A website home page is actually the first page that opens when you visit or when you type in a URL in the address bar of a browser, in the case of Google search it is the link that you are directed to in case you want to read more about a subject.
A homepage is actually the face of a website which means it should be clean, neat, outstanding, clear, and simple and should communicate since it creates the impression and it determines the action of the visitor.
A homepage outlook also determines the time the visitor will spend on the website, for example, if the homepage is taking a long time to load, the visitor will be discouraged to even click the other links since he will automatically assume they will take the same time before they open.
What makes a website homepage outstanding or ideal?
There are several items that we are going to highlight in this article that will help you as a website designer or developer or as the owner of a business to have and consider so as to achieve an outstanding homepage.
Remember one thing that a homepage does is that it determines whether a visitor will navigate to the other pages on the website
Let's take a scenario where are you are a developer or you are a business person and do not want to spend a lot of money and don't want to spend a lot of time creating a website therefore you go online links and searches for a theme or template somewhere, customize it and boom you are ready for launch.
One thing you should understand is that themes are created for specific purposes that may not necessarily match your idea.
Therefore you should not just take that it customize and say it’s done, you should come up with your own brand and spend some time with the team that you have and come up with something that will sell your product or brand.
You should not just take online templates because they have features that suit you, for example, people prefer already made templates or themes because they have pre-defined shopping carts for e-commerce and think that the theme will suit their business well which sometimes fails.
Spend your time and come up with a custom-made product that is owned by you and which all the team members are in agreement with which will be free from errors or may require a change from time to time because it does not serve you well.
Remember your homepage creates the first impression when the impression is wrong it means your website adds no valueThings to consider an outstanding homepage?
- generate leads
- others to get actual sales
- Expose your brand which is called a portfolio website.
- Download now
- View More
- Subscribe to our newsletter
1. Have a plan
Just like a certain quote that says “failing to plan is automatically planning to fail” therefore in website design you need to have a plan.
A brand can be written on a piece of paper or you can have illustrations that present to the developer or of which you as a developer you are going to refer to while designing the homepage of the website that is you need to define what do you want to achieve, the objectives, and the goals which the website will achieve, for example, there are those that are designed to
That means websites do not share the same plan and therefore the purpose of the website should define your plan which should suit your target market well.
To make sure you capture everything you need before designing your homepage, document all that you need by doing your research and comparing with others you are in the same industry so that you can identify what are their strong and weakest points
2. Easy Navigation
Navigation is the section that shows Direction in the website from one step or one page to another and it helps a visitor identify what is contained in your website.
If you get your navigation wrong, it means that the contents in your website or the other pages in your website would not be visible since the visitor accessing your website may not find them since you have not defined a path that leads the visitor to the items.
Therefore, the navigation items should be easily visible and should use easy language and a straightforward one so that the visitor may find an easier time interacting with them.
3. Well defined Call to actions
A call to action is what you instruct the visitors to do while they land on the website.
Suppose you are promoting a product, by default, when a visitor lands on your homepage without scrolling a lot he should see a link or a button with an action to either purchase or be directed to where the product is.
Call to action buttons or links should be of different colors that speak out and gets attraction to visitors.
Examples of call to action buttons are
4. Briefly describe who you are and what you do
Mostly, you find that customers get links to visit your website from other external links or social media pages which means most of them do not have an idea of who you are or what your website is all about.
To introduce yourself, on your homepage, you should improvise a section where visitors will know about you with like half a paragraph without so many words that briefly describes you or your business or your product with a link or a button for reading more that describes you
Conclusion
A homepage is a defining factor for the actions and time the visitors will do and take in the website. Therefore the first impression matters a lot. Spend time and come up with an outstanding homepage that will speak about you and your product with ease.
