Designing a website for a commercial company is not an easy task and the homepage is most crucial. It demands the most creativity and quality in terms of presentation and uniqueness. Your website’s homepage is the frontier from where users actually start their engagement with your business. It is a great chance to improve the time a customer spends on your website and is also the deciding factor whether a customer will stay on or bounce off.
What should a company website homepage look like? What are the most important elements that must be included in the homepage design? What does a customer desire to see on the homepage? These questions trouble any web designer when working on a company homepage. You don’t want to mess up your homepage with any design and look that doesn’t make the right first impression.
Designers get perplexed in coming up with fresh design/UI (User Interface) ideas. A unique style of approach and presentation does the job for the homepage, however it must also contain some specific elements, which are mentioned below:
1. Front & Center Identity Statement
Tell the audience who you are and what it is that you do. A clearly defined area of work sends out a clarity of purpose. The visitor immediately knows what your company is offering. This is usually done using banner/hero images and big, clear banner text. Your identity statement lets the audience know if they have come to the right location.
2. Social Presence To Build Credibility
You can talk all about yourself on the other pages of your website like ‘about me,’ ‘vision & mission’ pages but the homepage should include genuine testimonials and reviews from your clients and customers. This brings outside value to your website and helps in validation of your company by prospective customers. Client logos and case studies of previously completed projects help measure your caliber in the industry. Mention your notable projects, references, awards and laurels to build reputation and credibility.
3. Focus On Top Products/Services
Choose top 3 to 4 products and services to represent clearly on your homepage. These are your best and most popular products/services that fall in line with the mission and vision statement of your company. They work as launchpads to draw in customers and deeper into the website. Most customers who need these services will wait around and research more while some will immediately reach out to you.
4. Guide The Customers
The homepage should make it a priority to invite ‘action’ from visitors. This can be accomplished by strategically placing CTA (call to action) elements on the homepage. These CTA elements could be anything like:
Above mentioned 4 things should be made priorities while designing and developing a homepage. However, just following them won’t get new traffic to your website. Once the visitor clicks on your website link, the homepage can handle it from there. But, getting traffic will mean that the homepage actually comes in use and gives the best results. For this, you need to follow certain guidelines to ensure that your website is visible on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Here’s a short checklist with quick explanations as to why you need to do it:
1. Responsive & Multi-platform Design
A web page design that responds to a large spectrum of devices and browsers seamlessly. With cross-platform adaptability you can expect users to visit your website via a range of gadgets. This will ensure more traffic and user engagement.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The most widely used trick to obtain organic traffic to your business website. Ensure that semantic content; human content must be embedded in metadata that is read by machines. This will improve visibility and ensure the audience actually visits your homepage.
3. Faster Loading Time & Performance
Put your money into building websites that are fast loading. This greatly impacts the time a customer spends on the website. Slow loading websites are a major put-off and cause heavy bounce rates.
4. URL Address & Relatable Content
Ensure that your URL is simple to remember and type. It should be self-explanatory and logical to the website theme/topic. A URL is the first thing that a user notices about your website and if it sticks in their minds, more than half the job is done. It also impacts search engine rankings.
5. Website Traffic Analysis
Visitor analytics can help you understand your website traffic and what links are being clicked more. It tells which components on your website are attracting users so that you can highlight them on your homepage.
6. Easy To Update & Improve
Content on a website or any webpage needs to be current and correct. A website/homepage design should offer the flexibility to update content regularly with ease and convenience.
Use the above techniques as a blueprint for creating the perfect homepage for your company website. Include all elements of design, give proper information and keep the audience hooked with a fabulous and unique design.
