Think you know how to write a business website homepage? Read
this article to make sure.
You probably think you already know what a homepage is. But if
you’re like many business website owners, you really don’t. The
homepages of many business websites are suffering an identity
crisis. They're trying to do the job of several web pages, and
doing none of those jobs well.
What a Business Website Homepage is Not:
* A homepage is not the place to dump a long description of your
business. That’s for the “about us” or “company information”
page. On the homepage, this information will just bore most
people.
* A homepage is not the place where you list and sell all your
products (unless you only have one or two). You should have
a special products and services page for that, and preferably
a shopping cart or catalog. Trying to make people buy right
on your homepage is a little pushy. The homepage will also
get over-crowded as your offerings expand. Instead, just
include a list of product categories with links to inside
pages, along with direct links to your biggest sellers.
* A homepage is not the place to include the full text of your
announcements and press releases. Just include a teaser
paragraph of each article on the homepage, with a link to
the web page with the full text. If people want to read the
full text, they can. If they don’t, you haven’t bored them
to tears.
* A homepage is not your company president’s or owner’s personal
blog. It’s OK to rant, rave, or preach the need for world
peace. Just don’t do it on wesellwidgets.com
As you’ve probably noticed, a good website has multiple pages.
You should have special web pages for special topics: an “about
us” page for company information, a products and services
catalog, the president’s blog, etc. When you advertise or send
out links to your site, you should link directly to the most
appropriate page, rather than just the homepage. Of course, that
doesn’t mean you don’t need a homepage, just that you don’t need
it to do every single thing you want your website to accomplish.
Quick Guide to Writing a Business Website Homepage
Important Points to Consider
Target audience
Your business website’s homepage must be all things to all the
people who type your URL in their navigation bar, whether it’s
their six-hundredth visit or whether they just happened to
catch your web address painted on the back of your car.
Content
For the benefit of new visitors, a homepage must provide a
snapshot of who you are and what visitors can do on your website.
Your first one to three paragraphs should give a quick overview
of what visitors can do on your site. For example, you could
include a short paragraph each on “buy widgets,” “learn more
about widgets,” and “meet other widget enthusiasts,” with links
to your shopping cart, informational articles, and message
board, respectively.
For returning visitors, the homepage must serve as a touchstone
for navigating the site, announcing new developments and pointing
out especially popular or useful pages. For these visitors you
don’t have to write anything new especially for your homepage.
Anyone who's coming back to your site is already interested and
is going to want to jump right into the deeper pages of your
site, rather than linger on the homepage wondering whether it's
worth their time.
That's why your homepage should include teasers for the inside
pages of your site. For instance, you could have a tip of the
week, linked to a web page on your site with an article
explaining it. Good navigation (list of links to the four to
eight most essential web pages on your site) is also a must.
For both new and returning visitors, always give a prominent
place to a featured product or service (or two or three) with a
picture, one or two-sentence description, and a link to its own
web page or its place in your "products and services page,"
catalog or shopping cart.
You should also always feature a satisfied customer. It's great
if the satisfied customer can send you a picture of himself
or herself. But no matter what, always include a testimonial
quotation, and a link to a case study or customer story on its
own web page, which you should definitely find time to write
or have written for you by a website content provider.
Title
Don’t title your homepage “Welcome to [name of your site].”
Don’t include that message anywhere on your homepage, in fact.
It’s a waste of space. This was normal in 1996 but it’s pretty
passé now. Everyone already knows they’re on your site. What you
need to tell them is what they can do there. Try something like
“Buy, Study, and Discuss Widgets.”
Also make sure your title incorporates any keywords you think
people might use to search for your product or service on the
internet. Search engines decide how to categorize pages largely
based on the homepage title and first heading text.
Length
Ideally, the first few paragraphs of the homepage (the ones
aimed at new visitors) should not be more than 100-350 words
total. The teasers for inside pages targeted to returning
visitors should not be more than about 100 words each.
Making Sure Your Website Has the Best Homepage Possible
Before your homepage goes live, test it out on a few people.
Don’t just ask your volunteers how they like your homepage.
Courtesy may prevent you from getting an honest response.
Instead, ask them to find how to buy your latest product or if
they understand what’s the most important development in your
company recently. If they can navigate to the correct page
within about eight seconds (the average human attention span
on the web), you’ve done well.
You may just want to hire a website copywriter, online
copywriting firm, or website content provider to create your
homepage for you. After all, you wouldn’t build your own office
building, would you? Of course, that’s not an entirely fair
comparison—more people will see your business website homepage
than will ever see your office building.
|
