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7 Ways to Make Your Home Page a Home Run for Usability

Written by: Stoney G deGeyter

Article Overview: Your home page is the single most crucial page of your site. This is the page that will be the primary entry point for a majority of your visitors. It is also the page that sets the stage for the rest of the site giving visitors a birds-eye view of who you are, what you're about, what you can do for them, what you offer, and how they get the information needed. The importance of making sure your home page is user-friendly cannot be understated. This page, more than any other, has to pull together so many elements without being overbearing or overloading the visitor with information overkill. Despite the over-reaching purpose of the home page, simplicity is the key. Provide the necessary information and usability elements and you'll lower your bounce rate and improve site conversions along the way.

7 Ways to Make Your Home Page a Home Run for Usability

Your home page is the single most crucial page of your site. This is the page that will be the primary entry point for a majority of your visitors. It is also the page that sets the stage for the rest of the site giving visitors a birds-eye view of who you are, what you're about, what you can do for them, what you offer, and how they get the information needed.

The importance of making sure your home page is user-friendly cannot be understated. This page, more than any other, has to pull together so many elements without being overbearing or overloading the visitor with information overkill. Despite the over-reaching purpose of the home page, simplicity is the key. Provide the necessary information and usability elements and you'll lower your bounce rate and improve site conversions along the way.

*** Site identification ***

The home page’s first function is to convey to the visitor what site they are on. Company name and logo must be clearly and obviously displayed.


*** Identify page ***

Visitors should know that they page they have landed on is, in fact, the home page. A quick glance at the page should make this obvious.

*** Site overview ***

Home page content should provide an overview of who you are and what you do. It should go on to introduce the main areas of your site, giving visitors the opening to continue through to the information they came for.

*** Calls to action ***

Use textual and image links that convey a distinct call to action that drives the visitor to the desired destination.

*** Splash pages ***

Splash pages should never be used. These pages serve very little purpose and tend to annoy visitors.

*** Minimize content ***

Home page content should be kept to a minimum. This page should serve as a jump off point (enticement) to direct visitors to the deeper sales content pages.

*** Minimize scrolling ***

Vertical scrolling should be kept to a minimum. Ensure that most important information is visible "above the fold".

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Article Tags: birds eye view, bounce, conversions, elements, enticement, glance, home page content, important information, information overkill, jump off point, little purpose, page visitors, simplicity, site overview, usability



Related Forum Posts
Suggestions for your website... - Hi...I took a look at your website, and most of it looks pretty good... However, the Home Page is a bit sparse. All the buttons going down the left hand side, a few squares with info at the top, and all that white space below.... It really needs some text of some kind there.... perhaps a happy person or two wearing some of your wares?
Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? - HI, I have used trade shows (not participated) to collect potential clients. For example, the Home & Garden Industry is extremely behind the time in regards to their websites. I attended an Home & Garden Expo in Denver and collected all the companies contact information. I plan on cold calling & mailing information to each business. It also gave me time to research the industry more, talk directly to the owners in many cases, and learn more about what they need. Jeff
Try wikipedia.com for more information - That depends what type of business you are involved in. Maybe if you share that, we can help you a little better. I work mostly in the Work at Home industry so my advice would only be along those lines.
Re: Social media - [quote="jacksonp":38eoggxw][quote="terriz":38eoggxw] What Twitter tool are you using that provides those features? I use Hootsuite, TweetDeck, and recently added TweetMiner to manage day-to-day tweeting, scheduled tweets, etc.[/quote:38eoggxw] I am sharing the tools which I use.These are the latest tools. twi.bz: Better Name-Dropping in Shortened URLs localtweeps: Make Twitter More Relevant by Bringing it Closer to Home tweefind: Twitter Search Un-Democratized[/quote:38eoggxw] Thanks for sharing those!
Franchises in Texas... - I wonder if any Home Depots are going to open in Houston and environs to take care of rebuilding the city and suburbs? At the very least, it will probably be a boon for construction and home repair workers.... and scammers too, of course.


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