Creating an Superstar Home Page

As they say, making a good first impression is vital. You may only have one chance to “meet” a web visitor. Through the homepage, you get to give a quick introduction of your company. If you fail to get that “spark” that makes a visitor want to get to know you (and your products) more, you may rarely get another chance. Thus, you need to design a killer homepage, one that interests the readers enough for them to want to visit your other pages.

Providing a welcoming first impression so that visitors are more inclined to explore more pages also have the added benefit of boosting your SEO ratings. This is based on SEO metrics that include the length your visitors stay in a page and the number of succeeding pages they explore in a website.

• Identify your goals and who you want to reach. Before going to the design drawing board, carefully plan the message you want to deliver, based on your business and marketing goals. Ask yourself, what do you want to achieve through the website – will it be to generate new leads, sell products or increase awareness for your brand? It will also help to identify your target market, their needs and how your product can help.
• Identify your message. Once you identify your goals and target market, it becomes easier to take that first step of identifying the content for your homepage. This should be a quick snapshot of who you are. What does your company do? What can you offer the visitor? Remember, you need to quickly let the visitor know the answer to their WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?). Also, quickly identifying who you are and what you do can indicate to visitors that they have found what they were looking for when they made a query to a search engine such as Google. This message should be able to provide a visitor with a quick idea of who you are within the first five seconds.
• Get rid of fluff. Use crisp, concise words that are easy to understand and that your target readers can relate to. You only have limited space for your homepage content – you should not waste this space on well-worn corporate clichés that may even turn off your readers. Provide a unified message using both text and images.
• Guide visitors on to the next paths. Although your initial message in the homepage is simple, you should also provide visitors of clear indicators of the next steps in their experience of the website. With the use of navigational tools and calls to action, you funnel them to specific pages based on their personal preferences or needs.
• Make use of high-quality visuals that are also clickable. The homepage should contain more visuals than text. You can have clickable pictures that lead to other pages. You can also have a carousel of pictures that lead visitors to your website’s various areas of interest. Generally, the wider the area in the home page that is clickable, the higher the probability that the visitor will click to go to another page.
• Use content and tools that engage. How well does your home page pull the reader in? Depending on your goals, you can use a wide variety of tools to engage the attention of the visitor and encourage him to interact with your content. You can make use of a carousel display, a video, the latest news flash or an interesting survey – with results linked to another page.
• Use content and tools that build trust. This quickly answers the question, “Why should I work with you?” You can present any of the following – testimonials, certifications, endorsement from an industry association, awards received, newspaper articles and social media share counts.
• Evoke a positive emotional reaction that reinforces your message. The overall look of the home page is designed to draw have an initial emotional reaction that highlights the message you want to deliver. For instance, if your business is about providing certain services (i.e. accounting or tutorial services), the emotion you are going for would be confidence and trust. If you are offering children’s products or have an entertainment site, the overall look should evoke a sense of fun.
• Implement web design best practices. With the homepage, more than the other pages in your website, you get to show visitors that you are professional and trustworthy. Your home page should be a prime example of usability – fast-loading pages, easy-to-read text and a responsive design.

About Adaptivity Pro

A quick view of Adaptivity Pro’s portfolio shows that example after example of stellar home pages that bring results. Indeed, Adaptivity Pro is your SLC web design expert. It also provides other web-based service that is aimed at promoting your presence in the web. This includes SLC SEO, internet marketing and e-commerce websites.