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I am sure you all agree with me that the homepage of a website is extremely important, since in some way it sets the tone of your entire project.

However, although everybody is aware of the extremely importance of this matter, still there are out homepages that need improvement and serious modifications. The goal of this article is to show you which are the steps that you should follow when designing this crucial matter. Therefore, if you know that you need some pieces of advice, regarding this issue, then you are strongly encouraged to read the following lines.

The goals of the homepage

First of all, you should know that it is important to set the goal of the homepage. And this activity should be undertaken together with your client, in order to make sure that you will meet his or her requirements. Therefore, try to have a clear conversation regarding the goal and topic of the website, so that you will start off your work on the right foot.

Actually, when the goal is missing the homepage is overcrowded with various items and design features that confuse the visitors. And, precisely because you don’t want this scenario to occur, you should really establish its aim. So, even if you are dealing with a redesign of a website the discussion with your client is relevant, so that you will know what this person desires. After this conversation, you will be able to create a homepage that the audience will find really easy to use and access.

Also, another reason why you must have a well-designed homepage is because it will get you closer to creating an effective brand. And, as you well know it, building a brand means getting loyal customers that will trust your products and that will assure the longevity of your business. So, as you can see, it is pretty crucial to have a great start.

Let visitors know what you are doing

What is extremely significant for you to realize is that the homepage of your website should state loud and clear to your visitors which are the services that this page will provide to them. Therefore, make sure that you will handle this problem and that you will let them know from the very first moments what they could do on your webpage. Also, the web designer should create the homepage in a manner that would easily explain to its users why their product is the best for them. So, try to include various features that you have at your disposal, as testimonials from successful brands, so that you will make the user feel safe when using your services. So, the whole point is to banish the confusion and instead to ease their decision-making process.

Use smartly the call-to-action buttons

The next thing you need to do is to use as few call-to-action buttons as possible. Web designers are aware of the fact that the purpose of these items is to attract the reader’s attention. Therefore, you wouldn’t want your homepage to actually “scream” at your users, but to kindly inform and give them a few suggestions that will enhance the usability of the website. The problem is that when there are too many call-to-action buttons, your visitors will find it hard to make a decision. That’s why you should limit your choices to a small number of such items. Otherwise, you will offer your users a bad experience that will make them leave your website.

Anyway, as far as these buttons are concerned, every web designer should think about and should consider the opinions and desires of his or her most important visitors. In this way, he or she will manage to establish a connection between the call-to-action buttons and the goal of the website. And, once this connection will be made, then the homepage will really offer a great time to every user.

Make it to sell

Either you are trading pieces of information or actual objects, your homepage should take the shape of a salesperson. If you won’t succeed in this task, then you will make it extremely difficult to your visitors to understand the goal of your webpage. What you should do is to create a hierarchy of the focal points. Try to concentrate on the most important matter, right from the beginning, without exhausting your client. This way, you will have a clean homepage that will lack clutter and crowdedness, the two most hideous things that should never define your website.

So, as you can see it is important to design a homepage with brief but useful information. Now that you are aware of the fact that your website should be represented well from the beginning, you will know that it is best to avoid adding features that overload the aspect of your website and that hinder the utilization of it. Go for a simple look and do not include items that will cause your page to load slowly, or you won’t be able to say that you have an audience, since people won’t bother to wait ages just to see the homepage (by garcia). Just pay attention at these factors and the success of your website will be secured.

And last but not least, web designers should really understand that since the homepage is the first thing people say when getting acquainted to a website, then he or she should really work hard, in order to beautifully present the project. So, one must make use of all the techniques one knows, but this should be made without overwhelming the user. Therefore, you must choose well the colors, the images, the texts, so that everything will be interesting. Even though they say that appearances are deceiving, when it comes to the homepage of a website, one should really put his or her mind into it, because this first impression will really influence the user. So, one should totally start by describing the entire project in a captivating manner, because this will affect the achievement of the main purpose.

Thus, to conclude, the homepage should be clear, it should establish the goal, it should contain few call-to-action buttons and it should really sell your products and services.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR > Daniel Pintilie

Daniel Pintilie works for conversion rate best practices Company Invesp and enjoys writing on landing page testing and landing page audit.

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