Creating a Home Page That Works

In the board game Monopoly, the most valuable piece of real estate to own in the game is Boardwalk. In terms of your company’s website, the most important page is your Home Page. A well crafted home page is vital to the overall success of your business online. When potential customers come to this page, you only have a few short moments to grab their attention. Your home page has a great effect on your site’s overall conversion rate (the ratio of visitors that respond to your goal action). A “goal” could be contacting you for a quote, subscribing to your newsletter, buying a product online and so forth.

You need to have certain elements on your main page to have any kind of hope in raising your conversion rate. Does your home page make the grade?

1. Does Your Home Page Have A Clear “Call to Action”?

A “Call to Action” is the specific thing you “want” visitors to do when they come to your page. For example: “Click Here for a free sample”. Give visitors very clear and concise instructions on what you want them to do. Don’t give visitors too many choices however because it may result in confusion and inaction.

2 Is Your Site Easy To Navigate?

Visit your site as you think a visitor might. Take note on how easy or hard it is to get around on your site. Are the fonts easy to read? Are your links prominent and easy to find?

3. Did You Proofread?

If you did, great. Now do it again. Maybe even a third time. Also make sure all your links are working and done correctly.

4. Are You Using Color Intelligently?

The colors you choose for your website can have a big effect on your visitors. Too many will distract and overwhelm the reader. Too little may not draw enough attention to the important parts of your site.

5. Is Your Home Page Too Cluttered?

Keep your home page design simple, clean, consistent and easy to follow. Don’t fill your page up with so much content that’s hard to read.

6. Do You Have Any Client Testimonials?

Testimonials are important to your site because they reassure visitors to trust you. Use a short testimonial on your home page when appropriate.

7. Can A Visitor Easily Find Your Contact Information?

It is extremely important to have your contact information displayed somewhere on your homepage and throughout your site. You DO want people to contact you, right?

8. Can You Get Visitors’ Email Addresses?

Capturing your visitors’ emails allows you to keep in contact with them and nurture that relationship in order to eventually turn them into customers. Building a mailing list will help you market your sales, specials, etc. and will also help you build a solid customer base. Ask us about Constant Contact for your business.

9. Are Your Tracking Your Results?

Be sure to take advantage of your site’s built in web traffic stats and analytics. Google Analytics is free from Google and provides you with such information as how many people are going from your landing or homepage to other pages of your site. And if they are not, try to find out why, so you can improve your homepage. Monitor your bounce rate, conversion rate and other valued information. Ask us about how to put the free Google Analytics on your website.

These days you can’t just throw up a website and forget about it. You have to maintain and care for your site and always be working to improve it. Keep on top of the latest industry news and trends to keep making your site better. Your homepage is vital because it can determine how successful your overall website is in the end.