If you want your online business to flourish, you need to ensure you get your website’s homepage right. This is because it will provide the first impression people get of your brand, and you’ll need it to be a good one.
An excellent homepage will help your small business grow by facilitating the buyer’s journey, informing visitors about your brand, and building critical relationships with customers that will turn them into loyal brand ambassadors.
So, let’s look at how you can guarantee your website’s homepage supports your business goals and helps propel your company forward.
6 Essential Web Design Elements to Boost Your Website’s Conversions
Ensure people can hire or buy from you right there
When potential customers land on your homepage, you must make it as easy as possible for them to take the next step with your brand. This will increase your chances of making a sale and create a smooth user experience that helps customers find the information they are looking for.
You can make it simple for users to learn more about your company or progress in the buying journey by:
- Giving a clear and easy-to-spot call to action (CTA), so customers know exactly what they need to do next.
- Providing a sophisticated search feature to help people find what they are looking for.
- Making it easy for them to get in touch with a real person to answer their questions before they make a purchase.
- Designing an intuitive navigation menu so customers can quickly find the products or services they require.
For inspiration, take a look at this example from RMIT Online, an online university. Their homepage is incredibly user-friendly because it provides a simple form above the fold that allows visitors to instantly sign up to receive more information about the establishment’s courses.
The homepage has an intuitive design that provides its readers with the most important information right away without requiring them to search through the site. It also provides a simple call to action (CTA) in the top-right corner to encourage prospective students to learn more, and there is a simple form that people can fill out to learn more about the programs at RMIT University.
Another excellent example comes from US Search, a public records search tool. This background check service uses its homepage to get right to the point about what they have to offer and how customers can take the next steps with their company.
The homepage uses clear language to ensure people know exactly what the company does, which can increase the chances of people using their services. Plus, it has a minimalist design to send prospective customers in the right direction, as all the graphics draw the eye to the bright blue button that will move people forward in their customer journeys.
Lead with your story
Your website’s homepage is the perfect place to tell your brand’s story and give visitors a taste of what you have to offer. After all, homepages are often the first point of contact between a business and its audience, so it’s important to make a good impression.
No matter how big or small being open (and somewhat vulnerable) to sharing your story is a great way to connect with your audience on an emotional level and give them a reason to invest in your products or services.
When done correctly, storytelling can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool that helps you build trust with potential customers and establish your brand as an authority in your industry.
MikeVestil.com starts off by telling his origin story, using his homepage to share the inspiring journey that led him to become a successful entrepreneur. With a few simple sentences, he gives visitors a clear picture of who he is and what he does, which makes it easier for them to trust him and decide if they want to work with him
Earn trust from the outset with positive reviews
As a small business owner, you need to know that people value word-of-mouth recommendations and product reviews over any other marketing technique. So, you can build trust and offer social proof by highlighting positive customer reviews right on your homepage.
To give you an idea of what this could look like, let’s study a company that uses positive reviews to build trust with potential customers as they browse their homepage.
Excel Builders, a Maryland-based home building company, includes testimonials from homeowners who were happy with their services right on their homepage. They have chosen three distinct reviews that showcase the company’s high-quality standards and expertise. All of these factors shown in the testimonials help build trust right away with potential customers as they learn more about what the company can offer them.
You can use testimonials on your homepage to build trust with potential customers, too. Place these reviews in a prominent position on the page to show customers that you offer trusted products and services.
This is a great way to show that you understand your customers, their needs and their goals. So, they’ll be excited to work with you.
Ignoring Website Accessibility: Could It be Killing Your Conversions?
Focus on engaging homepage copy
No matter your niche, the copy on your homepage is critical. Your homepage will usually get the most traffic on your site, so your content needs to be engaging and help your audience understand the value of your products or services and why they should buy from you.
Remember that you don’t need to write huge blocks of text to make an impact. Instead, here are some ways you can craft excellent homepage copy:
- Focus on the benefits you can offer customers right away, so potential buyers know what you offer and why they should do business with you.
- Use headings and subheadings to break up your homepage content and help users find the information they are looking for.
- Use lots of bullet points in your homepage content to help readers skim it and read your information on any device.
You’ll be competing with thousands of other websites for attention and sales, so your homepage content needs to be incredibly interesting to ensure customers engage with your site. Be sure to write short sentences, use bullet points and structure your homepage content in a way that will drive more sales throughout the year.
Showcase awards and qualifications
Highlighting your awards and accolades is a great way to demonstrate your expertise because they’ll serve as a concrete sign that you’re an expert in your industry and potential customers can trust you.
Here are some ways you can display your qualifications and awards on your homepage:
- List all your relevant awards with badges on your homepage to build confidence with your audience.
- Showcase your qualifications with certifications that are relevant to your industry to show prospective buyers that you have the education needed to deliver a great product or service.
- Show specific training that your company has completed in your industry. This can show that you have specialized knowledge that can add value for buyers.
To give you an idea of how you can display your accolades on your website, here is an example from Monmouth County Criminal Lawyers, a law firm.
To showcase the knowledge and expertise of their staff, they list various awards and associations the firm is affiliated with. Notice how they use the logos of recognizable award providers and associations that potential customers might be familiar with.
By showing they’ve received prestigious awards and are members of professional associations, the firm shows its employees are experts in the field of law.
Use strong imagery
Strong visuals are essential for grabbing visitors’ attention and showing them what your business is all about. You can use your homepage imagery to help your audience understand what you offer and entice them to learn more about your products and services.
You can use relevant images and videos on your homepage to drive more engagement and get potential customers interested in your products or services that can lead to higher engagement and more sales.
Take a look at this example of strong homepage imagery from LawnWorx, a lawn care and pest control company. Since they offer lawn services, the company has used an image of a residential home with a manicured lawn to show the quality of the services they provide.
This strong imagery will help the user to envision what their home could look like if they invest in LawnWorx’s expert services. This can then help drive potential customers through the buying process.
You can use the same strategy on your homepage. Your images should be high quality and appealing to your visitors, and you can ensure this by choosing images that have a high resolution and are crisp.
Summary
Your homepage can have a huge impact on whether your online business succeeds, so be sure to optimize it to help you reach your essential business goals.
This will give visitors an excellent first impression of what your company is all about and inspire them to convert. So, take the tips in this article on board and it won’t be long before you start to feel the positive effects.
