Your homepage is not about you
So many homepages I see don't make me want to dig deeper into a web site. They're cluttered, text-heavy and they go on and on about the person or the business.
What's wrong with that, you might wonder? Well, they leave out the most important piece of information — how the business can help the visitor.
So here's a mini-lesson on how to create the best homepage, including examples of excellent homepages, that I put together for an online course I've been teaching to a group from the Editorial Freelancers' Association.
Main point:
I know it seems strange, but don’t focus your homepage on you and your services. This is not the place. This can be done a level or two deeper into the site. Focus instead on the visitor’s problems. Your homepage is where you must make a compelling case for the benefits of choosing you over your competition.
Here are some good examples of sites that do this (not necessarily all beautifully designed, but that's not the point): Notice the common denominator amongst all of these homepages: the word “you” abounds.
Perhaps the reason why we see far too many homepages with poor design, layout and content is the overwhelming need most people face when building websites. That is, they start with the homepage first. A homepage should be the last thing anybody designs. Like you say, it’s about focusing on the problems you can solve for your visitors and what benefit you will be to them in the long run. You do that through your content by demonstrating you knowledge and skills in a manner that will prompt them to contact you. By following this philosophy, you will see that your homepages will be easier to create and manage if you first focus on the content that lives two or three levels down.
Posted by: Justin Beller | April 09, 2007 at 11:34 AM
You're right, Justin.
The smartest thing you can do when designing any site is to figure out your content first: mission, then outline, then wireframe, then design. Otherwise, it's too easy to get caught up in the window dressing.
Posted by: Colleen Wainwright | April 09, 2007 at 01:45 PM
Fair enough, Ilise. I agree. But, there are two something else's that are useful on the home page, that were missing from some of your examples.
#1- Empathy
People are looking for what they are looking for, true. But, in many cases, by the time they go looking and find your website, their problem is already frustrating them. Perhaps they are overwhelmed. Or even verging on hopeless.
Well, hopefully not that bad.
Without giving some empathy, it's hard for the person reading to feel seen, and thus to have the emotional/intellectual spaciousness to take in your message.
Even if it is about the problem.
#2- Identity
People have very strong values that they are closely identified with. If your reader doesn't seem evidence that their own values are mirrored in the site, especially if the product or service is fairly important, like marketing, then it will make them more hesitant to act, until they see their values mirrored.
The home page is a great place to put these two things. They can be done simply, easily, and without a lot of words.
Posted by: Mark Silver | April 11, 2007 at 06:32 PM
I was recently looking for a professional service and went to the Internet for some contacts. Although there were several web sites touting the qualifications of these professionals, most web sites were too wordy and loaded with "flowery marketing speak". Out of 25 sites I viewed, I only came away with a couple of people that I wanted to pursue for additional information.
I think you are right on with your blog comments about an effective homepage.
Posted by: Dr Mom | April 12, 2007 at 04:36 PM
My site is one of the ones that was highlighted in this blog so I was interested to see what people had to say about effective homepages. We actually started with the homepage first
The process that we followed was really quite simple. We started by answering 2 questions. What was the clients pain and what is the ideal situation for them. We then put those key ideas into phrases that we have heard our clients use. The thing that has worked for us is that we used their pain and their dreams expressed in their language. It is both as simple and challenging as that.
Hope that this helps.
Posted by: Stephen Semple | April 18, 2007 at 04:09 PM