The home page of your website is the first impression a potential customer will have when landing on your website using your domain name. This is not applicable if a user clicks through a pay per click advert, as this will usually mean clicking through to the appropriate page rather than the home page. However, you will be advertising your website through business cards, flyers, emails, newsletters and so on. The people that will go onto your website through these marketing channels will land on your home page and form their initial impression of your business. Your home page can determine whether people return to your website or not. For this reason, it is important to know how to create a compelling website home page.
How to Create a Compelling Website Home Page – grabbing your reader’s attention
You want to grab your reader’s attention from the onset. You will find that on many businesses’ home pages – they have a welcome letter or a note from the CEO. Either way few people will be interested in reading through this and come become easily bored and impatient. This is the last reaction you want your readers to have. Consider what would keep you interested if you were viewing a website’s home page for the first time. A mission statement is good and can be effective but when kept to a minimum. Write a short, compelling mission statement with the appropriate keywords that will accurately indicate to the reader what your website and business is all about. Your mission statement should arouse their interest enough to encourage them to look through your website.
You also want to make your website home page as user friendly as possible. This means keeping in mind a few things. Try to limit the length of your home page so that readers do not have to scroll down. Also, do not have too much information lumped together. Your content needs to be readable in easy to view chunks including short paragraphs, bullet points, columns and sections which are clearly defined.
How to Create a Compelling Website Home Page – help them to navigate through your website
First time users on your website will have no clue where to go, so you need to make it as easy as possible for them to work out how to navigate through your website. If your website is quite sizable then it is crucial to include a site map within your home page. However, site maps can be beneficial for smaller websites who cover a variety of different topics. In addition, when it comes to search engine optimization, including a site map within your home page will encourage the ranking of your website within search engine result pages. Also, many users love being able to search within your website, so having search functionality within your website’s home page is a major plus.
The information that appears on your home page needs to be authentic and help readers to feel confident and comfortable exploring your website. Include all your business contact details including email address and some testimonials. Keep your page uncluttered, simple, yet attractive with the right information.
These are some steps on how to create a compelling website home page that you may find useful and effective for your own home page. Always put yourself in a customer’s shoes and consider how to tailor your website’s home page to what would attract them the most. We wish you the best of luck!