Home Page Effectiveness

How Effective is Your Homepage

• Does your homepage accomplish what you want it to?
• After seeing your homepage, do your visitors go deeper into the rest of your site?  ...or do they assume that this is not what they are looking for and move on to other sites?
• How appealing is your home page?

When I'm asked about homepage effectiveness, I like to make the following analogy.  A website is like a magazine sitting on a newsstand.  It's surrounded by other magazines and the only voice it has is its front cover.  Every potential buyer coming to that newsstand will initially only see that cover.  If that front cover is eye catching, if that front cover has appeal, then a potential reader will pick it out of the rack and quickly scan the content, focusing on those articles that originally caught his/her attention on the front cover.  During this process, the potential reader will evaluate the contents against the front cover, making decisions about whether the content lives up to the billing it received on the front cover.  If after scanning through the content, the level of interest is still there, then the potential reader may decide to buy a copy.

This in a nutshell, is the way the typical internet surfer views your site.  It typically starts with a query on their favorite search engine, which brings up a list of possible matches (the newsstand).  If one of the entries on that list catches the surfer's attention, then that will merit a quick (10 second or less) look at your home page.  These first 10 seconds are the most critical in terms of the surfer/site relationship.  If the home page catches the surfers interest, he/she will look inside.  If not, he'll move on to another site almost faster than your server can log the hit.

Two Goals of an Effective Homepage

New visitors coming to your site via a search engine are usually looking for something specific. If the link that brought them to you accurately summarized your services, then the home page should be an extension of that presentation. An effective home page needs to accomplish two goals. 

First, it needs to introduce and develop your site's theme or purpose.  It needs to answer the question "what is this site all about"?  Development of a theme is the most important element of a strong home page because the theme is the element that defines your site's purpose and content. Your home page is the first "look" your visitors see about your website or business and is often the determining factor as to whether a visitor stays or leaves. If the theme is developed and presented well, your visitors will know immediately if they came to the right place. Not all visitors will want exactly what your site has to offer. However, for those who do, it is critical to make sure they realize that your site can satisfy their needs. For new visitors, your home page should answer the following questions:

• What is this site all about?
• What does this site offer?
• How close of a match are my needs with this site's offerings?

Your home page is the most important page on your site. It is the first page your visitors see. For this reason, I strongly believe that when designing a home page, you should try to answer the question "What is the single most important thing that I want new visitors to my site to know about my site (or business)?" Your home page should be built around the answer to that question.

After you've established your theme or purpose, the second most important goal of an effective homepage is to present your site's position statement.  A position statement will tell your visitors what you can do for them. It gives them an idea of the benefits and/or services you offer with a focus on value.  Somehow, you need to convince your visitors that your site is better than all the other sites that have the same theme.  The key word is "value".  Your home page  needs to clearly define whatever it is that makes your site better than the rest of the pack.  Why should your visitors buy that widget from you instead of the site next door?

Just When you thought it was tough

The challenging part is that you need to accomplish all of the above in the top 5 inches of your homepage.  Why the top 5 inches?  Because regardless of your visitor's browser and screen resolution, that is the only area on each page that you are guaranteed your visitor will see.  If the top 5 inches don't convince your visitor that your site is the one he is looking for, he will probably never see the rest of your site.

You're now ready to start designing your home page.  As you create your home page layout, try to keep the above information in mind.  The key word for homepage design is "Effectiveness".  In order to be effective, it needs to grab your visitor's attention.

Go to Effective Navigation Structures