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6 min read
Opinion

Does your business ‘face’ look good?

does your business face look good

It isn’t hard to understand why homepage design is so important. In most instances, your homepage is the first impression a potential customer will have of your business.

A homepage is a company’s face. And, needless to say, you will be judged by how it looks. If your homepage design can intrigue a user enough to make them want to learn more, you’re more likely to convert site visitors into buyers.

These days, if a person wants to find out about a particular business, they will visit that business’ website way before using its telephone number. This gives businesses endless opportunities to grab the attention of their site visitors.

Getting your homepage design right

With this in mind, it’s obviously very important to get your homepage design right. Its purpose is to draw people deeper into the website. It should also guide your visitors easily onto the next step of their customer journey.

Therefore, your homepage should be an overview of everything you offer as a business. This ensures people recognise what you do, where you do it, who you do it for and how you do it!

There are a few different ways you can create an effective and powerful homepage design.

Take a look at our top tips below:

1. Think of a great tagline

A tagline should sum up what your business is all about. Placing your tagline prominently on your homepage will immediately give people an idea of your offering, business ethos and USP.

2. Don’t plaster the business’ history all over the homepage

Every business has a story – when it was founded, why it was created, who it has helped… But that doesn’t tell the customer whether they’re in the right place to get what they’re looking for. There will be a place on your site to tell your business’ story – but it’s not the homepage.

Keep your homepage design simple and clear. And be sure to cover the main points:

  • Who you are
  • What you do
  • Where you are

3. Include a search option in your homepage design

If you have a big stock list, a search bar could come in handy for your customers. Many people will automatically look for a search option on homepages because it saves time when they have something particular in mind. A clear and intuitive site structure will also help visitors navigate your pages with ease.

Your homepage design should effectively guide users towards key information. Using links to signpost the way is incredibly useful for your visitors. It also helps prevent clogging up your pages with repetitive text. Better to nudge your site visitors towards the relevant pages, where you can go into full detail.

5. Ensure great visual design

Of course, along with being practical for your users, your homepage should also be visually attractive. The logos, banners and other graphics you use should be eye-catching and relevant to your audience. Above all, the homepage design should support your brand.

Your company’s homepage design must also be mobile-friendly to do well in search engine results. So, make sure to work with the experts who can create a responsive website that works optimally across all devices.

6. Incorporate dynamic content

Dynamic content is content that gets changed or updated frequently. Not only is this great practise for SEO (get those Google crawlers to your site!), but it also offers an incentive for visitors to return regularly. Dynamic content might include special offers or a blog or social media feeds, for example.

7. Include Calls to Action (CTA)

Calls to action are buttons or links that encourage site visitors to navigate to other pages where they are more likely to follow through with a purchase. CTAs can include things such as ‘Find out more’, ‘Contact us’ or ‘Add to basket’. You want to make it as easy as possible for the customer to make a purchase or take the next steps in their buying journey by contacting your team. The homepage may be the first place site visitors see - but ultimately not the page they need to be on to make a purchase. CTAs make sure they get to those pages.

And, of course, it’s essential your contact details are on the homepage. Putting these in the banner (i.e. top right) will ensure those who want to follow through with a call or email can do so hassle-free.

8. Make it sticky!

‘Sticky’ is a term used to describe web pages that capture their visitors’ attention. People spend longer exploring sticky sites because they have some kind of pull or incentive. You want your site to be sticky; you’re after a lower bounce rate and more visitors converting to customers.

Your site should be easy to use, simple to navigate, and attractive to look at. You can make your site ‘stickier’ by making sure you follow all the tips above and also by providing something of value for free. That might simply be great content, or something of slightly more value, such as discounts and offers or white papers.

And while fun animations and video content can be appealing to the viewer, don’t use interactive content at the expense of site speed – nothing loses a site visitor quicker than painfully slow loading times!

Let Ketchup make your homepage design sparkle

At Ketchup, we have all the digital creatives you could wish for. With our combined talents of graphic design, web design, copywriting, SEO, and more, we can guarantee that every homepage we create wows – and does well in search results too.

If you’d like to find out more, simply contact us today. The Ketchup Crew are waiting to get you noticed!