If your website is like your shopfront, then the homepage is its front door. Not all your website visitors will land on your website via your homepage, but it’s a great place to start and set the tone for the look and feel, design and layout for the rest of your site.
If you’re designing your own website, I commend you. This is no mean feat! But it’s so important to make sure your website is designed well around your ideal clients and your website goals. It’s important not to just create a website that you think looks good. There is a lot more to a successful website than just the pretty.
So, it’s important to dig deeper here so I hope these top tips for creating a successful website homepage design will help you on your way to greeting, not just a good website, but a great website for your business.
Use copy to compel and keep your website visitors
It only takes a couple of seconds for your website visitors to make up their mind if they will stay or go when they land on your website. Yes, time is of the essence here, so your homepage needs to capture and inspire your website visitors and also tell them exactly what you do. Your website visitors will not take the time hunting around on your site trying to find out what you do and if your website is confusing, it will give them a reason to switch off and leave.
As well as the design of your site, your website copy is so important to get your message across. It’s important to create copy that speaks directly to your ideal clients and encourages them to take action on your site. This is as important on your homepage as across the rest of your site.
Make your homepage a summary of the rest of your site
Your homepage should set the tone for the rest of your website in terms of design and also content. Your homepage should let your website visitors what’s on offer and start the journey through your site. Think of your homepage as a kind of index page to the rest of your site, introducing the other pages of your site and what you have on offer. A successful website will take its visitors on a journey towards the goals of your site and keep them engaged the whole time.
Keep it easy to navigate
It’s so important that your homepage and of course, the rest of your site is easy to navigate. If your website visitors can’t find what they are looking for, they will get frustrated and are more likely to leave and go elsewhere. Think about how frustrating it was the last time you were looking for information on a website and you struggled to find it. Make it easy for your website users to find information or contact you. A successful website homepage design will set the tone for the rest of your site and make sure they aren’t left frustrated.
Tell them what to do next
This is a website user experience error I see happening so commonly on so many websites. It’s so important to tell your website visitors what to do. They won’t guess. And, if you don’t tell them what to do next, they’re more like;y to get distracted by the hundreds of other tabs they have open or things on their mind that they’ll end up clicking away and leaving. When designing your website, it’s super important to consider how your website visitors will use your site. Test your site out or get feedback on it from others. Is it user friendly? Does it get them lost?
I offer website review sessions, where I’ll give you an honest opinion on what’;s working and what’s not working on your website including content, user experience, navigation and SEO. Find out more about these sessions.
Update your content regularly
It’s a great idea to use your homepage to showcase your latest offers, collections, a sale you have on or something seasonal. But, it’s the worst idea ever to let that content go out of date. If you’ve ever visited a website and found out of date content, you;’ll know it makes that business look unprofessional, or worse, it can look like they are actually no longer in business at all depending on how out of date that content is.
Make sure all the content on your site is kept up to date as a priority. You could set this as a monthly or weekly task depending on how current your content is. A lot of business owners put so much emphasis on making sure their social media profiles are kept up to date and not enough on their website. Make sure you keep your homepage looking as professional as possible by keeping content up to date. The Google Gods will reward you too as Google tends to rank websites that are frequently updated much higher than those with dusty old content. All the more reason to blog frequently and keep your galleries and portfolios up to date too.
So you’ll see how your website homepage can really help to set the tone for the rest of your successful website. Follow these tips and you’re sure to be on your way to creating not just a good, but a great website.
And if you’re keen to learn more about how I design my website homepages and dig deeper into the design process for my clients, get the guide on 6 secrets to a goals smashing website right here!
I’m a WordPress website designer based in North London and I’m on a mission to help as many business owners as possible get ‘update website’ off their to do list. If this task has been lingering on your task list for far too long, get in touch or see the services I offer busy business owners like you, to find out how I can help you.
