8 Essential Elements of a Website Homepage Design

Build your homepage with a purpose

If you’re considering a new website, it’s a good idea to start with your homepage as it is mostly the first place where your visitors will land in. Your homepage will leave the first impression on the visitors, so it is important to build it strategically.

A good website should be built on the user experience principles, found online, works properly and engages the visitors with its content. These cannot be underestimated as it costs business opportunities to many small businesses.

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

Nowadays, customers’ search begins on Google, so your website’s presence on search engines is crucial. The next step is to visit your website. When they do so, the design of it is oftentimes not enough. Shoppers don’t have much time and know there are more competitors online than you. Thus, they spend only a few seconds on your site before deciding whether to stick around or move on.

Let’s examine the elements that make a good homepage.

Headline

A headline should convey your business promise. It should be the first thing people see when they land on your website. You must write a clear statement that will resolve your visitors’ problems.

Call to Action

Customers are guided along the journey through calls to action and advised of their next steps. These could be buttons, texts or even icons. You should include primary and secondary visually striking call-to-action in your homepage that direct your visitors to do the things you want. Make sure CTAs are big enough to easily touch with a finger also on the mobile view.

Clear Navigation

The navigation of your website (the bar at the top of your website) should be easily understandable by your visitors and help them explore your website easily. You can consider it as a roadmap of your website, so make sure to keep it helpful, consistent and brief. Also, don’t forget to check whether the links in your navigation are working or not. Including a search box might be a good solution to keep your visitors on the page.

Images & Videos

Make sure to use images that evoke emotions. Showing your brand’s personality will make your business look more professional. Make sure to use high-quality and optimized images.

Some businesses prefer to showcase a video on their home pages. Videos allow you to give people a real sense of who you are and what you stand for. Plus, they convey information quickly and concisely.

Social Proof

Testimonials and previous work are so important to build trust and reassure your potential client that your business is genuine. People believe in other people’s opinion about businesses, so invite your clients to share their experiences with your business or website.

When placing client feedback on your homepage, make sure to include a photo and name as these give more credibility.

Features & Benefits

Identify the key features that differentiate your business from your competitors. What you do is essential, and prospects will want to know why they should choose you. List your services/products and avoid going into details. Speak the language of your clients and highlight their pain points.

Naming your visitors’ problems on your website will make it easy for them to quickly know if they’re on a website that will address their needs.

Resources

Your website visitors may not be ready to purchase, so offering them free resources such as blog posts could be a great way to keep them on your website and increase your brand awareness. Blogs can also establish credibility and make your visitors see you as a thought leader in your industry.

Including the headlines of your latest blog posts on the homepage will also be beneficial for search engines.

Content Offer

If you want to generate leads from your homepage, it is important to offer a free e-book, guide or template to your readers. However, placing a pop up on your home page will slow down your website (which is bad for SEO) and may frustrate your visitors, so you may want to consider placing an embedded form on the homepage rather than using a pop-up.

Summary

A website homepage plays a vital role in making the first impression which is not given a second chance. You have only a few seconds to impress your visitors and make them stay and engage with your business. If you want to have a successful online presence, you need to make sure to provide a better user experience for your website visitors.

However, this doesn’t mean that you should drop all the information about your business on your homepage. A well-designed home page should provide enough information to grab the viewer’s attention and create a curiosity to learn more about your business. Make sure to leave white space, highlight the most important information and make it about your readers, not yourself.

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