The homepage of your website is the most viewed page of your entire site and will ultimately decide whether a visitor is going to continue viewing your website or click the back button. Ensuring that your homepage is properly designed is so critical that even minor changes can impact your overall conversion rates.
Header: Branding and Navigation Architecture
The website header consists of your logo and your main navigation, which will guide users to the various pages of your website. The key here is to organize your website into an organized sitemap that makes it easy for users to find what they are looking for. Many business owners get caught up on pages like Mission Statement and About Us. While these pages have value, we want to dedicate this valuable real estate to the pages that users are actually looking for.
Hero Banner: The First Impression into What You Do
This is it. A user lands on your homepage and is immediately hit with the content directly below navigation. You have 3-5 seconds to grab their attention and connect with them or they will bounce off your website. This isn’t the place to get heavy on content. You need a bold Headline and Call to Action that shows them that they are in the right place and you have the products or services they are looking for.
Content: Is it Still King?
Yes. Website users aren’t going to spend a lot of time searching your website for what they are looking for. You either have the content or you don’t. The natural tendency for a website user is to scroll. What they see after your Hero Section is critical for your conversion rates. This is where we want to place your products or services at their fingertips. Remember, the homepage of your website is meant to be a teaser into the other sections of your site. Each section here should briefly guide users to the main pages of your sitemap.
Footer: Wrapping Up Your Web Design
There are so many ways of building a footer and the right way really depends on your industry and the overall complexity of your website. A lot of work can go into this mostly ignored section of your page but that doesn’t make it any less important. The content and links in your footer are going to get picked up by Search Engines.
