Treat your home page as you would your number one sales rep. This home page and its contents are going to make or break your Web site’s sales.
The home page should be the beginning of the sales journey. Depending on how much content there is on the Web site, the home page is usually the first port of call for a visitor. It must give a clear indication of what is available on your site.
It should have visual stimulation while meeting the customer’s need for information.
There are some pointers to consider when it comes to content for your home page:
- Keep the information brief but focused on a number of products or services. This should be a “taste” of what the site has in store.
- There is a fine balance between providing too much of the wrong information and too little of the right information. Make it clear from the outset what you can do for the customer.
- Steer away from having a huge logo taking up the screen as your home page introduction. The customer will want information about your products, not a demonstration of how well designed your logo is. You will lose customers if they have to wade through a lot of pages to get to what they want to know.
- Incorporate a tag line or a summary statement which sums up your site (or its purpose) at the top of your home page so visitors know exactly what your site is about before going any further.
You scratch their back…
Don’t ask what your customers can do for you, ask what you can do for your customers. Your site’s content should not be all about you and your business. It is important to leave out the “me, me, me” attitude. Your Web site should focus on what you can do for your customers. For example, don’t say “we are the best retail business in the industry”. Customers would prefer “we can offer you the best deals in the industry”.
Here are a few pointers you can use:
- Grab the customers attention with an opener
- Establish and build on their need or interest in your product
- Show them that your product will meet their needs
- Help them visualise themselves using your product to meet their needs
- Encourage customers to take the action you suggest.
Visitors to your Web site will make a decision to leave or stay in a few seconds. It is up to you to sell them on the benefits of shopping with you.
Keeping your home page “close”
Keeping your home page accessible to users at all times is very important. A three-click approach is encouraged by having content on your Web site within three-clicks of the home page.
The idea behind this rule is to avoid a situation where customers have to go digging for information they need.
Information should be relatively near the “surface”, so to speak. An example of this approach may be a cake shop. The visitor may click on the cake link and be taken to the type of occasion (birthdays, weddings, anniversary, etc). They would then click on the birthday link to get to the information they wanted.
They were only two-clicks away from the home page for the information they wanted. There was a logical flow and a natural hierarchy to the information.
