Does Your Homepage Work?
|
|
All websites have a homepage. It is the most important page of your site. It acts as the main gateway to the entire site. Most of your prospective customers will enter through it. Its vital to get it right. You dont want them to just turn around and go away again.
Take a moment to clear your mind. Now go and look at your homepage and take a minute to evaluate it. Does it work for your prospective customers?
Most will arrive at your homepage and quickly scan through the content. If they are interested in what they read and see they'll typically decide to click on a link that takes them to another page where they'll find more information. As they make that decision they'll be asking things like:
What do they do?
Do they look professional?
Whats in it for me?
Do i have the problem they describe?
Are they talking directly to me?
How can i get it?
Alternatively, if the homepage hasnt interested them immediately then they'll leave just as quickly as they arrived, unlikely to return.
Your homepage is the gateway to your website and plays a critical part in the prospects visit. First impressions count. The success of your site depends on your homepage. Now, before we look at what a homepage should be, lets look at what it shouldnt be.
It should not be a false homepage requiring you to click a link to get to the real homepage. It shouldnt be a page that fails to direct the prospect to further action. It shouldnt contain any content that doesnt serve an immediate and clear purpose. It should never read like a dull brochure, that does nothing to motivate prospects to seek more information or buy immediately.
What a homepage should be. It should have a clear message. It should be a dynamic page that instantly conveys a sense of what you do, how you do it, who you are, how you do business, etc. It should start to describe the direct benefits that prospective customers get by buying your product or service. It should create prospect interest and make them eager to find out more. It should provide direction and clearly marked links to get them there. It should focus entirely on serving the needs of your prospective customers and removing their anxieties.
The purpose of your website is to sell your products and services to your prospects. To be effective your homepage must meet the needs of your prospects exactly and provide answers to their questions. To do this you must know what your prospects want and how they want it. If you dont already know, find out. Ask them!
Also, spend some time looking at other homepages learning what works and what doesnt. Are there features and styles that you could adopt on your site?
Once you have these answers design your entire homepage around them. Spend some time getting it right and both you and your prospects will benefit. Dont settle for second best unless you want your website to fail as a result of being ineffective.
When you've done it. Take a moment to clear your mind. Now go and look at your homepage once again and take a minute to re-evaluate it. Does it work for your prospective customers now?
Good luck!
About The Author
Peter Simmons is editor of the DYNAMIQ EZINE. GET MAXIMUM RESULTS FROM YOUR WEBSITE! Increase your traffic, prospect conversions, sales, profits, referrals and more... START GETTING RESULTS RIGHT NOW with your $129 WEBSITE EVALUATION ABSOLUTELY FREE at http://www.dynamiq.co.uk/ezine or email me anytime at mailto:peter@dynamiq.co.uk
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterCan Your Visitors Contact You From Your Website
Argh, where's the contact button?! Believe it or not, some websites just DON'T WANT any visitors (even customers) to CONTACT them. There's no email address, no contact ...(related: Web Design)
The Contrast And Similarities Between A Web Designer And Web Programmer
The concept of web designing based on the nature and rapid growth of the Internet is nothing to boast of any more. This is because of the large number of web sites published to the Internet everyday, so as to showcase one's presence and dominance on the World Wide Web. You may ask why this is so, well, the so simple answer is the rate at which technology is evolving.An example is illustrated with the popular Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia's Flash. They are two different web designing software which have the same...(related: Web Design)
Best Web Design And Free Web Promotion Tips
This article gives free tips on how to find a cheap web designer and free tips on website promotion.Cheap web design services.You do not have to spend thousands of pounds to have an internet prescence. In my opinion you should only have to pay between £50 and £100 to have a website built. The websites at the bottom of this page only cost me £42.50 each! The amount of competition in the internet web design sector means that there are some great deals available.You can find these cheap web design companies by looking on internet auction websites, intern...(related: Web Design)
Are You A Bill Clinton Webmaster?
One of the most frequent questions I get asked about my ebook, Don't Get Banned BY The Search Engines, is whether I amended it to include post-Florida Google. "Florida" is the code name that search engine optimizer wizards gave to a November, 20...(related: Web Design)
5 Easy Ways To Improve Your Website
When designing your website, remember to avoid useless and confusing features, however "cool" they may seem to be. Us...(related: Web Design)
Making Good Websites That Stand Out
Websites, there's literally billions of them out there in cyber-space. How many of them do you go to and just think this is boring, bland, or hard to use? It seems like too many to mention. So what makes a good website? I reckon it's about interaction. You've got to make the visitor interested. You've got to grab their attention. Many sites use plenty of bright and shiny gimmicks to attract you, but once you make it through to the content of the site it's just not worthy. A good site uses easy navigation, relevant content, and interactive medi...(related: Web Design)
14 Ways To Add Content To Your Web Site - Part 1
When I surf the Net, I often see web sites filled withbeautiful graphics that strive to capture my attention.Well, they do so for an instant, however I click away whenI don't immediately find relevant content. The content youadd to your web site needs to attract both visitors andsearch engines.Here are 14 ways to add content to your web site and attractvisitors:1. Get into the mind of your visitor. Brainstorm all theways your visitor would think of your product. Write yourcontent as if you are sitting next to him/her explainingyour product. Don't write in the 3rd person ie we, they,but use I, you, or your. This makes it more personal.2. Keep it simple - write as if explaining yo...(related: Web Design)
Don?t Put Your Slogan In The Title Tag - Optimize Your Web Pages
Don't just put your slogan in the title tagwhen you formulate the copy of your website. Theformulation of the title tag is the mostimportant single aspect when you fine-tune yourwebsite:1. It is what people first read when thelisting of your site turns up in Google and othersearch engines.2. It is the single element of your website that the search engines pay the highest emphasis on.If you look up the source code, the title is whatis between these tags: title and /title in the hard brackets. You can get the length of your title tag checked here: http://www.scrubtheweb.com/cgi-bin/webtools/meta-check.cgiA typical slogan isn't stuffed with importantkeywords. My slogan for my stock photographybusiness is "Sto...(related: Web Design)
Web Site Design Mistakes
Some wise human once said "Learn from the mistakes of others. There isn't nearly enough time to make them all yourself." Hence this article. Here are five of the most annoying and common web design mistakes.1. Slow download time - Don't be that site that is filled with the coolest gizmos in the world. You know, animation, music and other "cool" things. Why? Because nobody is going to go to it because it takes too long to download. A nice clean site that downloads quickly will get you much further than a site with all the fixings that takes forever to download.2. Unreadable text - If a user has to struggle to read the text on your web site, chances are they won't. Here are some common readability issues:A. Low contrast text and background - Don't u...(related: Web Design)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Web Design