Anatomy of a Website Home Page that Converts Visitors to Customers
Your home page: often the first thing many customers will see from your business. It’s your opportunity to grab their attention, share information, and entice them enough to be interested in what you’ve got.
A study by Microsoft found that people’s attention spans are around just 8 seconds! That means you have next to no time to engage them enough to click around.
When I work with business owners on Web Design projects, they receive my comprehensive Copywriting Guide with resources, tips, and prompts for writing each page of their site. And today I’m going to share the Home Page formula with you!
Below are some tips for crafting a website home page that converts your visitors to customers.
First, let’s review the purpose of your home page:
This page is the grand introduction to your brand! Its goal is to provide clear, useful information, and direct visitors to the other pages you want them to go to.
Tip: Take a moment to think about the primary goal of your website. Why do you have a website? What is it that you need visitors to do? Book an appointment? Buy a product? View your portfolio? Fill out your inquiry form? Make a donation?
Keep in mind: You have several other website pages to house all the fine details about your products/services. Your home page doesn’t need to share ALL the details, just enough to give visitors a good sense of what you do, and invite them to click around to learn more in-depth information. Pare down your home page content to only what is most necessary and attention-grabbing.
1. Your navigation
This isn’t home-page specific of course, but it all starts here! Your navigation is the bar of links at the top of your website. Try to keep it clean with 4-6 links. If you have more pages than that, create dropdown folders to house them in. Too many links can feel crowded and overwhelming for visitors.
2. Your key message
Above-the-fold (or upon landing on the page, before scrolling), define who you are, what you do, and who it’s for in 1-2 concise sentences.
Tips: Be clear. Avoid industry lingo or flowery language that makes it difficult to understand what you do. Remember, visitors may have never heard of you before, and if your statement is confusing, they might not feel like even scrolling down at all.
Example:
Not clear: “Empowering you through nature. Connect with your inner self.” (What does this mean?! What does this business do?!)
Clear: “Jewelry and paper goods crafted with intention for women who love nature.” (Bingo!)
3. Call to action
A “call to action” is a prompt for your visitors to take a specific action, such as booking your services, buying your products, or scheduling an appointment with you. On your Home page, focus on that main website goal that you brainstormed. What page do you want them to go to next? Your primary, most prominent buttons should be driving visitors to that page.
4. Your main offerings
Next, outline your main services or products with 1-2 sentences each.
These blurbs don’t need to be in-depth. They should each give a taste of what the product/service is about, and include a link to that product’s/service’s page to learn more.
Tip: If you are a product-based business, don’t overlook the investment in high-quality images of your products. As much as we want to believe that people don’t judge a book by its cover, if your photos look like they were taken on an iPhone, customers might think your products aren’t professional either.
5. About you/your business
In 2-4 sentences, introduce who you are. Showcasing the human being behind your business is a great way to build that personal connection and trust with your visitors. This section doesn’t need to be too long either, since it will link to your about page for more information.
6. Social proof
Why should your customers/clients buy from you? Social proof is a great way to set their minds at ease and let them know your work has proven results. This can take the form of customer testimonials, certifications, press features, statistics, or endorsements from notable figures.
7. Your footer
As people browse through your site, they will land on your footer once they scroll to the bottom of every page. This means it’s a great tool to keep them moving around!
Your footer could include:
Your newsletter signup
Navigation links to important pages
A call-to-action button that drives them towards your goal
Your social media links
Your contact information
(And don’t forget links to your terms & conditions and privacy policy! These are very important legal pieces to include on every website.)
Bonus:
Let’s talk about photos!
Stock photos: to use, or not to use?
Ehh… stock photos often look very obviously like, well, stock photos. To put it straight, they’re bland, generic, and not in-line with your brand, because they weren’t created for your brand.
Stock photography can work for things like textures and subtle backgrounds, but my recommendation is to avoid it for key photos that represent your business, services, or products.
Contrary to popular belief, we can create a stunning, eye-catching, effective website with few-to-no photos. Leaning into color, type, and custom icons and illustrations is always preferred over stock photography.
Product photos
As I mentioned, if you sell products, it’s imperative that you have real photos of your products. And it’s important that those photos match the quality of your products.
Headshots
Personally, I believe it’s immensely valuable to share a photo of YOU, especially on your about page. Relationships matter when it comes to selling. When customers get a sense that there’s a real person who they can relate to behind the scenes, that goes a long way.
Services
Every business, regardless of what you offer, will benefit from a brand photo shoot. When I hired Nicole McConville Photography, not only did I walk away with headshots, but some great custom imagery that I can use to promote my services without having my face everywhere.
That to say, for service-based businesses I definitely fall back on my note above about stock photos. We don’t need photos to design a strong website! Your visitors didn’t go to your site to look at photos of someone else’s hands on a computer keyboard; they went there to read your juicy copy and learn about what you offer.
How’s your current website doing? To lend a helping hand, I put together a free Website Home Page Checklist for you! Take a look through and see where your site is strong and where you can make adjustments.
Thinking it’s time to kick it up a notch? If you’re ready to take the next steps with a custom website design that converts, let’s connect!
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