Your website’s homepage is typically the first and sometimes last page of your site that visitors will see. So make it count!
Before we start thinking in details, first we must think about visitors. Who the visitor’s will come to your website? Why they will come to your website and what they are looking for at your website? You already think about all this points before you started branding of your business website.
Once you’ve settled on the tone of your page (youthful or refined? Exciting or elegant?) it’s time to think about the elements. An eye-tracking study at Missouri University of Science and Technology found that visitors will spend an average of 2.6 seconds scanning a webpage before settling in to look at a specific area. This means that the time you have to capture and direct their attention is minimal, so make sure they see what you need them to right away. You only get one chance at that first impression.
Because people will largely find your website through a search engine, it’s crucial that you answer their most important question right away when they arrive: “is this what I’m looking for?” State your purpose clearly and concisely near the top of the page in a font that is highly visible and easy to read.
Once a visitor has established that you are in fact offering what they’re looking for you, you need to hold their interest with your branding and layout. The eye tracking study mentioned above found that people view the following elements longest, and in this order: Logo, navigation, main image, written content.
This gives us insight into the questions people ask and answer once they’ve decided to stick around your homepage for a moment.
Logo: Who are these people and what are they about?
Navigation: Will I find what I’m looking for here, and how quickly?
Main image: What do these people do best, what is their company like?
Written content: Was I correct in my assumptions so far, and should I continue looking around?
Make sure your visitors are getting the message you want to send during their visit to each of these areas, and you’re well on your way to a successful small business website.
Ready to take it to the next level? Start thinking about how you can get those visitors who stuck around your homepage to learn more to take further action. Do this by incorporating effective calls to action (CTAs) to turn your visitors into customers. (Think eye-catching buttons with calls like “learn more” and “get started”)
If you’ve done your job up to this point, those first-time visitors will turn into repeat visitors. So give them something new to see every time they come back by creating areas for dynamic content. This can be an area that features your latest blog posts, or a social plugin that shows your recent Twitter activity.
What are some other features of great homepages that you’ve come across will see in the future post at Our blog post.
AUTHOR: ALEX
Website Designer
Website Design Pretoria
Discover more from Digital Marketing Pretoria/Tshwane
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