We often get asked when we work on web design projects, what’s the main thing we should focus on for our homepage?
It’s an important question, and as many of you know, most website visitors will only stay for a few seconds before they decide whether your site has what they want.
While there are a million different things you could do, I would suggest nailing these four things to begin with:
It’s an important question, and as many of you know, most website visitors will only stay for a few seconds before they decide whether your site has what they want.
While there are a million different things you could do, I would suggest nailing these four things to begin with:
- Have an Opt-In form on the homepage to capture the email address of your visitors If people are on your website, there’s a good chance they are interested in what you are selling. Many of your visitors will not be ready to actually buy at that point though, so you want to get them to submit their email address so you can email them later, build a solid relationship and eventually sell products to them. Most people won’t just give you their email address for nothing though, they already have way too many spammy emails coming into their inbox daily. So how do you get it? Well, a great place to start is by offering something of value to your visitors in exchange for their details – like a free report you have typed up, or maybe a video you made. Whatever it is, make sure that it’s something your visitors will really find helpful and interesting. The better quality the gift is, the more people you will sign-up. It also puts the new relationship off to a great start, because you’re helping them out before you even ask for something.
- Feature at least one of your products on the homepage Besides capturing the email addresses of your visitors, the next main aim of your website should be to sell stuff (shock horror). If you mainly sell lower priced products, I would suggest featuring one of your best value products here, so it tempts them to see the rest of your products. If you sell higher priced products, I would recommend still featuring one of your products, but avoid mentioning the price. This is not to be deceptive, but more so you can explain all the value of the product first, before they see the price tag. You don’t want to scare people off by having this big price tag in their face, before you sell them all the benefits and justify that cost. For example, you could buy a chair for $20 or $2000. To justify the big $2000 price tag, the manufacturers will say something like ‘this expensive chair has been hand-crafted using the finest materials by a renowned French artist, and there is only twenty of them in the world’ – or something like that. It is unlikely that even a rich person would buy that chair, if they only knew the huge price tag. Once you explain more about why the price is as high as it is, then you will be more likely to sell the higher priced product, because you have taken the time to show why it’s worth that price. So if you have higher priced products, always take the time to explain the true value of your product.
- Make your contact details prominent This one is very basic, but frequently overlooked. Don’t make them go to your ‘Contact Us’ page (or scroll to the bottom of the page) to find your details. If you want potential visitors to enquire, you have to make it as easy as possible for them to get in touch. If you have a ‘Contact Us Form’, make it have the minimum amount of fields possible, to increase the likelihood that someone will make contact with you. If it’s too much effort to fill out a long form, they won’t bother and you’ll lose them.
- Make it really obvious what you do and how you can help As soon as the page loads, your visitor should be able to tell right away what you do. Again, don’t make them ‘figure it out’, it should be obvious. Use plain language (write how you would speak to your friends, avoid industry jargon), and have it in big letters if need be. Show what you do, and how you can help fix your visitors problem. Further to this, you should be explaining why someone would pick you over the competitors. If they are seriously considering buying the kind of product you sell, you can bet they have probably been to ten other competitor websites as well. So you need to explain why you’re different in a concise manner to win them over.
If you can nail these four things, you’re well on your way to having a great website.
If you’d like a free website health check (valued at $197), please give us a call on 1300 305 447.