Writing the Homepage of your website can be tricky. It must grip your reader, it must convey the essence of your offering, and it must support all the other click-through pages. There is a lot to be said about writing Homepages. These four points cover the more important issues:
1. Use your main headline to convey your value proposition.
When first-time visitors arrive at your site, they have a purpose in mind. They are looking for something. The job of your principal headline is to communicate quickly and clearly the primary value proposition of your site. This gets harder when you burden your headline with extra duties. So stay focused. Communicate your offering quickly and clearly.
2. Use some short introductory text to clarify and expand on your headline.
Your value proposition should be communicated completely in twelve words or less. If you have a business that offers a number of different products or services, rather keep your headline simple, and then use a short introductory text to expand your message. Place this text directly beneath your headline, one following directly after the other.
3. Help visitors find what they are looking for.
Unless you have a single product or single service, you are going to have to help people find the second-level pages they need. If 80% of your visitors end up going to just three or four of your second level pages first, make links to these pages easy to find on your Homepage. Homepages are often too cluttered. Make a feature of the links that best serve the needs of the majority.
4. Make your first-time visitors feel comfortable and confident.
When visitors come to your site for the first time, they will feel unsure about you. They need to know they can trust you and that you can give them what they are looking for. A major factor in building trust is the tone of your headline and other text. Write simply, clearly and honestly. Make your page and your text useful and helpful.
Whenever you write a Homepage, aim for clarity and simplicity. Stay focused on helping each visitor. Make them feel comfortable and confident they have come to the right place.