How to Design an Effective Homepage
Ok, maybe it's easier to tell you how not to design a homepage.
New website owners tend to have a lot to say. They also have a tendency to want to put all of it on the homepage. The result: a cluttered page that confuses the viewer.
This happens even if the business has an otherwise solid brand. And it doesn’t get better with age.
Over the years, different people make changes to the site. People with different ideas about what information needs to be there, what messaging is most important and what does and does not “look good”. Again, this can happen even if there is a well-defined brand in-place—unless there is a dedicated “brand nazi” keeping everyone in check.
The point is that, young or old, homepages tend to develop an amorphous look and get bloated with a lot of unnecessary information that makes it difficult for users to understand what the business does, why they should be a customer and what they should do next.
Anatomy Of A Bad Homepage
1. No Clearly Defined Navigation
As modern CMS platforms become ever more sophisticated, there has been recent surge in avant-garde website menus. In many cases, people decided that because they have so much content to share, they should add three or four menus that are either displayed at once, or at completely different times during the user experience. This is mistake numero uno.
Navigation should be clear and intuitive. Confusing your website navigation is like hiding the knob on your store’s front door.
2. No Clearly Defined Message
Unless you’ve set up separate landing pages for marketing campaigns, your homepage is likely the first thing people will see when they visit your site. It’s also likely they will have no idea who you are or what you’re about. Tell them. Succinctly.
We know there’s a lot of stuff you want to cram in there but fight the urge!
One of the best strategies for optimization on homepages is to remove the unnecessary chaff. Most site owners stuff their most front-facing page with too much information and too many options. When someone visits your site, they won’t need long to make a decision about:
- Whether or not your site provides a solution to a problem in their life.
- Where to go on your site to solve that particular problem.
If these two elements aren’t abundantly clear from the first second the page loads, you’ll find online users are less and less likely to convert into leads or customers.
Don’t make it hard for your users to understand what you do and to take whatever action it is you’re ultimately trying to get them to take. The homepage, like every other page on the site, should have a unique purpose, clearly articulate a specific message and contain a clear call to action that shows the user exactly what they should do next.
Help them to instantly understand what you sell and why they should buy from you.
3. Inconsistent Branding
The modern homepage is what people see when they walk through your front door. It’s how you present your company to the world and where you set the expectations for your brand.
Pick your color scheme and palatte…and stick to them.
Color schemes are based on a blend of art and science that has been slowly developed over the course of human history. A well-designed color palette is a particular combination of colors with specified usage and purpose. If you have more than three colors on the homepage (not including black, gray and white) you may want to reassess your design.
Pick your typefaces…and stick to them.
Typography is not just about the words that you use. Most people view grouped words in much the same way as they perceive visual art. Use typography to give your content style and personality beyond the message being delivered.
Pick a single typeface (font family) or carefully pair two different families. Be careful using more. As with color, this can quickly get away from you. Define how typography is to be used throughout the site and use the homepage to display that aesthetic. Keep it realistic. Remember that the homepage is the typographic model for the rest of the site.
Figure out your brand’s personality. Every company has one and there are only 12 to choose from.
Remember:
The homepage is the model for your brand.
State your most important message clearly and succinctly. Clearly show your users how you can solve their problem.
If you’re wondering whether or not to include something on your homepage, a good rule of thumb is to not include it. This is a hard pill to swallow, so you may need to police your own feelings when it comes to web design.
Tell your users what to do next and show them how to do it.
A homepage without focus is like a football player in a tutu playing Vivaldi — impressive, but confusing as hell.