14 Elements for a Successful Website Homepage

Improving your current website or planing a website redesign. This article is based on the structure elements of a successful website’s homepage. A well crafted website homepage is a great way to generate more leads for your business.

When looking at statistics… Over 80% of people don’t move onto page other pages within your website. Most people that visit your website know within a few seconds if they want to contact you or if they want to move on. So you only have a very small window to convert and encourage those visitors to get in touch with you. You very seldom get a second chance to make a first impression.

Your website homepage is your Virtual Front Door for your business. This page is generally your first impression for potential new clients. Your homepage is a landing page responsible for drawing website traffic.

So to improve your website, we suggest some critical elements that you should include on every websites homepage.

14 Critical Elements for a Successful Website Homepage.

1. Headline:

   • Your headline needs to tell your audience exactly what your website is all about. Don’t over complicate your headline.
   • Keep it clear and simple to understand. Look at your headline from your audience’s point of view.
   • Don’t use complicated over-elaborate wording. Ensure the headline isn’t too short and isn’t too long.
   • Ensure that your headline isn’t spammy. Try and avoid hard sell words such as “Must”, “Free”, “Magic”

BAD: “You must read our Article before you eat your next Meal” This is too spammy
GOOD: “Avoiding Gluten is Easy. Find out More”

BAD: “Genetic Telomere Engineering”
GOOD: “Live Life Longer”

2. A Sub-Headline:

   • Elaborate a bit further on your services that you can offer to your clients. If possible add in a pain point the end user could be experiencing
     Headline: “Live Life Longer”
     Sub-Headline: “Getting you healthier and fitter. Live a longer happier life”

3. Call To Action:

   • The main goal of your homepage is to get people to explore your website and to contact you.
   • We recommend having at least 2 to 3, call to actions on the homepage and in particular above the fold. Above the fold is the homepage without scrolling, so what you see as you land on the homepage.
   • Call to actions don’t all have to be the same, or leading to the same page. They can be different call to actions to direct people to different sections of your website. By using multiple call to actions you are enhancing the user friendliness of your website. Some call to actions include: call us now, contact us now, get a quotation, read our blogs, Find out more about xyz, Review us now, request a call back etc…

4. Relevant Images:

   • Images are important for your website. When deciding on images you need to ensure that the images are relevant to your content. For example: You have a body corporate business.
     BAD IMAGE: Picture of two people sitting on a couch looking at a computer laptop.
     GOOD IMAGE: Picture of a family standing outside a home in a complex ( showing many homes ).
   • Try and use images that evoke emotion and show “lifestyle”. With images you need to relate to your audience regarding your topic.BAD IMAGE: Picture of a carpet.
     GOOD IMAGE: Picture of Kids and / or Dog playing on the carpet.
   • Try and avoid using cheesy stock photos and over used stock images. If you use stock images, we recommend altering them so that they are more unique to your business. An example of this could be to merge two stock images together, add on content or remove sections of the stock images.
   • Not only do good images help portray across what it is that you do, it helps from an SEO perspective. Google experts all suggest that the more unique and relevant an image is… The better credibility it will give to the true essence of a business website.

5. Show your audience the BENEFITS:
   

   • It is important to explain the benefits to your business or service. Prospects want to know why they should be using you. What benefit they will be receiving from you to make their lives easier.

6. Social Media:

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     Yip… it is like a lightbulb! Social Media integration is so obvious yet so many people forget to include it. A link to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and so on… Show your audience that they can get social with you. Interact with your social audience to draw traffic to your website. This also helps to build your online presences and brand trust.

7. Testimonials:

   • Include some of your best testimonials on your homepage. Keep the testimonials short and simple. Use extracts from client’s testimonials if they are too long. You don’t need to include everything from long testimonial. Most people don’t have the time to read everything, so a short snippet is perfect. Do remember to include a name and photo ( or company logo ), if possible. This gives the testimonial more credibility.

8. Easy Navigation:

   • IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! Do not miss this step! Ensuring that your clients can easily navigation around your website is extremely important. We also highly recommend, ensuring that your menu is always visible at the top of the web page. Even when scrolling down the website page. We never recommend having your menu disappear as you scroll down a website. Always ensure that you have a sticky menu on your website. The easier it is to navigate around your website. The more likely your audience will visit more pages on your website.

9. Content Offer:

   • Building a database / leads is essential to every business for marketing to existing and potential new clients. A great way to build a database is to offer your audience a something in return for their email address. This feature offer can include an ebook, guide, or some top tips. We do understand that this “content offer” isn’t applicable to every business website. But we do say that if you can offer one, then by all means include it on your website. You can even set it up to be automatic through a service like Mailchimp. This way you don’t have to lift a finger it all becomes automated!

10. Secondary Call to Actions:

    • I hear you ask, “What is that?” These are call to actions further down the page, below the page fold. As your audience scrolls down the web page and reads your website’s content. There are different stages at which a person may go “I need to contact this company”. Having a secondary call to action further down a web page is important. This ensures that your audience don’t have to go scrolling back to the top of the web page to click on a call to action. You need to make sure that it is as easy as possible for your audience to contact you.

11. Product / Service Features:

    • Not only do you give your audience your benefits, but you need to include Features. This will give people more of an understanding of what’s provided with your products and services. Ensure that this is simple to understand.

12. Resources / Blogs:

    • Most visitors are not ready to buy when they visit your website. So by ensuring you have a resource area or blog section on your website. You can offer your audience the opportunity to ‘find out more’. Resources and Blogs help show that you know what you are doing and that you are the “go to” person in your industry. This also helps to builds your credibility.

13. Awards and Warranties:

    • If you have won any awards, then why not showcase them. Showcasing you have won awards gives you more credibility.
    • If you offer certain warranties, then why not create a “badge” and display it prominently on your website. An example could be “$1,000,000 Termite Warranty”
      

14. Google Reviews:

    

    • Why not include a link to your Google Review. Your audience can then see what your clients have to say and write you a review themselves. Google reviews are essential for your business and from an SEO perspective. If you haven’t already setup your business so that you can get reviews, then we suggest as priority one, to setup your business on “Google My Business”

Finally, don’t forget to ensure that your website is optimised for Mobile devices. When adjusting your website’s homepage and adding on these additional elements. You need to review what they will look like on Mobile devices. Mobile websites make for a great SEO campaign and improved user experience.

If you would like us to give your website an obligation free review for missing elements, please click here to contact us. We will review your website and come back to you to let you know what you are missing or could work on.