You never get a second chance to make a first impression – that’s why your homepage is the most important web pages on your site.
For any business, the homepage is the face of the business on the Internet and could be the first experience of your company for the visitor. You want to give them a very good experience and encourage them to contact your business for your services and products.
It clearly answers “Who you are,” “What you do,” and/or “What can the visitor do here.”
If you’re a well-known brand or company (i.e., Apple) you may be able to get away with not having to describe who you are and what you do; but the reality is, most businesses still need to answer these questions so that each visitor knows they are in the “right place” for your type of services and products.
If visitors can’t identify what it is you do within seconds, they won’t stay around long.
It resonates with the target audience.
A homepage needs to be narrowly focused – speaking to the right people in their language. The best homepages avoid jargon and speak in simple terms your value proposition.
It communicates a compelling value proposition.
When a visitor arrives on your homepage, it needs to compel them to stay. The homepage is the best place to communicate your value proposition so that prospects choose to stay on your website and not navigate to your competitors’.
Some examples of good value proposition.
Dropbox
“Dropbox works the way you do. Get to all your files from anywhere, on any device, and share them with anyone.”
Evernote
Remember Everything
Modern life can be complicated. Simplify it with Evernote, the app to manage it all.
GrooveHQ
Simple Help Desk Software
Delight your online customers with awesome, personal support.
It’s optimised for multiple devices
Home pages should be simple to the point no flashy animations and responsive to multiple devices.
It includes calls-to-action
Every homepage should effectively use primary and secondary calls-to-action to direct visitors to the next logical step. Examples include “Free Trial,” “Schedule a Demo,” “Buy Now”, Call us on
Remember, the goal of the homepage is to compel visitors to dig deeper into your website and move them further down the funnel. CTAs tell them what to do next so they don’t get overwhelmed or lost. More importantly, CTAs turn your homepage into a sales- or lead-generation engine, and not just brochure-wear.
It’s always changing
The best home pages aren’t always static. Some of them, are constantly changing to reflect the needs, problems, and questions of their visitors. Some home pages also change from A/B testing or dynamic content.
It employs great overall design.
A well-designed page is important to building trust, communicating value, and navigating visitors to the next step. As such, home pages should effectively use layout, text, whitespace, colours, fonts, and other supporting elements that encourages the visitor to get take the next step like – download the demo, subscribe to your blog or contact you to take the next step in the process to acquire you service or product.
It should perform all the above in an easy to navigate visually pleasing well designed manner.
