Guide to Designing A
Homepage
Guide to Designing A Website Homepage
Creating The Best Homepage
There’s no place like home… Right? I mean, who wants to be sitting at work right now reading an article about web design? Nonetheless, you’re reading this, despite wishing you could be catching up on that new series on Netflix, watching the latest game on TV, or checking the news about which of your favorite politicians are going to claim they care about your situation. After all, all work and no play... Well, you know the rest. As much as you like being home, you also find yourself focused on making your home the best place to be, right? After all, homes are the default place in most people’s lives, where we go after a long day at work. So all of us love to make improvements to our home. So think about this… why would your “homepage” on your website be any different? < See, I found a way to tie website design in with all of this…
When it comes to your homepage, it should literally be the main place for visitors to go to find out what your company is about. This was true back in 1994 when I first began designing websites, and it’s still true now. While you can have a variety of landing pages that help with your SEO strategy, and various pages used for A/B testing, your front page should tell the message in the most effective manner possible. Sometimes that could be loud and messy (come over to my house and you’re bound to hear my dog bark, and see various books and misc. clothes placed all over the couch). Other times, your home could be quiet, tidy and simple. Whatever the case may be, your homepage, like your physical home, should represent the focal point of any website; it is where your content lives.
Your homepage should be a combination of things. It should state who your company is, and what you have to offer. You should make it easy for visitors to get from point A to B. No matter how you do this, it needs to be done. Whether it’s a simple page with a brief description and some links; or a seemingly endless scroller giving an overview of all things about your business. Regardless of which way you design your website, your homepage should convey the message you want and tell the story to intrigue your visitors to want to look further.
Think of a real estate transaction… Your home could be perfectly setup to sell, or could look completely lived-in and still sell for the same amount of money. Two completely different ways to sell a home, but both get the same results. Why is that? It is because people use heuristics and look for structure. As long as the layout guides people to other rooms, especailly those places that are important to most people, they will explore. They can always create a mental picture for where they want to go next. Most people know that the hallway leads into the bedroom, and the closets are the place for storage. As long as your website follows these same principles, people won’t have difficulty navigating around. It’s up to you though, to make sure you follow a structure.
Any good website designer will tell you how important structure is. You can figure out a good structure by focusing your attention on where you want people to go, and how you want to get them there. You need to figure out where to properly place content on pages of your website so it makes sense, and tells a story. As you build the website, you should always come back to focus on creating and improving the homepage.
When we start a new design for a website, whether it’s based on an existing concept, or we are starting from scratch, we first need to figure out the direction we want to go with the website. Often, the design for the homepage is done, but the content is filled in afterwards. Then, as we go through the design process, filling in the content for each page, we will revisit the homepage, and figure out what needs to be included. It’s a collection of content from throughout the website; helping tying it all together, and leading people to whichever room we want guests to visit.
This is why your structure is so important. You need to help guide people, whether it’s to an article like this one, or to an important page about one of your most valuable services. As a marketing agency that focuses on digital marketing, and SEO services, we care most about the content related to those services. So, we focus on that content on our homepage. If you sell furniture, your focus should be on directing people to your most valued furniture. That’s the way you should think about your homepage. If you simply throw together a website on one of these automatic website builders, and don’t actually understand how to direct people to where you want them to go, you don’t have an effective website, and are not likely to get the conversions or sales you are looking for.
If you learn anything from this article, it’s that you should make your homepage more than simply a directory of pages on your website. Your homepage needs to tell a story, show off the best you have to offer, and direct visitors to the room in the house (e.g. page on the website) you are most impressed with. As you start improving your content on other pages, you will need to go back home and keep that current. Otherwise, you’ll soon realize that you haven’t cleaned up in a while, and it’s time to do some spring cleaning all over again. Instead, keep your home clean in the first place; or at least keep it current. Your customers will thank you for it, and you’ll always make it clear who you are, and what you have to offer.
No matter what changes you make to your website, keep in mind that your homepage should always be in the forefront of your digital marketing strategy. Follow that, and you are far more likely to succeed in creating a website that you can be proud of, and will give visitors a reason to stop by.
When it comes to your homepage, it should literally be the main place for visitors to go to find out what your company is about. This was true back in 1994 when I first began designing websites, and it’s still true now. While you can have a variety of landing pages that help with your SEO strategy, and various pages used for A/B testing, your front page should tell the message in the most effective manner possible. Sometimes that could be loud and messy (come over to my house and you’re bound to hear my dog bark, and see various books and misc. clothes placed all over the couch). Other times, your home could be quiet, tidy and simple. Whatever the case may be, your homepage, like your physical home, should represent the focal point of any website; it is where your content lives.
Your homepage should be a combination of things. It should state who your company is, and what you have to offer. You should make it easy for visitors to get from point A to B. No matter how you do this, it needs to be done. Whether it’s a simple page with a brief description and some links; or a seemingly endless scroller giving an overview of all things about your business. Regardless of which way you design your website, your homepage should convey the message you want and tell the story to intrigue your visitors to want to look further.
Think of a real estate transaction… Your home could be perfectly setup to sell, or could look completely lived-in and still sell for the same amount of money. Two completely different ways to sell a home, but both get the same results. Why is that? It is because people use heuristics and look for structure. As long as the layout guides people to other rooms, especailly those places that are important to most people, they will explore. They can always create a mental picture for where they want to go next. Most people know that the hallway leads into the bedroom, and the closets are the place for storage. As long as your website follows these same principles, people won’t have difficulty navigating around. It’s up to you though, to make sure you follow a structure.
Any good website designer will tell you how important structure is. You can figure out a good structure by focusing your attention on where you want people to go, and how you want to get them there. You need to figure out where to properly place content on pages of your website so it makes sense, and tells a story. As you build the website, you should always come back to focus on creating and improving the homepage.
When we start a new design for a website, whether it’s based on an existing concept, or we are starting from scratch, we first need to figure out the direction we want to go with the website. Often, the design for the homepage is done, but the content is filled in afterwards. Then, as we go through the design process, filling in the content for each page, we will revisit the homepage, and figure out what needs to be included. It’s a collection of content from throughout the website; helping tying it all together, and leading people to whichever room we want guests to visit.
This is why your structure is so important. You need to help guide people, whether it’s to an article like this one, or to an important page about one of your most valuable services. As a marketing agency that focuses on digital marketing, and SEO services, we care most about the content related to those services. So, we focus on that content on our homepage. If you sell furniture, your focus should be on directing people to your most valued furniture. That’s the way you should think about your homepage. If you simply throw together a website on one of these automatic website builders, and don’t actually understand how to direct people to where you want them to go, you don’t have an effective website, and are not likely to get the conversions or sales you are looking for.
If you learn anything from this article, it’s that you should make your homepage more than simply a directory of pages on your website. Your homepage needs to tell a story, show off the best you have to offer, and direct visitors to the room in the house (e.g. page on the website) you are most impressed with. As you start improving your content on other pages, you will need to go back home and keep that current. Otherwise, you’ll soon realize that you haven’t cleaned up in a while, and it’s time to do some spring cleaning all over again. Instead, keep your home clean in the first place; or at least keep it current. Your customers will thank you for it, and you’ll always make it clear who you are, and what you have to offer.
No matter what changes you make to your website, keep in mind that your homepage should always be in the forefront of your digital marketing strategy. Follow that, and you are far more likely to succeed in creating a website that you can be proud of, and will give visitors a reason to stop by.