The home page is usually the first page I create when I am building a website. The reason being is that the home page to me is your shop window, it gives you an glance at what the rest of the website could be like. But so many people ask me what do I put on my home page that I thought I would give you an insight into how I structure mine for the sites I build.
So what do I put on my homepage’s?
You know when you are walking down the highstreet and something in a shop window catches your eye so you decide to go into the shop and investigate? Well that’s exactly the job of a home page on your website.
Think of it as a way to entice people in to the rest of the site, not put everything on show and overwhelm them.
Tell them who you are
When a visitor lands on your website, straight away they want to know that they are in the right place. So you need to tell them what you do and when I say what you do I don’t mean some fluffy statement that no one understands.
Get straight to the point. You have less than a second for a visitor to decide whether or not they are going to stay on your website or click off so you haven’t got time for a a paragraph of text that they will have to decipher, because they won’t.
In as little words as possible tell them what you do and how you can help them.
Also include a call to action above the fold so that people who do know who you don’t have to go looking to book an appointment or buy from your shop, whatever is your website mission you want them to achieve.
If they don’t know who you are, then that’s OK as your headline will have them wanting to read more.
So what else do they need to know?
And I don’t mean everything else your business has to offer but small bite sized chunks that give little insights into your business so they can find out more.
What you do
So they will be wanting to know what types of services you offer. A straight to the point header and maybe a maximum of one or two paragraphs to explain is enough. Again no fluffy or fancy names, people need to know that it does what it says on the tin, without having to click further. Then links these boxes (windows) to the main event – your work with me pages or shop.
Who on earth are you?
Now, unless you are Amazon or some similar internet giant people are just not going to know who you are (unless they have been following you for a while on social media). So use a few paragraphs (just a FEW!) to explain who you are and how you can help them. Then link to your about page where you can delve more into your story, what makes you different and how you can help them.
Social Proof
They still don’t know whether to click buy now or book a call? then wow them with your social proof. Videos are best along with case studies (link to these, remember this is a shop window we don’t put all the goods on display). But social proof is a brilliant way for people who you have helped previously tell their story about how amazing you are.
Blog posts
Show them who’s the expert by giving them a blog post or two to read (links to remember!). Blogging is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website so don’t ignore it!
And that’s it, it doesn’t need to be war and peace, keep it simple, show them what you have to offer in short sharp bursts and then give them the opportunity to click through and find out more!
If you want to know more about planning your website (as well as your website mission and the customer journey) then sign up to my free website planning course below: