7 Ways to Create an Effective Homepage

A great homepage is a culmination of various keys. It can entice the audience to explore your page further, or leave them feeling confused and clueless. You’ll have them clicking for the exit which is what you don’t want. With an 8 second window of impression, you want to get this part of your website right.

So I have provided 7 ways below to make your homepage pop with zest!

1. Structure

Structure is an important part of a well designed homepage, the positioning of your content is key in guiding your audience strategically.

How can you achieve this?

• place important content higher up on your homepage
• don’t use too much information, keep it simple
• group elements that are similar in topic
• size and style variation to highlight importance

It can get overlooked for many reasons and it’s hard to know what should be seen first. This is where personalizing content comes into play.

Questions to ask yourself:

• What is essential?
• What is not essential?

2. Hero Section

The hero of your homepage is an introduction to your brand and business. It’s usually located in the upper part and is best positioned with an image(optional). It’s the very first thing your audience sees when they visit your site. So it should speak louder than anything else.

The hero section consists of the following sections:

1. HERO HEADLINE

• Tell your audience what you offer, and how they can benefit from it. 
• Connect the dots between each click. It should flow.
• What’s in it for me? Should be how you approach this section.
• Clarity over confusion: don’t overcomplicate it and use too many words. 

2. HERO IMAGE

• Position and size your image to WOW your audience. Using a small image won’t impact the audience more than a large image does. Put yourself in their shoes and see how you respond to your favorite store online.
• Create a sense of curiosity, because it gives your audience an opportunity to be intrigued. This essentially leads them down a path where they begin to unravel the meaning of this image. 
• Make it eye-catching and persuasive, be sure to align this with your headline and what the company represents.

When both sections are defined well it can be the deciding factor which causes readers to either scroll through your page or automatically exit.

3. Explain the value

This can often be forgotten and many can overlook the importance of why you need to explain the value of what you offer. How does your business meet their expectations? Your audience wants to know why they should buy from you or why they should hire you. 

Don’t assume they will figure it out, you have to tell them upfront and be very straightforward.

See Adobe for example; their hero statement is “Adobe Creative Cloud gives you the world’s best creative apps and services so you can make anything you can imagine, wherever you’re inspired.” They explain what they do, how to serve you and you can benefit from their services and apps. 

It’s Gold.    

Think about your favorite store and how they convince you with their website. A flashy hero image pops up or slides left, and this intrigues you to click through. In that moment your curiosity begins to scroll, take action and oftentimes it leads to a purchase or two. 

If you take this approach and replace it with how you view your homepage. It will help you to gain clarity when thinking about the overall structure.

4. Clear Call to Action

Calls to action are essential and should be clearly stated throughout your homepage. Main CTA is usually located below your hero headline and can be duplicated throughout the page, so there’s a flow of where you want your audience to go. Whether it’s a sign up for your newsletter, make a purchase, a download or to contact you. 

CTA’s need to be visible.

Most people are revisiting and just want to make a quick purchase, or are new and have looked around long enough to know they want what you offer. It is the step that can make you miss a sale or make a sale, because your conversion process isn’t clear.

5. Content Offer

Whether it’s an ebook or checklist, people want a reason to invest into your business. The majority of your visitors are new so, in order to get their email or fill out your form there has to be an exchange between you and your audience. You must be willing to offer them something intriguing but it must also solve a problem for them.

This consists of and is not limited to the following:

• Downloadable checklist 
• Ebook
• Worksheet
• Quiz
• Mini training guide
• Lead Magnet

6. Trust Element

You must build trust with your audience as it’s essential in every business, so include trust building elements on your homepage. For example your logo/s, current client work, testimonials. Make it simple to understand, yet in alignment with your brand. Remember, clear and easy to see is the way to go.

“Everybody’s doing it!”

This phrase, in a nutshell, is social proof. People will most likely invest into your business and/or services when they see how much other people are invested into you. Credibility and conversions increase as a result of this approach.

7. Test

The best way to know what works and what doesn’t is by trying it in real life. Let’s say the size or the color of the button, why not try different options and see which option works better. With the help of Google Analytics you can see how many people clicked and how many didn’t.

What to test?

• Headline of the page
• Call-to-action (buttons for conversion)
• Images or videos
• Product Overview
• Size and form fields
• Reliability indicators (testimonials, certificates, etc.)

Final Words

The greatest way you can zest-ify your homepage is to first prioritize your content and utilize each of the steps. This will bring you one step closer to a beautifully created website. One cannot work without the other, so bridge the gap between client and CEO and build trust with them. 

I know this approach takes a lot of time and effort. So if you have any questions or would like support for your website, please reach out to me and I’d love to discuss how we can work together.