In preparation for a job interview, people put their best to appear neat. They get a new hairdo or get fresh haircuts, wear their best suits, make sure their breath is fresh and don’t have anything stuck in their teeth, making sure their first impression is good.
Your business in a way goes through a “job interview” of sorts whenever someone new visits on your website homepage. Every time, people assess what they see in detail on your website, creating a view of you, and checking if you’re someone they will like to know more, or doing business with.
Is your homepage making the right first impression?
You should stop and deliberate on this. If people visit your website homepage, what will they think, will they be willing to stay and want to do work with me?
Here are 11 key elements every homepage should have to help make sure that it has the best first impression.
Elements Every Website Homepage Should Have
What do you really need to put on your homepage? This can differ from industry to industry, but there are several important elements that every website homepage needs to have across the board:
- A Clear Value Proposition
You don’t want any person’s visit on your page to be tough and frustrating for them. With an easy-to-find and clear value proposition, tell your visitors precisely what you do. This may seem very easy, but surprisingly, many websites out there don’t have one. If you want them to stay and be in, you need to make sure your homepage can give them an understanding of what your business is all about, what it does, who it does it for, and what makes it different from other businesses.
- Links to Social Media
On your homepage it will be beneficial to place social media selection buttons in a dependable, straight forward and noticeable place, where people can find them easily when needed. You need people to follow and participate with your company on social media because increasing your social media following, helps increase the number of people checking out your content and are more likely to visit your website on a regularly.
- Intuitive Navigation
You should make sure first-time visitors should be able to use and easily understand your navigation. You don’t want someone to get on your website and be puzzled, but to be able to know exactly where they can find the necessary information they need and want without being confused. Your navigation should also reveal the visitors usual behavior on your website by showing the sites they mostly visit.
- Contact Info
You know how frustrating it can be when you need to get to a customer service agent but couldn’t get any agent on the phone. Don’t let your visitors have such issues. On your website visitors should be able to easily find your contact information on your homepage. Your homepage should also have a phone number, mailing address, and email address in case someone wants to reach you. Making this information readily available for your visitors gives comfort by letting them know they can reach someone if need be. It also gives consistency, making homepage look legitimate.
- Blog Highlights
Encourage people to view and subscribe to your page by highlighting it on your page since your blog is the heart your content strategy. What is in your blog display your helpfulness and expertise which gives people a chance to converting and starting a relationship with your brand with no risks. Consider putting a subscription box with a lead magnet or just including a live feed of your most current publications.
- Client Testimonials
If your company has good positive reviews from your past or current customers, gain from them! In a recent research it is seen that 79% of consumers do trust online testimonials and reviews as personal references from their friends or peers. You should let your prospective customers know that you’re not just boasting about accomplishments.
- Video
One of the easiest and most effective ways of engaging a visitor on your website is to Have a short introductory video on your homepage which explains all about your business, , presents your team and shows your office. Make sure your videos are short; you can make them less than 3 minutes so that you don’t bore your visitors and don’t lose their interest. You just need to give them a quick overview of your company’s business and not the company’s whole origin story.
- High-Quality and Original Images
It is best to use real photos of your team and office on your homepage paints, making a genuine representation of what people can anticipate when they work with you, because high-quality images and original images gives a professional impression on people. It is convenient to use stock images, but some stock images or low-resolution images won’t help build credibility for your company or build up the interest of your visitors.
- Overview of Services/Features
Your value proposition and video may give customers a brief overview of what your company does, but it in terms of content, it is still important to include these features, products, or services on your homepage. The presence of this information on your page gives a little more information for prospects, and makes your page rank higher than other service pages. For example,
- Any Awards, Certifications, or Associations
Has your company received any awards or recognition lately? Don’t let those awards just collect dust in your office; put them on display! If your company has received any award or recognition recently, display them on the page. Do not just let those awards rot in your company office. Let your prospective customers know about these recognitions and awards so as to build credibility, give your work more quality and supports your work; presenting you as a professional in your field and a reliable business partner.
Industry recognition like this builds credibility, speaks to the quality of your work, and supports your image as an expert in your field and a trusted business partner.
- A Clear Call-to-Action
It should be clear what action you want people to take next anytime they arrive on your homepage or any page on your website. These are normally major or important actions like subscribing to your blog and other actions like requesting a consultation. You need to decide with your team what one or two actions you really want people to take when they are on your website.
This guest post is brought to you by Kenneth Sytian of Sytian Productions, Philippines. He’s a web design expert from the Philippines, working on different websites in different niches. He wants to share these 11 tips on what you home page should have to help businesses score more clients through their website.