immediately recognise this is for them?
Generic messaging (“We deliver your products. On time. Every time.”) doesn’t filter. It attracts broad traffic and then makes everyone, including your buyers, do translation work to figure out if you’re relevant.
Compare that to something like: “Next-day fulfilment for eCommerce stores shipping 500+ orders per week.”
That’s narrow. Uncomfortably narrow if you’re not used to it. But the second question is this: Would the wrong visitor know to leave?
It’s important they realise as quickly as possible that they’re not the fit. Like you, if you’re not reading this guide because you’re looking to improve your website results, just leave now. Mum, I appreciate the support.
Quality traffic beats volume. Always.
2. The Value Proposition Test
Now look at how you’re describing what you do.
Are you presenting your product or service the way you love it internally — all the clever features, the hard work that went into building it, the technical capabilities?
Or are you presenting it based on how people actually buy it — the pain point they’re trying to solve, the outcome they need, the conversation they’re having in their head?
Feature-led: “Our platform uses advanced analytics and machine learning to deliver actionable insights across your sales pipeline.”
Pain-led: “Stop guessing why deals stall. See exactly where your sales process breaks down and fix it.”
The first one sounds impressive. The second one sounds like someone who understands the actual problem.
If your value prop reads like a pitch deck written by product people for investors, you’re building for the wrong visitor. Your buyers don’t care about features until they believe you understand their problem.
3. The CTA Test
Look at the calls-to-action throughout your website. Are they all hard CTAs? “Book a demo,” “Start your free trial,” “Speak to sales“?
Here’s the thing: the person visiting your site might not be the decision-maker. In many B2B businesses, especially at scale, someone gets tasked with researching solutions. They need to gather options and present them upwards.
If all you offer is a demo or a sales call, you’ve just made their job harder. They can’t take three back-to-back demos to compare. They need something they can download, review, and share.
This doesn’t mean removing hard CTAs — those matter for people ready to move.
But if you’re only offering one path forward, you’re losing the people who need a softer entry point. A guide, a checklist, a comparison doc, a self-assessment — something that gives them value without requiring a meeting.
The right CTA isn’t just about conversion. It’s about converting the right people at the right stage.
What To Do About It
Run your homepage through all three tests:
- Does your first impression filter traffic, or does it try to appeal to everyone?
- Is your value prop about how you built it, or about how they’re buying it?
- Do your CTAs match how your actual visitors need to engage, or just how you prefer to sell?
If any of these feel wrong, that’s where to start. Not with more traffic. Not with more tools. With clarity on who you’re actually trying to reach and how they need to be spoken to.
Need help fixing this?
We’ll figure out you who your site is currently built for, whether that’s who you actually need, and what to change.
Bonus (if you have 1 extra minute):
The "Giving Too Much Away" Problem
Here’s something I see with businesses that have done a lot of the above right, but still aren’t getting conversions:
They’ve put everything on the website.
Full product documentation. Detailed pricing breakdowns. Every case study. Complete feature lists. Support articles. Demo videos. Comparison charts against competitors. The lot.
And then they wonder why no one books a call.
The answer is simple. You’ve given your prospects every piece of information they need to make a decision without you.
Your website should build enough trust to start a conversation, not eliminate the need for one. If someone can get a complete picture of your offering, your pricing, your capabilities, and how you compare to alternatives without ever speaking to you, why would they?
This doesn’t mean being cagey or playing games. It means understanding that your website is either:
A) A tool that feeds your sales pipeline — it qualifies visitors, builds interest, and gives them enough to know they should talk to you
B) A brochure your sales team refers to — because you get leads elsewhere and the site just supports those conversations
It should not be a crystal-clear window into your entire business where prospects can make fully-informed decisions on their own.
Strike the balance: give away value, demonstrate expertise, build trust. But hold enough back that the natural next step is a conversation, not a final-decision comparison without you ever getting a chance.
Your website should earn you the conversation, not have it for you.
Perhaps I’m giving away a lot here. But I’ve been helping marketers with this specific problem for years, you haven’t.
Talk to me if you want access to my full expertise, and hands-on delivery of these types of improvements to your website.
