Home Page – Show Them the Way to Go Home
CLICK HERE Your home page is probably the most important part of your website. It is the first image that people see when they stumble across your website. A good home page will be inviting and strategically set up for maximum usability. Not every visitor will see the home page, but those that do will definitely appreciate the time and effort that you have put into making your home page effective.
The first step to having a successful home page is to learn the difference between full and cluttered. Full means that your home page is easy to use and contains links to every area of your website. Each of these links is clearly marked, so the user has no difficulty navigating from page to page. Cluttered means that the webpage is full to the point of bursting. There are links scattered across the page, and any order that might have existed at some point has been destroyed due to long descriptions of links and poor planning. Your home page needs to be full enough to satisfy, not full enough to overpower the user’s senses.
The next step is to understand the point of a teaser. Teasers are just that, teasers. You aren’t supposed to bombard the audience with everything that’s available on your website all at once. You are supposed to give them just enough to entice them to keep looking. Feel free to give just the first line of a story or just the title of an article. Your home page doesn’t have to be complicated and you don’t need to be but so flashy. A simple, straightforward approach might be best for your needs.
Another important home page tip to remember is to keep it updated. Whenever you add something new, be it a new product, service or even a revised piece, you need to highlight this change on your home page. This probably seems obvious, but we sometimes overlook the obvious changes. If at all possible, include a site search box and site map button on your first page. Unfortunately, most customers aren’t very patient people. They want to find things quickly and easily. A search box will endear you to most readers, because it is simple to use and let’s them find exactly what they are looking for without having to perform an exhaustive search. A site map performs almost the same function, letting users browse through your entire site with one click. That one click could be the click that gains you a new customer.