What should be on the homepage of my website?

A website is one of the most important communication channels. It informs, entertains and animates. Because it's often about generating a deal. Whether you're selling something, offering consultations or collecting contact information. Your home page is crucial to your success.

1. Use the recognition effect

You communicate on all channels from a single source? Perfect! Design your home page based on your design specifications, too. Use your common colors and fonts, and place your logo. This way you guarantee the recognition of your appearance.

2. Say what it is about

Your visitors should immediately know what you offer. Therefore, show what your products and services are directly on the home page. And make it clear at this point why users are in the right place with you.

3. Present your content concisely and up-to-date

You know it: the attention span is short! Your visitors want to grasp the information quickly and get to their destination straight away. Therefore, focus on the essentials on your home page and write your content briefly and crisply. It is important that you place the most important information at the top. Also make sure that your data is always up to date.

How you write your texts is also crucial for search engine optimization. Learn here what you should pay attention to for a good positioning in Google, so that your website can be found better.

4. Use images, texts and CTAs

Short and to the point, but not choppy - make your home page attractive! To do this, use appealing images as well as captivating texts and convincing call-to-actions. These CTAs are concrete requests for action that link to so-called landing pages or subpages with further details. Be specific, such as «Profit now» instead of «Learn more».

With user-friendly content and design elements such as a slider, you additionally increase your chance that prospects will linger on your website. In CMS systems like WordPress, you can integrate such sliders on your website with plugins. This allows you, for example, to display several images with texts and buttons in intervals – and also optimize the view for mobile devices.

5. Define a clear navigation

Offer orientation! Because an intuitive navigation structure is central to the user experience. That's why your menu should be clear and understandable. With clear labels, you show your visitors which click will take them to the desired subpage.

6. Design a relevant footer

In the footer of your homepage follow links that are significant for the users. For example, place your privacy policy, your legal notice and your terms and conditions there. You can also link to your social media presence to attract new followers. Furthermore, give your visitors the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter. It is common for this content to be located in the footer. If you follow this best practice, you will make it easier for your users to navigate quickly.

7. Optimize the home page for mobile devices

A large proportion of Internet users surf the web with their smartphone. Therefore, optimize your homepage for smaller screens as well. Your goal is a perfect user experience with beautiful and intuitive design? Check in particular how your most important content and menu look in the mobile display.

8. Don'ts for the home page

Now you know the «Dos» and how a successful start page is structured. However, you should additionally consider or avoid these points on your start page:

• Welcome to our website
  Greeting phrases, no matter how politely they are meant, seem old-fashioned. Instead, appeal to your visitors with engaging content.
• Pop-ups
  While you secure the attention of your visitors with pop-up windows (for newsletter sign-ups or special offers), at the same time you will annoy some of them. This form of advertising in a new window interrupts the user experience and forces your visitors to click away the popping up window. Therefore, such animations should be used only in a very targeted way and the view on mobile devices must be ensured as well.
• External links
  Providing your visitors with comprehensive information is commendable. But remember: every external link increases the chance that visitors will leave your website. Therefore, use them extremely sparingly, especially on the home page.
• Self-promotion
  Surely you have great products and compelling offers. However, we recommend that you refrain from excessive self-promotion on the home page. Put the visitors and their needs in the center! Those who want to know more about you will find what they are looking for on a corresponding sub-page.
• Counter
  The visitor counter is no longer up to date. Leave it out - it doesn't matter to your users how many have visited the website before them.

With these "Dos" and "Don'ts", it's easy for you to implement an appealing and attractive home page. Start designing it accordingly today. This way, you can contribute to a more successful website with simple measures. You don't have a website yet? Then get 7 tips on how to create a website here.