Homepage Design for a Website

• Posted
• Aug 31, 2010

The homepage of your website is the most important page on your site. It usually gets more page views than any other pages and provides visitors with the first impression of your company to potential customers. Even when visitors come through links from other pages, they would usually click through to the homepage to begin their journey of discovery about your business.

This very unique role of the homepage requires a different design and layout approach when creating and writing content. Generally, a homepage should display a good balance of pictures and text. The increasing importance of search engine optimisation (SEO) now encourages more text to be placed on the homepage than wholly graphics based designs.

Let's take a look at some pointers to remember and take into consideration when deciding about homepage design.

1. Phone number or email for quick and easy contact

Probably the most important information on your site will be the contact details. You may or may not realise that most customers, even existing or long term customers would go to your website to find your phone numbers or email. Displaying it clearly on the homepage would save them the trouble of clicking through to the contact page to find it.

The other benefit of this is that if a potential customer were to find your product or service interesting, there would be no cause for procrastination when the contact details is clearly displayed to them.

2. Clear navigation to all pages of the site

A site navigation strategy needs to be defined based on your website structure. The usual style is to have page navigation links horizontally on the top or vertically on the left. Some websites utilise both by placing the main navigation strip horizontally, followed by products or service listings with links to their respective pages on the left. The latter layout has some advantage in that it allows for viewers to easily click through to the various products or services offered from any page of the site.

3. Simple and to the point introduction

If your company name is not well known or if you are selling products or services that are not immediately recognisable, it a good idea to include a short introduction on the homepage of your site. Explain the purpose of your site, how you can help them and what makes you stand out. The use of keywords helps visitors and search engines alike know what you are offering and what your business is about.

4. Crisp and relevant graphics banner

As we are moving more swiftly on the Internet with the help of high broadband speeds and faster computers, graphic and multimedia rich websites are becoming a common theme. Images can intuitively communicate your sales pitch or message, and it has become a trend to use large horizontal banners that are made of several images that self rotate. Graphic banners add interest and helps bridge a connection between your audience and your product or service.

5. Promote key products and services

You don't have to be a shopping site to display your products on the homepage. Showcasing products helps give the visitor a better understanding of how your product looks – the quality and uniqueness. If you sell a large range, don't display all of them. The usual strategy is to show the most popular, top of the range and most economical. If your business is not product based, then a good idea would be to highlight testimonials and positive experiences of customers who have used your service.

6. Update regularly to show that something is always happening

No website would escape the punishment of bad SEO. A regularly updated website is vital to promote search engine crawlers to visit your website frequently, but more than that, it a key reason your visitors will keep coming back to your site too. Reflecting that your website is constantly updated on your homepage by displaying something new is a good way to do this. Different promotions, product highlights or the latest news items are all content that you can update your homepage with.

A sample of a good website utilising all the six points above.

Though these points are relevant to making a good homepage, every business is unique and so too their showcasing needs. A variation of the listed points should be used to address the target audiences' needs. However, keeping a fresh and updated homepage ensures that your visitors know that you take your online identity seriously.