Web 101 – What Makes a Great Business Home Page?

While it’s important to own and operate a website that’s both attractive and effective through and through, nothing matters more than the site’s primary home page. The reason being that this is the first page the vast majority of visitors will see and thus could well be their very first impression of you, your brand and everything you stand for.Without a solid home page, chances are you’ll lose incalculable numbers of visitors every day the site is in operation. And it doesn’t matter how incredible the rest of the site is – the homepage is the equivalent of its storefront and you need to get it right from the first moment of contact.    So leaving the real guts of the website to one side for a moment, here’s a quick overview of what exactly makes for a great home page for any online business:1- The Who, The What, The Where and the WhyAssuming this is the first time the visitor to your site has ever come across you, remember that they won’t have a clue who you are or what you’re about. As such, you have no more than a few seconds to get across enough information to reassure them they’re in the right place for what they’re looking for. Use your home page to briefly get across who you are, what you do, how you do it and why you do it best. Not by drafting out your whole life story, but more in a brief summary using headlines and snippets.2 – Prioritise What’s ImportantYou and you alone can determine what’s of most importance to your business. Are you trying to get more blog subscribers? Sell products from a catalogue? Build your list of email contacts? Whatever is of most importance should be the focus of your home page. It’s important to provide links to other pages like your ‘About Us’ for example, but with less focus and attention than your main priority.3 – Provide Contact DetailsThe earlier in any given site your audience can see your contact details, the more likely they are to trust you. There’s really nothing less reassuring than a website or business that deliberately goes out of its way to hide contact details and make it difficult for customers to get in touch. Always list contact details fully and prominently on your home page.4 – Keep it SimpleThese days, it’s rare for any site with a hugely complicated home page or landing page to hit home with visitors. Be honest – as soon as you open a link only to be presented with a percentage bar indicating that an OTT complex Flash homepage is about to load, you’re tempted to head for the hills. Getting carried away with this kind of website technology can actually make your site feel dated.5 – Calls to ActionAnd finally, don’t forget that there will always be a fair few visitors to your site that know what they want and are familiar with what you have to say – they’d prefer to just cut straight to the buying/conversion stage of the process. As such, it’s a good idea to make sure there’s at least one call to action or CTA button on your home page, while at the same time keeping it discreet enough not to put off curious newbies.