We all have heard that ‘first impression is the last impression’ and the first thing that catches one’s eye when they look at a person or a thing makes an impression of them in person’s mind. The same goes for your website’s homepage. Your website is considered as the online face of your organization and the first impression your website has on a visitor depends a lot on the homepage of your website representing your organization.
In today’s online world, where most of your customers are online, the look and user experience of your website is the visitor’s first glimpse into your organization. Well, making your website perfect in all aspects takes time, feedback, and other inputs. Every time a new person lands on your website homepage, your business goes through a sort of ‘job interview’, therefore it’s better to pay attention to its appearance and experience.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at different key elements which you should add to your homepage to make it an ideal homepage for converting visitors into customers. So, without further philosophy let’s dive in.
List of elements you must have on your homepage
- A clear insight of the organization
- Contact information
- Testimonials
- Clear call-to-action
- Effective navigation menus
- Blog and content highlights
- Content blocks and offers
- Social media links
- Video
- Proper Footer Backlinking
Let’s understand the need and impact of these elements on your homepage:
A clear insight of an organization
It’s essential for an ideal homepage to have a clear and easy-to-find value proposition. If people will not get an understanding of what your company does, for whom it does, and how you do it differently, they are not likely to stick around your website. It acts as a 1st impression and insight of your business for them, therefore it’s very crucial to tell your visitors exactly what you do with a brief and to-the-point value proposition.
Contact information
Think yourself! How many times have you been in a situation where you need technical support or customer service, but couldn’t get anyone on the phone to solve your issue? You will never want your customers to be in the same position.
Your homepage should include your contact information so that your visitors can reach you out easily for any query or support required. It is effective and ideal to add a mailing address, email address, and phone number in the footer. Having this information easily available offers comfort to your customers and new visitors by letting them know they have someone to reach out if they need it.
Testimonials
Does anyone ever want to lose an opportunity to capitalize and increase the trust of their business between people? Research has shown that 70% of customers trust online reviews and testimonials like personal recommendations from their friends. It’s very beneficial for your business to capitalize on the positive reviews from your previous or current customers. Testimonials build trust in people and let them know they can feel confident and comfortable in choosing you.
Clear call-to-action
Whenever a visitor land on your homepage, you not only want them to fulfill their own purpose but you’ll also want them to take any action that you want. This action can be anything like, subscribing to your blog, requesting a consultation, subscribing to your newsletter, etc. it depends upon your choice what action you want them to take next after they land on your homepage but, putting that action on your homepage should be a clear call for the visitor. These actions can lie at the top of the funnel or bottom of the funnel.
- Decide those one or two actions you really want people to take when they land on your site.
- Do not have many call-to-actions as they can confuse your visitor and clutter their journey.
Effective navigation menus
The homepage of your website acts as the prime navigator to other pages and functions of your website. Keeping your navigation easy to understand & use for a first-time visitor is a very crucial thing. There’s no benefit in making a fancy homepage with cluttered elements and poor navigation. Adding effective navigation menus that are simple, succinct, and descriptive will not only optimize your website but also the user experience. The navigation menu should be easy to locate with items that make sense to new visitors.
- The navigation area acts as a roadmap, which is necessary to give visitors an overview of the content
- Choosing an expandable menu to present on your homepage, using an icon and word combo is a smart idea to go for.
- Don’t hide your major visited pages! It’s beneficial for you to add your most visited pages to the forefront of your navigation menu.
Blog and content highlights
Blogs and another type of content you provide is like the heart of your content strategy. Through your content, you target customers with different products or services you offer.
It’s beneficial to highlight your blog and other content on your homepage for encouraging people to view and subscribe to it.
- You can showcase one or more recent posts with their headline or description, also you can present links to your popular and recent blogs as a grid or list on your homepage.
- By directing visitors to your blog from your homepage will not only increase engagement but you can hopefully gain subscribers.
Content blocks & offers
Content blocks are nothing fancy but simple sections or boxes on your homepage to represent different types of content. Content blocks are often presented as 2, 3, or 4 blocks stacked upon each other. This element works effectively for smartphone users. Content blocks are worthy of inclusion on your homepage because they not only give an optimized look to your homepage but you can use them to present whatever your visitors may find valuable.
It includes:
- Products and services
- Ebooks
- Offers
- Awards and achievements
- Clients
- Team member profiles
- News related to your business
- Upcoming events
It’s up to you how well you know your customers. You can use this section effectively to provide offers in the highlighted way. By featuring offers you can generate leads from your homepage itself. Free e-books, guides, or discount coupons on products are compelling offers to encourage your customer for conversion. Not only content blocks but sidebar windows, pop-up offers, display ads are the options you can use to present offers.
Social media links
Social media platforms have become the most effective to engage with your brand’s audience in past few years. There’s no doubt that social media platforms provide you with various opportunities to target campaigns on your customers, aware of any event, make them engage with your content, get feedback and suggestions and so much more.
This makes it essential to place social media buttons in a consistent and conventional place on your homepage, where people can easily find them when needed. (Your homepage header or footer are the best places to put your social media links.)
Video
Well, I don’t say it’s a must-have element to include on your homepage but you can’t even ignore it. Fast-paced and targeted content like reels and other short video content has already reduced the attention span of people. People find it really boring to read textual content these days. That’s where you need this element to not lose potential customers. Having a quick introductory video on your homepage explaining what your business does, showing your office, introducing your team can be one of the easiest and effective ways of engaging a user with your brand.
- Keep the video content short to not lose your visitor’s interest. It should be like an overview, not a long boring story.
Proper Footer Backlinking
Our footer must have all the important links mentioned along with the contact us information so that the one visiting us does not have to search our entire website and will just find everything in one place.
Conclusion
Well, that is the list of things an ideal homepage must-have. Though it’s not complete because your homepage can include whatever you want. It’s important to understand your customer base and analyze their journey throughout your website. You should plan and deliver your page based on what your visitors want. Ask as many questions as you can from yourself and your team keeping various aspects Infront. Put things on your homepage to inspire and encourage the visitors to want more.