How to Design the Perfect Homepage to Increase the Conversion Rate of your Website
Designing the perfect Homepage for your business website is much more than simply gathering some information about what you do and who you serve and past it with a bunch of nice images. You need a Homepage that converts visitors into paying customers!
Always keep in mind that the Homepage of your website is the first thing that someone will see when they search for your business on the Internet. This will be their first impression on “who you are“ and “what you represent“. So let’s make it count!
“But how do I design the perfect Homepage? Is there some kind of formula?“
There isn’t an exact formula to design a successful Homepage but there are guidelines that you can follow to be sure that you will make the most out of your website’s Homepage.
This is why we decided to write this blog post where we are going to share the practices that we implemented on our own website and that we replicate and use to design successful websites for our clients.
How to Design the Perfect Homepage to Increase the Conversion Rate of your Website
Your Business Message Needs to be Clear and Direct
One of the most important functionalities of your Homepage is to present your business message to your visitors and they need to understand it right away, within the first section of the Homepage.
In the first section of your Homepage, you should use a big headline with simple words and straight to the point as well as images that clearly represent what is your type of business. Don’t make this section confusing by adding a bunch of unnecessary text or even unrelated images that will distract the visitors from your actual business message, you need to be able to maintain their attention on what really matters.
There are other elements that you can use and that might be a better choice for your particular case, I’m talking about an intro video or a slideshow of images. These two visual elements are particularly helpful in presenting your business message because the number of examples that you can provide in a short amount of time is huge.
If your visitors can see exactly what you do, who you serve, and why you do it just by looking at the first section of your website you are one step closer to designing the perfect Homepage.
Your Homepage is a Summary of your Business
The Homepage on your website should reflect everything that is relevant to know about your business. If you have a product-based business, your products should be displayed on your homepage (at least your best-sellers) and the same thing goes for a service-based business and its services.
If you have a blog, just like this one, you need to incorporate it in your Homepage. If blogging is something that you value for your business, have links to your best or newest blog posts on a section within your Homepage, this way new visitors will have access to it right away.
If it makes sense for your business, you can also create a section that shows your portfolio. Pick your best projects and place them on your Homepage, this will allow new visitors to have an idea of what they can expect from doing business with you. Keep this section clean, don’t use too much text, stick with the project our clients’ names, and in terms of the images, they should be representations of the final product, don’t overdo it by adding all the development steps, for that you can create a separate page and describe the project from beginning to end.
There are a lot of different types of sections that you can create for your Homepage, it all depends on the type of business that you are running. So, reflect on which ones better represent your business and add them to your Homepage, just don’t forget, keep it clean and simple to understand.
Use Calls-to-Action to Guide your Visitors to the Next Step
Calls-to-Action (CTA) are instrumental in converting visitors into paying customers. When used correctly they can increase your conversion rate tremendously. CTAs are normally used in the form of buttons, images or links.
You need to be strategic with CTAs because these will redirect your visitors to the next step that you want them to take. This action should bring your visitors closer and closer to doing business with you, so be sure to analyse which sections of your Homepage can benefit the most with the addition of a CTA.
A must-have CTA is within the first section. This is the place that your visitors are going to see once they enter your website, so it makes total sense to have a captivating CTA to guide the users to the next step.
Make sure you add more CTAs throughout the rest of the Homepage. Incorporate them into your design so you can remind your visitors of the path that they should take.
If you are smart about the way you display CTAs on your website’s Homepage, not only you will create a great user experience for your visitors but you will also convert more of them into customers.
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Have Links to your Socials and Ways to Contact You
You need to provide your customers and website visitors an easy way to get and stay in touch with you and nothing better than social media accounts to do it.
If you are active on social media then you should definitely have links to your accounts on your Homepage, this way you can create an even more trusting relationship with your customers. You will constantly appear in from of their eyes and they will become every time more familiarized with your brand and your business.
We recommend the header or the footer to add the links to your social media accounts so they can be easily accessible on any page of your website but in the specific case of the Homepage, you can go even further. There are different plug-ins that you can use to incorporate your social media accounts into your website, select the one that makes the most sense for your business and create a section where your visitors can interact with your social media account within your website.
Another point that you should consider is to have a direct contact like your business’ e-mail or phone number, a more traditional form of contacting you. Normally the contact information is displayed in the footer of the website but if you want more within the Homepage you can always add more references to a Contact page.
Design, Design, Design
Be honest! When was the last time that you bought something or hired a service from a company that had a poorly design Homepage?
In present days, how your website is designed is extremely important to attract new clients and retain them. If you look at a website that has a bad design, you will automatically feel insecure about making a purchase.
A good design generates trust with your clients, they will feel much more comfortable using a website that looks professional and it’s easy to navigate. But a good design is much more than colors, images, and text those need to be high quality but you also need to structure your Homepage correctly, have a clear business message, be responsive in different screen sizes.
If you want to DIY your own website we can recommend our Squarespace Templates. Our templates are an excellent starting point to create a website that looks professional and that can improve your conversion rates.
Another path that you can take if you have the budget, is to hire a professional website designer, someone that knows exactly what they are doing and that can bring you results. If you are interested in hiring a professional you can always schedule a Free Consultation Call with us and see if we are the team that you are looking for to transform not only your website design but also your online presence in general.
Final Thoughts
Don’t sleep on your Homepage design! I hope that the guidelines that we shared with you within this post, help you create the perfect homepage for your business’ website.
With the right design, you will be able to increase sales and boost your conversion rates. You will be able to create trusting relationships with your website visitors and they will be more than happy to do business with you.
Always remember that the Homepage is the face that you are going to show when people visit your website for the first time so you need to make a great first impression and once you nailed that part a great design will guide your visitors into becoming paying customers.