We all hear that phrase ‘Content is King’, but it’s not quite true for the home page on your website. The days of 300 words of text are long gone, search engines are more sophisticated and visitors to your websites behave differently. They’re reading on smart phones rather than desktops and they don’t have time to read much when they’re looking for something specific.
Your job as the
website owner is to remove all the barriers between your audience and your
message, so getting what they want is simple, with nothing that stops them at
any point.
Think of your home
page as the contents index and you’ll be on the right track.
Here are my ten top
boxes you need to tick:
1: Brand
Make sure your logo
is a reasonable size, not huge, not tiny.
Use your brand colours throughout the website and choose a consistent
font, ideally sans-serif (easier to read on screen).
In the Brand banner
that appears at the top of the page (and every other page) include your contact
information. Don’t expect people to
navigate to the footer or the Contact page to get in touch. Top right is usually where people look for
this kind of information.
2: Navigation
On a mobile device
this usually appears in the form of a ‘hamburger’, but on a laptop or desktop
screen a horizontal strip reduces the number of clicks your visitor has to do
to get where they want to go.
Many people do know
that clicking on the company logo will return them to the home page, but not
everyone does. Don’t make life difficult
for those who have not yet discovered this and include Home on your
navigation.
Typically, your
menu should be – left to right:
- Home
- Your main product or service categories
- Any resources you offer
- Blog/News
- About
- Contact
Home should always be on the left and About
and Contact the last two on the right – and, these days, About
and Contact is more common than, About us and Contact us.
If you have media
packs the Media page would normally site just before the About
page, or possibly as a subpage under About.
A menu that
‘floats’ – i.e. remains visible as the user scrolls down, is also an excellent
way to make life easier for them.
3: Banner
This is usually an
image that sits at the top of your home page, under your brand banner. My advice is ONE image and key message as
scrolling marquees (those images that change every couple of seconds) are more
of an irritation to your visitor than a support for your brand.
The image should
help to support the message – otherwise it’s just eye-candy. The last thing you want is your visitor
wondering what it ‘means’, that’s a distraction from them taking the action you
want from them.
4: Headlines
The key
message/headline that appears in the banner should tell the visitor exactly
what to expect from your website. It’s
the information that is guaranteed to be ‘above the fold’ (on the first screen
they see before scrolling) and shouldn’t leave the visitor trying to work out
if they’re in the right place. If it
doesn’t make sense to them, they’ll be gone.
A second smaller
headline, can appear below the image, introducing what you offer.
Headlines are not
an exercise in creative writing, they’re there to signpost people. Good headlines tell people that either:
- They will get this benefit
- They will solve this problem
They should be
positioned in ‘you’ language – not ‘we’ language. In other words, ‘You get this’, not ‘We do
that’.
5: Introduction
If it’s not
abundantly clear, this is your opportunity to grab the visitor’s attention with
your second headline (see previous item) and a short overview of the benefits
they could get or how their biggest headaches could be removed. Short = one or two paragraphs only.
6: Core offerings
There’s a good rule
of thumb about website content – tell people what you want them to do, and make
it easy for them to do it. The next
thing people should see is your core product or service categories; ideally with
attractive icons or image in clickable boxes.
This works as a
call to action – ‘here are our best offers, click to find out more’.
7: Introduce yourself
A short intro of
you or your company can add another element to your home page. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel; use the
first paragraph of your About page and headshot. People like to see who is behind the
business.
8: Knowledge links
Sharing your
knowledge demonstrates that you know your stuff. That’s where your blogs come into play. Having direct links to the last 2-3 blog
articles is a good way to draw in people who like a lot of information before
making a decision.
9: Build your list
As most marketers
will tell you ‘The money is in the list’.
If you don’t already have an email list (and even if you do) an
opportunity for people to join it is a good strategy. Nobody joins a ‘subscribe to our newsletter’
invitation, so offer something that will be of real value to your target
audience and set up your automated follow up system. The form can go on your home page – ideally
nearer to the top, I’ve seen it work well embedded in the banner image, as long
as the message is right. Nobody will see
it in the footer!
10. Footer
The footer usually
has links to your privacy policy & T&Cs, your company registration, any
accreditations or validations and, maybe, your business address, but it
shouldn’t be huge. Some footers include
menus, but ensure whatever is on your main navigation is the same as what is in
the footer – multiple menus confuse!
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