Website Guide - Writing a Great Homepage

Homepage Heaven

Your homepage is arguably the most important page on your site. It’s the place most people will land and the impression it gives in a few seconds will determine whether people continue to a contact or sale, or just keep surfing. There are a number of things you can and must do to ensure your homepage is working effectively for you, from having an attention grabbing title, to aiming right with your product, establishing trust and hitting them with the unmissable specials.

Grab their attention

A few carefully chosen words can catch someone’s attention, intrigue and have them eager for more. If you have a great unique selling point, use that, or here are some more ways to make an impression with a headline:

• Use ‘how to’ phrases – people are often looking for information quickly.
• Promise a major benefit – save £100 a year
• Target specific customer types – e.g. websites for plumbers, the potential clients you cut out will be balanced by the increased interest of the targeted group
• Ask a question that makes them say ‘yes!’ – Are you baffled by the Internet?

Make the grabber line clearly stand out from the rest of the page, and draw them onto your next most important content.

Focus on your USP

If you only have one product or service, it’s important to get to the point quickly. Hit them with your Unique Selling Point straight away, and the benefits they will gain from purchasing what you offer.

If you offer a range of products it is more important to emphasise why you are the company to go for. You could sell yourself as the best value in the market place, on location, variety or quality customer service.

If you have any unmissable specials, make sure they're clearly explained and immediately spotted.

Establish Trust

Everyone says they offer great customer service, but can you prove it? Use customer testimonials to show you’re not just blowing your own trumpet.

Also, stating what qualifications you have and even providing scans on the certificates will prove that you’re serious about what you do. If you have any awards, don’t be shy! Tell your customers what they are for and include logos of awarding bodies.

Now it’s possible for anyone to make a website, many people are worried that a company they contact online might take their money and run. If you can include an address and photographs of your premises or branded vehicles, you prove you are not a fly-by-night rogue trader.

Especially if you are going to be collecting customer information, include a brief statement about your privacy policy and link to any relevant legal documents.

Finally, using the logos of relevant associations and official bodies, or even just other known companies can give you ‘borrowed credibility’.

Don't overdo it

Time and time again we see business owners who want to get too much across on the homepage, thinking that they have to tell the visitor everything - right away. But the hard fact is, people can only read one thing at a time. It's far better to take them by the hand and lead them from one point to the next, giving them time to digest each point and become more intrigued - that way they will take it all in and be begging for more...

If you don't carefully plan your user's experience - and try to cram too much into the home page, it misses all the points entirely. A busy homepage is confusing, distracting and irritating for the user. They will feel like they're standing in a room with ten people shouting at them all at once, so they can't make out any of it. Instead of reading all the information, they will read not a single word, and go to your competitor's calmer site instead.

Go back to the web guide and find out more!