Online presence is of the greatest importance for the success of any activity in our digital age. Whether you are planning to start a new website or you are thinking about renovating the existing one, the first thing you should give some careful thought is your home page design as it plays the key role being your visiting card. Of course, a goal of a website may be quite different, that is why a home page design may also vary greatly.
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To be effective, every website homepage has to fulfill the next vital functions:
- Attract attention
- Give the most important information
- Encourage to cooperate/buy
Here are some helpful tricks to make your homepage accomplish the desirable effect.
Trick 1. The first impression is the most influential
When a person surfs the Web, your website home page is the first thing one sees. So, at this stage, its main task is to catch the visitor’s attention and do not let leave the site without taking any action. For this reason, you are welcome to apply all the knowledge about human psychology.
Most people in the modern world are visuals. It means that what they see is of the greatest importance for them. Use visual influence to attract the visitors to your website. There are many ways to make it look smart:
Colors
The choice of colors requires a lot of attention. There is no one advice good for all websites in this situation as everything depends on the goal of the website and your target audience. In one case, you can use bright colors and sharp contrasts like Wellington Zoo on its homepage.
In other cases, like with Oxford University website homepage, a calm color palette will be a better decision not to irritate prospective clients.
As you see, colors do have a lot of power that should be used without hesitation in the preferable direction.
Fonts
There are hundreds of different font styles. There is no need to keep to the old friend Times New Roman. Go ahead and experiment. But, take into account that not all fonts look equally good on different mobile devices. Have a look at the wonderful example of creative typography usage by TopHat.
Images
The images on your homepage should be of high quality and authentic. You’d better avoid using stock imagery in this case at all. Let it be only one background image, but stunning and professional. It will be definitely successful in captivating your visitors’ attention. Doubtless, you will appreciate the results. The Samsung website homepage demonstrates this concept in a very picturesque way.
White Space
Do not overload your page with images and information. Let the space work for you as well. In this way you have an opportunity to stress some particulars or products. Such a method can be extremely effective. Many worldwide brands (e.g. Apple) are using this technique on their homepages.
Videos
It may be a good idea to add a video to your homepage. You сan use a greeting or an attractive advertisement featuring your product or services. Although, take into consideration that if this element is quite big in terms of size, it can make your website load much longer.
Animation and visual effects
Visual effects always look marvelous and they are memorable, still do not be too fond of them. Too many effects can play a bad joke on you by spooking your guests. Madwell’s use of parallax effect is quite a spectacular example of this idea at work.
Button style
Be inventive and use fresh ideas as for the button style as well. It is an excellent opportunity to influence your visitors and make the browsing of your site more fascinating like in case with Future of Car Sharing homepage.
Trick 2. Place the information wisely
You should understand that when a visitor opens your page there is no guarantee that he is going to scroll it to the bottom. So, the most important elements of your website homepage have to be ‘above the fold’ that is at the top of the page. This area is also known as a header.
- The Headline is the chief element of any website homepage. It may be the name of your company/organization or whatever you consider good enough to answer this purpose. Just remember to keep it short and attractive. A perfect example of such a headline you can find on MotoCMS website builder homepage.
- Also, your homepage is an excellent idea to add a Logo to. If you are not able to create a good logo yourself, you’d better consult a professional. A spectacular logo will influence the perception of the visitor for sure.
- Give clear information about what you are doing. Try to keep it brief but exhaustive. Take a look at a homepage developed for Viva Dental Studio. If there are some services or products you want to feature, your homepage is a perfect place to do it.
- Pay extra attention to the menu bar of your home page. The navigation of your website should be clear and logical. Do not introduce too many options in the bar as your visitors may get confused and overwhelmed.
- To put a search bar in the header is a clever step as well. Consider this detail as it will make finding the necessary information much easier for the visitors.
Trick 3. Get visitors involved and motivate them
Inspiring the visitors to stick around your website to learn more about your brand or your services is very important for the further development of your company. There are some ideas to help you with it.
- Add a call to action to your website homepage. To formulate a powerful call to action, you should realize perfectly well what exactly you want your visitors to do and why they should do it. You’d better do not use generic instructions (like ‘Submit’). Instead, creating a sense of urgency (by using time-sensitive terms as with Photoshelter) may be quite helpful. Also, try to make your call to action clear and short.
- Boast your success. Recollect what you feel when you see the diplomas proving the qualification of your doctor or your lawyer in their offices. Why do not follow this good example? Show your awards and certificates. Look at the Casting Life Films homepage to see how effectively it works. The list of awards shows the prospective clients the achievements of the company and thus stimulates them to order services as well.
- Share the information about the latest news/events by introducing such a section on your homepage. The Toyota company is using its homepage to keep the clients informed about the recent activities and the brand’s newest product.
- Speak openly about the benefits your company offers to the clients (Alzspace does it in a very impressive form on its homepage). This may also work as a trigger for a prospective client’s interest.
- Contacts is one of the most important elements on your page as you need the people’s reaction. Make communicating with you easy and convenient. Both you and your clients will benefit.
- Testimonials are really valuable as most people tend to believe the third party. Use this peculiarity to prompt your visitors to do an action you need from them.
- Social media links may be very useful due to the vast popularity of social networks among the public today. Take advantage of this 21-century addiction and succeed. MBH advocates and legal consultant company website homepage shows a great example of effective social links use.
- Blogging is a popular method of attracting attention nowadays. If you have a blog of your own, feature it on the homepage and make more people interested in it. Car Repair System company, for example, does not only mention the blog but also gives links to the posts which may interest the visitors. This can also be a good way of sharing information about your services.
There is no need to apply all the above mentioned features. Think about what variant will be most helpful in your particular case. Be creative and you will succeed.
Author: Allison Reed – is a professional content strategist and an inspired author. Marketing manager by day and a writer by night, she is creating many articles on business, design, web development and SEO. She loves working with multiple website builders and sharing her experience with the readers. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and G+.
