Your homepage is usually the first page people see when they visit your website, so you want to make sure it gives a great first impression. While it can be tempting to put everything on your homepage, I don’t recommend that because it’s just going to overwhelm your visitors and scare them away. Instead, I recommend focusing on these 4 areas to fine-tune your homepage and give prospective clients a good overview of what you have to offer.
The exercises below will help you gather your thoughts and make notes on how to improve your homepage.
What you do
When someone visits your homepage, they should immediately know what it is you are offering them. Have a clear statement telling visitors who you are and what you do, and put it at the very top of your homepage.
Your exercise: Grab a piece of paper and write down an explanation of your business in one sentence. It’s not as easy as it sounds! Then, put it at the top of your homepage. Be sure to use appropriate imagery either behind the text or around the text.
Why you are better
What is your main competitive advantage? We all know that you are the best at what you do… but why? Are you the most affordable? Highest quality? Have an exclusive product? The BEST customer service?
Your exercise: Make a list of all the things your business is great at. Then, pick 1 – 3 and write about how each one benefits your client/customer. Don’t focus on “you“… focus on “them“.
Call to action
What do you want people to do when they visit your website? I know, there are lots of things that they can do, but which one benefits your business the most? What single action, above all else, will send a potential client down the buyer’s journey and put them closer towards hiring you or purchasing your product?
That’s your primary call to action. Some examples are:
- Buy Now – When the customer clicks on the “Buy Now” button, the item gets added to their cart.
- Call – The client should call our office to book an appointment.
- Get a Quote – When the customer clicks on the “Get a Quote” button, they should be taken to our contact form.
Your exercise: Write down your primary call to action. Describe what it is a potential client should do and what happens when they take action.
Contact information
It should be easy for people to find your contact information. There is nothing more frustrating than visiting a website and not being able to find their phone number or address. More often than not, a Contact page that shows up on your main menu will do the trick. Of course, if your main call to action is to get people to call you, you’ll want to display your phone number prominently at the top of your website.
Your exercise: Go to your existing homepage and make sure it is easy to find your contact page. How many clicks did it take for you to get to your contact page? Hint: It shouldn’t be more than 1 click.
Make sure it’s easy to find all of your relevant contact information, such as your phone number, address, office hours, and email address.
Ready to fine-tune your homepage?
Are you ready to update your homepage? Just send me a message and include your notes!
