Types of business websites: which one does a B2B company need?

Why the type matters

"We need a new website" can mean six different projects with six different budgets. A company profile, a product catalogue and a customer portal share a domain name and very little else.

Getting the type right first saves money twice: you do not build features nobody uses, and you do not discover halfway through that what you actually needed was a different thing.

of the buying journey is done before B2B buyers first contact a vendor (6sense, 2025)

61%

of deals go to the vendor buyers already preferred before that first contact

~80%

of buying time is spent meeting suppliers, split across every vendor considered (Gartner)

17%

Those numbers explain why the website carries so much weight in B2B. By the time someone fills in your form, they have usually read your pages, compared you with two or three others, and half decided.

The main types, and what each is for

Company profile

The classic company profile is what most Indonesian industrial companies start with, and it is often a PDF turned into pages. Its real job is trust: a procurement officer checking that you exist, have the right certifications and have done similar work.

The mistake is stopping there. A profile answers "who are you?" but rarely "can you solve my problem?", which is the question that brings in leads.

Marketing site

A marketing site is built around the buyer's questions instead of the org chart. Each service gets its own page with the problem it solves, how you work, proof, and a clear next step. Case studies carry numbers. There is a blog because buyers search before they call.

For most B2B companies, this is the type to aim for. A good one includes everything a company profile has, and then does something with the traffic.

Product catalogue

Manufacturers and distributors with hundreds of SKUs need a catalogue: products with specifications, filters by industry or standard, downloadable datasheets, and a request-for-quote form that carries the product reference with it.

Catalogues live or die on data. If the product data sits in an ERP or a spreadsheet, plan the sync before the design.

E-commerce and B2B portals

B2B e-commerce looks like retail on the surface, but the rules differ: customer-specific prices, minimum order quantities, payment terms, purchase orders, approval steps. Off-the-shelf retail platforms handle some of that with plugins and workarounds. Larger catalogues and complex pricing usually justify a custom build.

Campaign microsites and careers

A product launch, an exhibition or an annual report can get its own small site. Keep it on a subdomain or a folder of the main site so the links and traffic it earns stay with your brand.

Careers pages are often an afterthought until hiring gets hard. A proper careers section with real roles and real people helps both recruitment and, quietly, sales: buyers look at who works there.

Customer portals and web apps

Once customers log in to see orders, documents, tickets or shipment status, you are building software, not a website. It needs authentication, permissions, audit logs and a different budget. Keep it separate from the marketing site, at app.yourdomain.com for example, so each can change at its own pace.

How to decide

1. 1.Write down the one action you most want a visitor to take: call, request a quote, buy, apply, log in.
2. 2.List who visits: buyers, engineers, procurement, job seekers, existing customers.
3. 3.Map each visitor to the type that serves them, using the table above.
4. 4.Start with the type that serves your revenue. Add the others when there is a reason.