5 Best Practices to Bring Your Private Equity Website to the Next Level

The fragmentation of today’s market means that digital marketing is more crucial than ever for private equity firms. The linchpin of any firm’s digital marketing strategy is an effective website. Here are 5 things to keep in mind as you redesign or tweak your private equity website.

1) Simplify.

A well-designed website with five carefully plotted pages is a much more effective calling card than a cluttered, labyrinth site. Remember that your website doesn’t need to contain every piece of information about your firm. Provide enough information for a prospective CEO or banker to dig into, but don’t overwhelm them. Key pages for a private equity website might include:

• Overview
• Investment approach and focus
• Portfolio companies
• Team members
• News and press
• Contact

2) Go mobile.

What devices do you use most frequently to browse the web? Chances are your phone or tablet is high up on that list. Investing to make your site mobile responsive is key to a good first impression — the last thing you want is for a prospective CEO to look you up on his iPhone, only to find that he can’t actually navigate your site without migrating to his laptop. Any design firm worth their snuff should make mobile responsiveness central to their strategy — if they don’t, look elsewhere.

3) Say cheese.

Think of your web presence as an extension of your team members’ professional personas. A partner at your firm wouldn’t show up to a management meeting in jeans and a t-shirt. Your website should be dressed to impress too. Professional, compelling photography goes a long way toward a positive first impression. Photos should be shot in the same style and lighting but don’t have to be entirely uniform or conventional.

For example, Sterling Partners’ photos feature a variety of office backdrops, poses, and facial expressions — no school-portrait-esque headshots here — while maintaining a cohesive look and feel. Including a bio for each team member will emphasize your firm’s professional experience while also providing a personal introduction before an in-person meeting.

4) Prove it.

If your firm specializes in consumer products or invests in household names, featuring their logos prominently throughout your site is a no-brainer. TSG Consumer Products does a great job featuring their partner companies on their homepage as well as on a dedicated sub-page. Readers can dive into detailed case studies or see a matrix of all investments (the grayed-out logos that transition to color images when moused over are a nice touch).

If your portfolio companies are less recognizable, you might rely on case studies (anonymized or not) to highlight your experience. (Don’t go overboard on text — you might link to a PDF with more information, but on the main page, stick with a few pithy bullets that cover the basics.)

5) Make it skimmable.

Like it or not, attention spans are minimal these days. Particularly when it comes to information about your investment approach, make sure that key information is easily scannable. Sterling Partners uses photographs and pithy copy to highlight their industries of focus in a clear, compelling way. TSG provides a text overview of their investment criteria — but also highlights key facts (target company revenue, EBITDA, investment size, and flexibility) for those who might be skimming quickly.