How to Design a High Converting Homepage
Your homepage is the introductory page to your website. It brings together the best bits of the rest of your website and it should give your website visitors a clear idea of what you do and who you do it for. Anyone that visits your website should be able to tell from your homepage whether what you offer is a good fit for them or not.
The way you design your homepage can make or break the success of your website. It’s not just about looking pretty (although a visually appealing homepage is important), it should guide your website visitors to taking the next step, which could be booking a discovery call, purchasing a product or subscribing to an email list. A well designed homepage is a powerful marketing tool and it is worth taking the time to design it well and keep it up to date.
Download your free Homepage Workbook so you can plan your own high converting homepage.
Elements of a High Converting Homepage
Introduction to Who You Are and What You Do
Everyone that lands on your website has two main questions - “Who are you?” and “What do you do?”
The very first statement on your homepage should answer these two questions. Anyone that lands on your website should be able to tell from this statement whether what you are offering is something that they are interested in or not.
Overview of Services or Products
Once your site visitors know who you are and what you do, they will want to know more about what you offer. Having a brief overview of your services or products on your homepage will encourage those who are interested to dig deeper and find out more. You don’t need to go into a lot of detail here, but your descriptions should be clear enough for people to understand what it is that you are offering.
Description of Benefits, Not Just Features
Give a good description of how your service or product will improve people’s lives. Identify what you think your ideal clients' problems are, how you can fix them and how they will feel once that problem is fixed for them. Paint a picture of how much better their life or business will be once they have bought into your offer.
Introduction to You
Sharing your story or your brand’s journey can make your business feel more human and can lead to connections with potential customers. Chances are that there are other people who offer what you offer, but if you can show your site visitors what your passion, mission and unique selling points are, you will attract people who connect with you on a deeper level.
Calls to Action (CTAs)
A homepage should have plenty of CTAs - both primary and secondary.
Your primary CTA will be determined by your overall website goal. What do you want your website visitors to do once they have landed on your website? Examples of primary CTAs might be “Book a Call” or “Add to Cart” or “Download For Free”. Primary CTAs should stand out
A homepage is also directional, so it should also include secondary CTAs to lead users to other pages of your website such as the About Page or a Sales Page. Examples of secondary CTAs might be “Find Out More” or “Learn More”. Secondary CTAs should be clear to those who wants to click on them, but they shouldn’t overshadow the primary CTAs on the homepage.
A well designed homepage should have a primary CTA above the fold so it is visible before scrolling, and then plenty of primary CTAs sprinkled throughout the page to make it easy for users to take the action that you want them to. Secondary CTAs should be placed where appropriate, for example, a link to a sales page should go directly under or next to a description of a service or product. Include a Primary CTA at the very bottom of your homepage too so visitors aren’t left stranded after going through your whole homepage.
Social Proof
Testimonials, client logos, PR mentions and affiliations all contribute to demonstrating your expertise and can go a long way to building trust with potential clients. Having these on your homepage increases credibility and can remove doubts for people who may be on the fence about working with you.
How to Structure a High Converting Homepage
Navigation Menu
The Navigation Menu always sits at the top of your website. It typically contains your site name or logo, and links to the main other pages on your website. You can also add a a CTA button, social links or a shopping cart icon if you have an e-commerce site.
It’s best to limit yourself to 5 links here. You can use dropdown menus to link to additional pages if you need. Give your pages clear and concise names so site visitors know where to go to find the information they need
2. Header
This is the most important section of your whole website. Your copy here should describe what you do and who for. Keep the first sentence (your hook) concise. You can add a call to action button directly under your hook, or you can write a couple of sentences that go into more depth about your business. Keep your hook the main focus here, Your site visitors should be able to tell from your hook whether or not you can help them.
3. Bio
The Bio section should include a professional headshot of you. Write a brief first person description about yourself and put a button at the end linking to your “About Me” page. You can also put some “as seen in” logos for social proof if relevant.
4. Services
Use this section to highlight between 2-4 of your most popular services. Keep your descriptions brief and invite your site visitors to find out more by including a button with each services that links to a longer sales page.
5. Testimonials
Social proof goes a long way to building trust with your potential clients. Sprinkle them throughout your website, but you should have a dedicated section for a couple of your best testimonials on your website. Including screenshots of testimonials, or a headshot of the person who left the testimonial builds further trust with your potential clients. If someone has left you a long testimonial, you can quote the best 1-2 sentences of it to keep this section from looking too word-heavy.
6. Blog / Portfolio
If you have a blog or podcast, this is a great place to link to your most popular content pieces. It will showcase your expertise and increase the length of time visitors spend on your website. Alternatively, you could showcase some of your past work here. This will also showcase your expertise and increase dwell time.
7. Lead Magnet Sign Up
Growing your email list is one of the best things you can do for your business, but you are unlikely to get people to sign up to your mailing list if you don’t offer them something in return (a lead magnet). Your lead magnet could be a PDF download, a video, a quiz, a workbook etc. Create something to give value to your site visitors to encourage them to sign up.
8. Footer
The footer is a secondary navigation menu. You can include your logo, links to your main pages and social media channels, as well as your privacy policy and a dated copyright mark. A taller logo could work here if you have an alternative to the logo you used in your main navigation menu.
Tips for Designing a High Converting Homepage
Less is more when it comes to the copy(the text). People scan over large paragraphs of text. Short copy that is to the point will make a lasting impact.
Use headings, bolding and italics to emphasise important sections. Don’t over emphasise. If everything is screaming for attention, nothing will stand out.
Make use of photos, graphics, icons and other design elements to break up the text and add visual interest.
Don’t worry about using full sentences. Use bullet points or sentence fragments but ensure that your messages still make sense.
Proofread all your text and get a second or third pair of eyes on it too. Spelling and grammar mistakes kill trust so it’s important to get this right.
If you’re unsure where to start, look at some inspiration websites and make a note of how they have used images, icons and text in a cohesive way.
How to Design a High Converting Homepage - The Bottom Line
Your homepage is arguably one of the most important pages on your website. The design and structure of it should be well thought out and considered. That’s why I’ve created a free workbook to guide you through the different sections of your homepage and what you should write in each section. There are also guidelines for choosing graphics and images and fillable sections so you can write your copy as you go along. You can download your free Homepage Workbook here.
Found this post useful? You’ll also like:
◇ 8 Features of a High Converting Website
◇ How to Design a High Converting Landing Page
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