Most people decide within 5 seconds of arriving on a website whether to stay on it or not. And it’s not going to be the clever words or slow loading images that determine whether they stay on or not. So what should your homepage tell visitors first? Here’s a simple 5 second self-test to check your homepage.
Say What You Actually Do
A homepage headline should clearly state what business is being promoted on the website. This should not be in the form of a slogan such as “Delivering excellence since 1998” but a simple statement outlining the business activities of the organisation promoting the website. ” W3C’s guidelines for creating clear and simple homepage copy are provided to ensure people are not detained by vague verbose wording and sent elsewhere. Try reading your own homepage headline out loud. If a stranger on the internet wouldn’t know straight off the bat what type of goods and/or services you sell then you need to re-write the headline.
Make Clear Who It’s For
A homepage that speaks to everyone can often end up going nowhere with no one in particular. So for example, if you supply and fit bathrooms for landlords, highlight that on your homepage. If your bookkeeping service is aimed at sole traders as opposed to large firms, highlight that too. In the example below, Devon County Council provide information for businesses across the Devon area, serving customers all over the country. Are you a local business?
Show Where You’re Based
Local trade can also benefit greatly from a well optimised local search profile, for example searches such as Web Design Exetercould bring in lots of trade for local Web Design businesses, to help with local trade it is best to place information regarding where you are based on the homepage near the top of the page. Information regarding the local area can also be found on the websites of local organisations such as Exeter City Council, in their section of information for local businesses in Exeter.
Give One Clear Action
We would suggest that most homepages have far too many links on them – often 5 or more. This usually means that none of them get clicked. Choose the one most important action that you wish people to take and make that the only link on your homepage. Make it a button and place it above the fold. As the GOV.UK information for setting up a small business website notes, the homepage’s main job is to get people to do something – not to present them with lots of other choices that they have to decide between. Web Design Exeter is worth getting right.
Add A Reason To Trust You Fast
Work in brief. Even a very short review or trade membership badge placed above the fold of your homepage will do to reassure visitors that someone else has already checked you out and found you to be OK. A single genuine quote from a customer or their company logo can be enough to alleviate their doubts.
Make Yourself Easy To Reach
It’s easy to ensure that your phone number or contact link is visible on every page of your website. Simply add it as a contact button in the header of your homepage. It’s the obvious place for people to look when they want to contact you and is likely to be the first thing they look for. The rest of your website can be for people who want to browse around your website first.
Check It Works On A Phone
Most first visits to a small business website are now on mobile phones so we check how the homepage renders on different screen sizes. If any of your text has been squished, your buttons are too small to click or some key information has been sent off the right hand side of the screen then we can fix this for you before you go live. We test out your homepage on your mobile phone for you.
Run A Five-Minute Self-Test
Test the homepage out on a phone within 5 minutes (or less) to see if you can verbalize the following four points within the time frame: What does the business do? Who is the business for? Where is the business based? What action should you take on the homepage? Do this test on a homepage with fresh eyes, ideally with someone who has never seen the site before. Listen to their hesitation as you go through the test. That will point to the part of the homepage that isn’t working.
A homepage does not have to be clever. It simply has to tell the visitor the main points of interest on the website that you have so obviously written. Answer the obvious questions on the homepage.
Leave a Reply