Small business owners and newbies to the Web tend to clog up their websites, specifically their homepage. It’s a common mistake that I am seeing over and over again.
The homepage is the landing space for everyone who seeks you out online. It should be well laid out and organized. It should let your brand breathe and not be crowded. Too much text or copy on the homepage can overwhelm your audience. Think of your homepage like a jacket cover to a book. It should have a picture, a title (or branding tagline), your name and a description of what the site is about. Make it short and condensed. Your homepage tabs (also called verticals) are where your audience can go deeper into your site and find more information about your product and services. Anywhere from 5 to 7 is a good amount, the topic verticals can also have a drop down menu, which is helpful.
2 Key Tips to Remember:
The homepage is NOT about YOU, it’s about your CLIENT. It should engage and promote enthusiasm for your product. It should be outcome focused.
Pick a tagline that is geared towards the consumer and answers the question of how they will benefit from your product or service. Steve Job’s tagline for the iPod was “A thousand songs in your pocket.” In this tagline his target market is defined along with the benefit they will get in buying an ipod. It’s simple, short and clear.
More Tips:
Site readers have a shorten attention span and are always one click away to something else.
How can you really capture your audience? Give them something for free, develop a free opt-in on your homepage.
Have a logo.
Putting too much content on the homepage loses your audience. They are overwhelmed.
Make sure to have several people look over your site before you launch it. Errors happen.
Blogs are important and you should have one.
At Taz we love using Wordpress and highly recommend it!
I hope these tips are helpful! The homepage is your one chance to reach your target audience, it’s not often they come around twice. Make sure to spend time getting it done right by giving your brand some much deserved breathing room.
