When building your website homepage, keep in mind that there are items that website visitors will be looking for when they come to your website. Here are the 5 things that you need to include on your website homepage.
1. Did you know it takes the average visitor only 50
milliseconds or .05 seconds to form an opinion
about your website? (according to a study done
by Google in 2012) Their first impression will
either keep them around and even coming back
for more, or cause them to click the “back”
button. Google also found that if they do stay on
your website, they likely won’t spend more than
15 seconds on any one page. Since this first
impression is so crucial, we’ve outlined five
things to include on your homepage to make
your business stand out.
5 THINGS
to Include on your Website Homepage
2. 2
While this one may seem obvious, it is very
important that your name is the first thing someone
sees when coming to your site. It also helps if it is
an attractive, eye-catching, and recognizable logo.
Once they know who you are they should also be
able to easily determine what services or products
you offer. This doesn’t need to be a long
description, just a short tag line or even a few
descriptive words.
Name/Logo and description1.
3. 3
Once the user knows where they are and why, it’s
important that they can also easily navigate around
the website. Nothing will drive someone away faster than
feeling like they have to dig for the information they are
looking for. To help avoid this situation, here are some
things to include in your menu:
Easy to use navigation bar/Menu2.
- Contact information: Easily accessible contact information
is important. This can be as simple as an email address or
can include the physical address, phone number, and fax
number.
- About section: This is where you’ll go into detail about who
you are and what you offer. Consumers like to know that
they’re purchasing or working with a reputable company.
This section is where you will talk about how the company
started, how long you’ve been in business, your goals or
mission statement, and any other relevant information. This
gives your company and website validity. This is also a
great place for testimonials.
- Product galleries: Your products or services
should be easily accessible. In this section you
can include pictures as well as descriptions
and pricing.
4. 4
Too much text is boring and your
clients/customers most likely won’t read it
Images/Graphics3.
Invest in good, high quality product photography
and put at least one image on the homepage. The
more visually pleasing your website is, the longer
people will want to stick around. Information is
important but good images will keep the viewers
attention longer.
5. 5
Social Media Links4.
One of the best ways for you to interact with
your clients/customers is through social media.
More and more consumers are interacting with
companies on social media. You should have a
business account on at least one social media site
and update it frequently. Put links back to your social
media accounts on your website so that users can
easily follow you and keep interacting. These are
often in the form of the social media logos or icons
that you are linking to. This will make it even easier
for users to find.
6. 6
Like T-Swift, your home page should have blank
spaces.
Blank Space5.
Too much information in the form of text or images
can look real busy real quick. You want to limit the
home page to a few high quality images and only
the most important information. When it comes to
your home page, less is more.