How You Can Create a Great Home Page

No matter how great you think your current home page is, there are some common conversion mistakes that you may have made with your content.  These mistakes can cause you to miss out on converting your traffic to sales, but by following the tips listed below; this mistake can easily be corrected.  I am going to show you which type of information you should include on your home page to make it appealing to your customers as well as search engines.

You may be wondering why you have to spend so much time on the content and layout of your home page; the answer is simple, it’s the first page that visitors to your site see and it serves as a representation of your business online.  It also requires special attention because it is the page that is most indexed by the large search engines.  It can also set the tone for the rest of your website, which is why it is so important that you make it as functional, attractive, and effective as possible. 

When you design your home page you should think of it as the first step in your sales funnel.  Visitors have likely reached your page through the use of a search engine or a link.  When this traffic reaches your site, it is important that you share with them that they have reached the appropriate destination.  Once you have done that, the next thing you need to do is direct them to the areas you would like them to visit next. 

The content that you include on your home page should be used as a way to offer visitors with a preview of what you have to offer.  Providing your visitors with a small bit of information regarding each of your services or products is a great way to encourage them to investigate further and follow the links to the specific service or product they are interested in.  This is also a great way of keeping the information from becoming overwhelming for the visitor. 

When you create the content that you are going to use on your home page, you should write in such a way that it comes across as personable and not mechanical.  After all, you want visitors to know that there is a human behind your site and not a robot.  Creating content aimed at your target audience will help increase the number of conversions your business sees on a regular basis.  This is also the ideal time to freshen up your content and include keywords that will help your site show up in searches.

It is also important that you create content that is focused and relevant to your particular niche.  You should remember the importance of staying on track and expressing your message to your customers in as few words as possible.  Visitors are more likely to read shorter paragraphs and descriptions than they are longer ones, when you begin creating your content you should keep this in mind.

Are you Above The Fold?

When you land on a website what do you see?  Do you have to scroll down to find what you are looking for or to figure out what the site is about or offers?  If not, the website you are on has done a great job of staying above the fold. 

In website layout, above the fold means what the viewer can see/read without having to “scroll” down; what hits their eyes first. Above the fold is where you need to have all your pertinent web content information. 

For example, as shown in my friends’ website Tokenwebsites.com  above, you can immediately tell what he has to offer a visitor and what the website is all about – building websites easily. 

The traditional terminology is used in the newspaper print field in reference to the front page.  The most pertinent and latest breaking news is placed on the front page “above the fold” of the newspaper.  The reasoning is, it is the first thing that would catch the reader’s eyes enticing the potential buyer. 

With websites, this is the prime place to attract and keep your visitor, enticing them to want to see and read more and landing that transaction. Studies have shown that more than 50% of adult readers will not scroll down a website to read more if the "above the fold" content does not catch their eye; so, if you want to capture your audience, give them as much of the "Who", "What", "When", "Where", and "How" above the fold.