7 Best Tips to Optimize Your Website’s Homepage
The home page of a website is a focal point of your website. The search engine optimization and social media marketing may be driving users either to the landing pages or home pages. Whatever page they visit, they still have the home page in mind for finding other resources and segments on your website.
The home page needs to be optimized in line with other pages of your website so that it attracts more visitors and guide them to browse products and services as well. The home page optimization includes various design features. It may start with configuring different forms of content, simplifying the navigation, and may lead to refining the CTA button. In addition to optimizing the web design, you may also need to carry out basic SEO settings and incorporate social media profiles.
In this post, we are sharing 7 best tips for optimizing home page of a website for enhanced usability. It may prove helpful for your online business as well.
Define the aim of your home page
Use the home page to communicate the core message or aim of the organization. You can define a purpose and a goal to make most out of the home page. It can be encouraging the visitors to your website to drop a message and start conversation, or visit products or services section.
A website that deals with products or services that are used in routine may not require you to explain the purpose of your business. Because the users come to know the moment they arrive or from the source they reach your website.
In the image above, you can observe clear communication of website aim right in the banner text. The user is no longer needed to scroll down and learn the goal or purpose of Mint website.
The aim of such a website can be to drag the customers to contact form or phone numbers. You will want the users instantly to interact with your customer support and place orders. But, the websites that showcase products that are technical in nature may need to elaborate who you are and what you do. So, you may want the users to visit a product page of their interest and explore more on its respective landing page. The goal of a website differs than others as it depends on the nature and model of your online business.
Configure On-page SEO settings
The homepage is no less important than the product pages of your website. Failing to configure the on-page SEO of the home page may result in losing out potential customers. And, for most of the business, the home page is, in fact, the landing page.
Have a quick review in the image below how rich snippets are created for optimizing web pages.
Initiate with the basic SEO settings like adding a keyword optimized Meta title and description, and proceed with headline tags that are H1, H2, H3, etc. format the content and try to display it above the fold. The web design for most of the home pages includes banners or sliders on the front that require the visitors to scroll down for the content. But, you need to prefer to display the content above the fold to communicate your core message at a glance. Look at the different heading tags in the image to make the content readable and search engine friendly.
The web page optimizing is not limited to the text alone, as you can add alt tags to the images and videos as well. It will help the users and search engines know the visual content of the page.
Compose an Impressive Sales Copy
Homepage plays an influential role in the overall website. The content of a product or service page revolves around a single item, whereas the home page has to discuss all that belongs to your business. The visitors may want to know all that you offer online right on the home page so that they can consider viewing a product or service in detail. So, it is a kind of billboard on your website that has a glimpse of every service you have on board.
Start writing impressive sales copies for the home page as well. Use simple language that is easier for a layman to understand. Split the content into various digestible and scan-able paragraphs rather than composing a whole lot of text without any breaks. Try these additional tips for better homepage optimization.
- Craft eye-catching headlines
- Summarize valuable products in bullet points
- Split the content into simple phrases
- Leave white spacing between content to make it scannable
- Mention the most demanding product on home page
- Create a context for the Call to action
Facilitate the users with simplified navigation
A home page houses various sections of your website and the reader must know how and where to go. The internet users don’t like to stay longer when they fail to find something of their interest. So, they move across your website too quickly.
Focus on streamlining the navigation by adding tabs in a logical sequence. A conventional home page starts with a quick introduction and leads to products area, whereas blogs and news sites highlight top stories on the front. Make sure every user understand the website structure and the categories in which the products or posts are separated.
The small and medium-sized enterprises often choose one-page navigation that displays a few various sections right on the home page. It is a viable solution as it allows them to showcase products, blog posts, about us, testimonials, and contact us form all on a home page. But, for a multi-store website, this design can increase the page load speed, which negatively affects the conversion rate.
Have quality Photography and Visuals
Visual content proves to be among the game changers as the internet users prefer to scan images and watch videos rather than reading the text. The home pages perform better when accompanied by high definition images and videos. You need to invest a bit in professionals to capture and draw amazing visuals that reflects your business. Let the users know about your organization as soon as the website loads in their web browsers. Visuals have the power to create a context in the mind of users so that they don’t have to read a word and understand all about the website.
Refine the Calls to Action
A call to action button of a website is often regarded as the ultimate goal. It is where the users are suggested to end up. In fact, the entire web development of a business website revolves around the calls to action. It can be either reading more about a product, submitting a query, or subscribing to updates.
Every website decides placement of calls to action according to the goal it wants to brew from the home page. You may display it either in the header, in the right column, or below the fold. But, you may need to refine it for better understanding and higher usability. This includes using plain language so that your target audience can easily get. Though a call to action button is a form of instruction for the users what to do next, it needs to be communicated in easy, simple, and friendly manner.
Watch out how brilliantly EverNote has distinguished and highlighted its call to action from the overall design. The green color and simple text make the button stand out from the rest of the options.
The design of a CTA extends to its color selection, size, font type, and placement. For some websites, a white background works perfectly well, but some claim better conversions with red and yellow CTA buttons. You need to refine the overall display by carrying A/B testing to decide which one contributes to higher returns.
Display your Social Media Presence
Social media websites are users in abundance as people want to stay in touch with their favorite brands and manufacturers. Converting users into fan following is part of a marketing strategy. Getting traffic from social media, or increase social media followers out of your website goes hand in hand. The process is vice verse. You have to increase web traffic and followers at the same time. So, showing social media presence and encourage users to join the community is recommended the most. With a help of a simple plugin, you can exhibit social profiles on the home page just like the way every social profile is represented by its respective logo.
Final Thoughts
A home page is like an ambassador to your business. It has to be in line with your company goals and vision, and effectively communicate the core message. The web design and development is a pivotal part of homepage optimization. It involves improving the user experience through various means. It may be adding rich visual and text content, refining and placing CTA at the prominent position, and simplifying the navigation. Start with the design factors and proceed with other strategies like basic SEO settings and the addition of social profiles.
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