Your home page is the most visited page of your website. People who find your website are most likely see it before other pages on your site. In just a few seconds, visitors will decide whether they want to stick around and find out more or if they should leave and never come back.
That is why every graphic element and every word on your homepage is critical in making sure users have the best user experience. To provide the best user experience every homepage needs to include a number of key elements. If you look at many popular websites you’ll see that many of them will have these features.
Before we jump to the list of these essential homepage elements, we need to stress that all these elements are there to support the main purpose of the website. So before you start adding those elements, first, you need to figure out the goal of your website. This goal is what will dictate the placement and hierarchy of these elements.
If your website is an online store, you must still include social proof, but featured products might be placed higher on the page. At the same time, if your main goal is to build your social media following, you would still include social media icons and widgets, but they would be placed more prominently on the page.
Determining the goals of your website is the first step that you must take before adding the essential elements listed in this article.
Once you know what your website goals are, it’s time to start building your homepage. Having these key elements will ultimately contribute to the success of your homepage and your website.
Below are essential key elements every homepage must-have.
Distinct Logo & Easy To Navigate Menu
Your logo and menu should appear on top of your homepage. That’s where users expect them. This will make it easy to navigate your website. Your logo should always link to the homepage.
Keep your menu non-cluttered and no more than 2 levels. Place contact information where users can find it easily. If you prefer customers to contact you over the phone, make sure to put a large phone number on top so it’s easy to find. It’s also important to keep the menu consistent throughout your website.
A Benefits Driven Headline
After the menu, you need to add a graphic with a benefit-driven headline. This headline must be clear what makes you unique. The main slogan or headline also serves as a unique selling proposition. It’s a way to quickly differentiate yourself from others. You only have a few seconds to grab user attention so make it count.
Clearly State Who You Are
If you’re a small business owner, organization or a blogger, it’s important to let your visitors know who you are. Make sure to inject personality and distinguish yourself from others in your industry. Your potential customers don’t want to waste time guessing who’s faceless entity behind the website. If you a family-owned business that’s been around for 20 years, make sure to state it and let visitors know.
Define Your Ideal Customer
Make it clear who your ideal clients are and what industries you serve. You don’t want to waste the user’s time. If you only work with lawyers, make sure to include this information on the homepage. You want to be clear about who you’re helping, so people who land on your homepage immediately know if you’re a good fit.
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List The Problems You Solve
What is your dream client’s pain points? Make sure you analyze and understand what your clients struggling with. Show your users that you understand their problems and have a way to solve them.
Describe The Benefits of Working With You
After you list the problems you solve, you need to describe your services and what are the main benefits of working with you. Can you help generate more leads, save time or money or grow their business? How this outcome will help them? Be as specific as possible! It also helps to include examples of case studies that show your expertise
Don’t Forget Social Proof
It’s human nature to follow others. That’s why it’s important to include social proof to show that other people love your products and your services. This can be testimonials from your client or customers. If you have thousands of followrs you might also consider adding this information in order to increase credibility.
Incorporate Supporting Images
The web is a visual media. You need to incorporate images and video that support points you’re making and also engage your audience. If your images are boring or look dated, this will surely drive users away.
Unique, fun and interesting images are what differentiates many high-quality websites from their competitors. Use images that capture the emotion and encourage users to take actions. It’s also wise to stay away from generic stock photos that you see used on many websites.
Include Call to Action
After you define who you are, what you do and how you can help, you need to provide an easy way for people to contact you so they can work with you by including a powerful, attention-grabbing call to action. This can be a bright button, newsletter sign up form or a lead magnet they can download. Whatever CTA you use, the most important thing to keep in mind is that it’s clearly visible, enticing to users and easy to act upon.
These are just some of the most important elements every homepage needs. There are many other web design elements and functionality features that must be considered when building a website. Use of white space, easy to easy text, visual hierarchy are other important elements that any experienced website designer knows to incorporate.
Whatever elements you decide to include, always make sure they help your website achieve its objectives.
