Your website is for your visitors
I have some impactful home page tips that will convert visitors into customers. If you have a new company, you must get your business off to a running start on the web. When planning a website for your new business, build an uncluttered, relevant presentation. When laid out effectively, this presentation will bring you the customers you need to stay in business. Think carefully about WHY people land on your home page, then make it easy to connect with you.
Use simple design elements
Make your home page content easy to scan
Let’s talk about your home page. It is essential to design your home page deliberately. My rule of thumb: include a narrow top header with an email address link and a mobile phone dialer link. The next feature lends beauty, impact, information, and links: your hero banner. An interactive hero banner can accomplish several goals simultaneously. Use a gorgeous photo or video with a ‘contact’ button linked to a page with business hours and contact information. Incorporate a second button linking to your main service page. Your hero or slides may contain your embedded logo, a headline, a tagline, and button links.
Lend credibility to your business with a crisp logo made for the web. Have a designer render a simple company logo in dark and light versions. Keep the design bold and clean. Your logo should be recognizable in a small browser thumbnail icon and on a mobile screen. Your designer can remove the background layer, rendering the graphics in ‘png’ files. Small text embedded in your logo does not display well. Place your company logo at the top (usually left corner) of the home page header and in the footer. Design your site for ease of use, with the text-to-background contrast high enough for easy reading. The font you select makes an instant impression, so select headline fonts that are easy to read. Your page text font size should range between 16 and 20 pixels.
Avoid distractions
Your company home page should be easily digestible: a user should understand what you do within 5 seconds. An impactful home page will eliminate unnecessary animation in the page body. You can make a great impression with an interactive hero or slider on the home page. A headline and tagline should convey a clear message. Buttons containing contact links that cut to the chase are very effective.
Make contact info, services, products, and FAQs easy to find
Make it easy for your customers to find what they seek. In this day and age, people are impatient and have short attention spans. The first tip is to make the information your visitors want easy to find. Remember that the visitors to your site are just one click away from your competition. The quickest way for someone to look up your company’s vitals – business hours, street address, phone number, or email address – is through your website. Include this vital information in the header, footer, sidebar, and contact page. If you provide several services, create a section under your first paragraph arranged in blocks (illustrated below).
Home page services module example
In the screenshot above, each block contains an appropriate graphic, a bold headline, and a link to the page with all the details. Keep your home page text clear, with paths to vital pages. To increase your website visibility in major search engines like Google and Bing, link each service to its own page. Tell your story in detail and add visuals. Remember that your home page is for your visitors and prospective customers. In deference to my son’s valued opinion, a wordy home page is usually a turn-off. You can section your home page to introduce important information, then link to a separate page to learn more. More articles on desirable website elements will follow.