New website for 2 different markets

[AlderleyMan]

Hi may name is Mark and I am new here and I would appreciate some feedback as I am trying to put together a plan for a new website.
I run a micro business currently selling sand art products to 2 market sectors
1. B2C - PTA's of primary schools who use the products for fundraising at events.
2. B2B - Some Leisure venues, attractions, few niche businesses and I hope within the near future some Holiday Parks as well.

Up to now I have just had the one website which has predominantly been focused on the PTA fundraising side and not much on the B2B side - apart from a small tile on home page connecting to more info about 'commercial opportunities'.

1. If you were in my shoes would you create 2 separate websites for the 2 main markets, I own both a .co.uk and a .com of the same brand name, so I could easily do this. Are there any SEO implications here if so what?
or would you
2. Stick with having one main website and perhaps have 2 separate areas (or tiles) on the home landing page fort the 2 different markets?

Apart from above the only other way I have thought of it is to use one site, and have a suffix after the .com like .com/trade which could go on all trade literate and LinkedIn and that would direct trade customers to a particular area of the site.

Would you like to give me some feedback as to what you think are the advantages and disadvantages of any of the above options, if you want me to clarify anything or you have further questions please let me know.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks
Mark

 

[fisicx]

One site

Don't even have the tiles to the two areas on the homepage. Just market the products and have two routes to purchase. You would have different landing pages for each lead source.

Def need a new website. So many things wrong with the current one I don't even know where to start.

 

[antropy]

100% 1 website! Alex

 

[Mr D]

Some people go for different sites for different business parts. A friend is a florist and sells motorbike parts - vastly different customers. So he has 2 sites.

Others as indicated above go for one site - it can be made to work.

 

[makeusvisible]

Without question, one website.

Your product offering is essentially the same for both markets. There is no sense in hiding the array of what you do from either market as if anything it will help to build trust in the brand.

You also have to keep in mind the cost of ownership. Building content on two websites is...well...twice as hard as it is for one. You have mentioned SEO, and as you probably know, Google loves content. During the design phase of your website think about how you can structure the content so that the relevant markets are seeing content relevant to them. i.e use your content to build trust and to help your SOE efforts.

Also keep in mind, that when people visit your site, they more than likely land on the page most relevant to them. So I wouldn't go with any kind of tiled approach on the homepage. Make your homepage about the brand, what you do, and why you are good at it.

Lastly, focus on your nav. Have a clear split on the nav between b2b and pta.... maybe via a mega-menu for example. But as your nav is visible on every page, that should be the priority route to drive people to the content they want to see, and of course your CTAs.

Hope that helps.

 

[ethical PR]

One website and two brands.

 

[Beckie North]

Everyone on this thread is correct! Having one website is best.

 

[Deleted member 333618]

SEO is hard enough for a single website, why have two?

 

[fisicx]

SEO is hard enough for a single website, why have two?

Not if you do it right

 

[gpietersz]

One site for all the reasons given and more.

I own both a .co.uk and a .com of the same brand name, so I could easily do this.

You will find a lot of customers end up on the wrong one. People going to the .co.uk will type .com and vice versa, and lots of people will type the brand into Google and go to whichever ranks higher.

 

[Mr D]

SEO is hard enough for a single website, why have two?

If its hard for one its going to be hard for two.
Perhaps make it easier.

 

[Deleted member 333618]

Not if you do it right

Maybe I'm just a beginner that is why I find it difficult

 

[John Toomey]

I would suggest one website with clear navigation / information architecture for the different audiences.
Two sites = more maintenance

If you want to direct users straight into the different areas of your site, you could put <domain>/primaryschool or <domain>/trade on any emails or printed literature you send and setup redirects to the relevant pages on your site.