Imagine walking into a store and discovering there’s clutter everywhere. There is no one in sight to help you and nothing is labeled.
Most of us would simply walk right out of the store never to return. The same is true for your online store, which is your website.
This is the place where people come to find out more about your store. Their first impression is your homepage.
Which means it’s imperative your homepage looks as amazing as it possibly can. To help you make a great first impression, here are eight tips for a homepage design people will keep coming back for.
1. Use the Right Colors
Your homepage design needs color. But the wrong colors can send the wrong message.
Colors that are too bright or too dark makes it difficult for people to notice the information on your website. You also shouldn’t use too many colors as it will be distracting.
Instead, choose one to three colors that best represent what your site is about. Don’t forget to leave room for whitespace.
2. Clear Out the Clutter
Keep your homepage design simple. Get rid of any unnecessary clutter.
You want to strive for a clean site that allows people to find exactly what they’re looking for without any difficulty. The harder they have to look, the sooner your customer will lose interest and find another site.
Your goal with your homepage is to entice your customers to take the next step. Usually, that’s to visit another page where they might buy or learn something.
A cluttered homepage distracts your customer from taking the steps you need them to. Stay away from carousels, pop-ups, and auto-play videos on your homepage.
3. Make Everything Easy
You have 2.7 seconds for your website to load before people will start another search elsewhere. People don’t have a lot of patience.
With billions of websites out there, your customers also know there’s a good chance they can find the same goods and services on another site. Don’t give them that chance.
Make everything on your site easy to find. Make it easy for them to contact you. Make it easy for them to find the top goods and services you sell.
Ensure your check-out is an easy process. The harder a consumer has to look or the more difficult the process is, the less likely it is you’ll attract loyal customers for your e-commerce site.
4. Don’t Forget a CTA
A call-to-action or CTA is an important element to have in your homepage design. Your goal is to get people to take action of some sort.
Perhaps you want to direct them to a specific page where they can purchase an item. Maybe you’re looking to capture e-mail addresses to send them newsletters.
No matter what, get your audience to take some sort of action. Many people offer something free like an e-book or 10% off a purchase in order to entice their visitors to take a specific action.
5. Know Your Audience
Your website will not appeal to everyone. No one’s website can do that.
Instead, figure out exactly who your audience is. Then create a homepage design that your core audience will find useful.
Even if your homepage is stunning, if it’s not useful to your visitors, they’ll leave. By doing research on who your audience is, what they’re looking for, and why they’re choosing you over your competition, you’ll know exactly how to appeal to them.
It will also help you determine what information goes on which page and how to measure its performance.
6. Make It Eye Catching
A boring site won’t attract or keep customers coming time after time. It needs to be visually appealing.
Photos and videos can help make your homepage design that much more interesting. It’s also a great way to improve SEO.
Too much text can leave people feeling overwhelmed with too much information. It then distracts them from making a purchasing decision.
Instead, use an eye-popping photograph to go along with the text. This is especially helpful if you sell products. People want to know exactly what an item looks like before they buy.
Don’t forget to place keywords in the meta title of the photo so search engines and your customers can find items more easily.
You can create videos that inform, educate, and entertain your core audience. It doesn’t need to be lengthy and shouldn’t be. Somewhere between 30 seconds and three minutes will help explain without boring your audience.
7. Keep It Current
When you fail to update your homepage design it tells people your company isn’t really progressing along. It also tells search engines the same thing.
Update your site often. Your return visitors will notice the changes. They’ll want to engage with the new, relevant content.
Search engines will take notice and you’ll notice your rankings improving.
Change the news headlines and imagery. If you have sales campaigns, change them on a weekly basis, if possible.
8. Make Sure Your Homepage Design Includes a Way to Contact You
It’s not always necessary to contact a company, but it’s really inconvenient for a customer if they have to search for a way to connect with them.
Whether they need to contact you because they have a question, complaint, or even a concern, it should be easy for your customers to find a way to contact you on your homepage.
You don’t need to provide more than one way to reach you. It could be as simple as having your e-mail listed at the bottom of the page. You might want to list your phone number at the top of the website.
Doing so shows you care about your customers and are willing and happy to engage with them. This also creates an element of trust between you and your customers. They want to know you care about them and don’t feel that a call from them would be an annoyance.
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Chances are, you are not a marketing expert. And there’s a lot to know about marketing, especially when it concerns website design.
Make it easy on yourself by learning as much as you can about marketing. Our blog is constantly being updated with articles on the latest information about online marketing.
Come back often to learn how to successfully market your products and services online.
