So, you have a business. And while your website is essentially the digital storefront of your business, the homepage is the first impression it makes on a potential customer. Now what makes a successful Homepage?
Although the overall design of a website is important; such as – layouts, fonts, colors, and white space, what serves as a very important factor for the business online is the website’s homepage. It’s because depending on the type of site, visitors in general spend 15 seconds on your website. In fact, a stunning 55% spent fewer than 15 seconds!
So you can imagine the average bounce rate and why your homepage needs to communicate to the visitors within a matter of seconds to keep them on your page. And that’s why when creating a website or undergoing a site redesign, you need to make sure your website provides a great user experience and creates a pleasant impression to the visitors. One way to start is by addressing the homepage.
Here are the 8 basic features necessary for your website’s homepage success:
1. Headline
Like we mentioned earlier, your homepage needs to communicate to visitors what you have to offer, and you have to do it within the first few seconds. And as a part of the top banner, a headline with sub-headline or paragraph text should provide a clear description of your business.
It’s a brief copy consisting 2-3 sentences of powerful, memorable, clear and concise text that targets your viewers’ needs. Plus it should be designated as a heading 1 (H1) for SEO purposes and ideally include a keyword that’s important to your audience and describes your business.
2. Primary CTA
Primary CTA is meant to encourage the most desired action you want visitors to take. It usually is more visible and prominent than secondary CTAs and leads your prospect towards the conversion.
A single, prominent Primary Call-to-action is the most important action as it enables conversion completion. Depending on your conversion goal, primary call-to-action buttons can be: “Sign Up”, “Submit”, “Download” “Get Free Trial” etc.
3. Supporting images/icons
People are visual by nature and images help retain attention as they are easier to process than an overwhelming amount of text. So providing visitors with engaging images or visuals is a reasonable way to connect your prospects with the product or service that you offer.
These visuals can be images, icons, infographics or ads for your new spring line, a slideshow or video. Any visual media is better than a page of plain text. They’ll not only enhance the attractiveness of your homepage but also add a sense of credibility and integrity to a website.
4. Catchy and precise content
Content is the backbone of your website. In order to connect with your prospect and maintain interest, your website’s homepage should reveal content that your target audience can instantly relate to. The content on your homepage should be well thought out, informative, catchy and concise. Something that’s easy to read, always consistent and most importantly brand specific.
However your homepage should never be too detailed or too long. So the content on there needs to be in a way that outlines who you are and what you do to set the scene quickly for first-time visitors.
5. Keywords
The homepage of a website typically carries the highest authority and weight for a domain. Not to mention how the text content on there matters. So it’s important that the content, headings, subheadings on your homepage be rich in keywords. That’s because a good keyword strategy not only grabs the attention of your visitors and attracts traffic but also helps your website in – promotion, link building, search engine ranking, lead quality and conversion.
6. Navigation bar
The job of your homepage is to intrigue your audience and serve as a hub to other areas of your website. And a navigation bar is one of the first things on your homepage that visitors will see in the first few seconds of loading. And a navigation bar is a must when it comes to it and preferably inserted within the header to provide a clear course to all your other web pages. If your website is content-heavy, a search box might be a valuable asset to include here.
One of the major advantages of a descriptive and effective navigation is it can be highly beneficial in reducing bounce rates. And that’s great, right? Always remember the navigation for your website should be simple, easy to use for visitors, so they can explore the website and find exactly what they are looking for without having to search through each page to do so.
7. Contact information in the footer
A footer can be almost as important as the header bar when a visitor has actually spent a significant time on your site and eventually scrolled down to the bottom of your website’s homepage. And the footer should include three main features – links, social media integration and most importantly – contact.
It is to continue the engagement and to encourage your visitors to inquire about your products or services, which often produces a solid lead or sale. You need to make sure your audience is able to reach out to you at any time, easily. And a contact form or set information like- phone number, email address or social media integration gives users a way to get in touch with you.
8. Blogs/case studies/testimonials
A potential customer needs to trust you before choosing to work with you. And you can use your website to build your credibility by sharing your expertise through blogs and demonstrating successful track record with clients through case studies and testimonials.
Blogging is a great way to establish your company as an expert in your industry and connect with your customers. When done right, it can get you maximum SEO benefit and in the homepage it creates the impression of a business that knows what they’re doing.
Social proof is essential. And sharing a few reviews and testimonials can be a great way to let visitors know that others are impressed with your expertise.
Same goes for case studies. Potential customers like to see real life examples of your work, and they are a great way to show off what you’ve done well.
So integrating these to your navigation bar in the homepage can be a great way to have your visitors explore your website longer and win their trust.
One of the most important things that you need to keep in mind while creating or redesigning your homepage is – the user experience. There are certainly more elements to consider, and all of those come down to making your homepage and the whole website into a beautiful, functional and successful one.