Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Home Page
Ideally, a visitor will enter your website one way; through the Home Page.
The Home Page is written for this purpose; to give visitors a brief explanation of what you and how it benefits them. Your website’s Home Page needs to clearly and quickly articulate what you do, why they’re here and what they’ll gain by working with you.
The reality is visitors may enter your website through any page, depending on how they get to your site (paid ad, social media, email, organic search, recommendation, and so on.) Regardless of how they get there, anyone interested in your business will go to your Home Page at some point.
Your Home Page has just seconds to capture your audience’s attention with minimal copy and interesting visuals. It needs to have a cohesive brand feel and voice to do this, but many times Home Pages need to balance a strong brand voice with staying clear.
How to write a Home Page.
Don’t: Be Cute at the Expense of Being Clear
Many Home Pages fall victim to one key problem; they sacrifice being clear for the sake of being cute.
You want to capture the attention of the visitor, but you also don’t want to leave them confused on exactly what you do or the benefit is.
Getting the benefit across quickly and clear is crucial for getting more sales. Confusion drives people away, clarity hooks them.
With such short snippets of copy, it’s easy to throw a short phrase together that may catch the visitor’s attention, without also telling them what awesome thing you do, and how it will improve their lives. And of course that part is incredibly important!
Not sure what I mean?
Here’s an example. Which is a clearer headline?
It’s all coming together
All of your investments, together at last
They both strike the same chord, coming together. But the second one calls out a specific benefit to the visitor and lets them know you handle their investments. (Or whatever awesome way you help people!)
Do: Have minimal copy
The tricky thing about Home Pages is they’re light on copy. A well written and designed Home Page is one with short, easily readable sentences or paragraphs with buttons and links.
The purpose of the Home Page is to entice the visitor to click elsewhere on the site. To do this, you need regularly interspersed buttons throughout the page, with clear and strong call to actions to click them.
(See again, not being clear for the sake of being cute)
All the copy on the Home Page is short and to the point. As a good rule of them, keep your copy under 300 words.
Do: Have a Cohesive Brand and Voice
Your entire website should feel like an extension of your brand, in the same colors, font, formatting, and voice as the rest of your marketing materials. This is especially important on the Home Page, where a visitor will only take a few seconds to decide if they click somewhere else on your site or off of it.
If they’ve been getting your emails, your website should be in the same voice as what they’re used to. If they’re following you on social media, your captions should reflect your brand voice too. Speaking about your brand consistently across platforms makes your business trustworthy and recognizable.
Do: Layout Your Copy Well
Your Home Page is made up of several blocks, or short sections of information. Each one of these sections leads to a different area on your website, thus always making it easy for the visitor to take the next step.
These sections will be short paragraphs or sometimes just a sentence or two. Each one should give a brief overview of the landing page it connects to and the call to action should be clear. Your calls to action don’t have to be stuffy; they can be in your brand voice! Just remember not to sacrifice being clear for being cute.
Do: Work with a Designer
While working with a website designer is an investment, it’s a worthy one. A professional touch takes your website from small business to Professional Online Business.
The touch of a website designer will elevate your website to the next level; taking it from something small but mighty and transforming it into the sales and marketing tool of your dreams. Their professional eye will help you organize everything, from the header and paragraph positions to the copy and the main navigation. As professionals, they’re well versed in how to build a website for maximum user functionality; a key differentiator in converting people on your site.
Now not everyone wants to or can afford to work with a designer right away. That’s fine! It’s more important to have a website than it is to have a perfect one. Getting started is the most important part. But tuck this away as a future investment, and you’ll be glad you did.
