Is your homepage ‘out of control’?

Where do you start?

There’s no question that the strategies, methodologies and techniques of Inbound Marketing are essential components to the success of your website—but structure, quality content, delivery, type, colour and more—are all crucial branding elements to be considered when your site is under review and a redesign is emanant.

Hmm, not too confusing?

We’ve all been there before—we land on a site that is simply out of control. What do I mean? The homepage has so much going on that you really don’t know where to start.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced this; we stand in front of a microwave and ask it to hurry up! So what’s that telling us? Most of us simply don’t have the patience. Your website has between 3-5 seconds to capture and hold the attention of a visitor or they’re gone!

If you want your companies home page to have sticking power, the following suggestions should help.

Keep it simple

Sometimes less is more – Keep your home page clean and simple.Use white space to your advantage. In web design white space is crucial for legibility/readability. Some clients (and some designers) go overboard and think design is about adding but in fact, it’s about taking away.

The proper use of white space and the elements that you place within that space will do two things: first it is meant to draw the reader/recipient to your space because of less clutter, and two; it helps to direct the order in which you want the reader to take—it provides a hierarchy to the elements within the space. Lead the visitor through your site.

What’s relevant – While you’re interested in selling your products and services and telling everybody what you do and how great you are—don’t overload the visitor with information that isn’t relevant.

One of the core principles of Inbound Marketing is creating and sharing content to get found, with the concept of giving away (to get back). Provide quality content that you believe will help answer what people are searching for and it’s not your mission statement.

Entice your visitor

Give them a carrot – Take a look at a magazine cover the next time you’re in line at the grocery store. Most magazine covers showcase short headlines (sometimes with visuals) that persuade you to look further inside and read the article—not to mention buy the magazine.

I use the same tactic. I’ll take an article or a hot topic and create a heading that will stimulate the visitor to want to read further. I’ll add a short paragraph of copy and perhaps a visual as well, but I’m not giving everything away and I don’t want it to take up a lot of room. I’ll try and fit at least two of these on the home page that we can change up as often as we want.

You don’t have much time

You don’t have much time – An average person scans a page in about 3-5 seconds. That’s why it’s a good idea to use headlines and visuals that will catch your visitors attention. Most will scan the page and read what stands out first. Therefore a typeface—including size, weight and colour—will have a lot of influence on what gets noticed and read first. So you have the power to direct the visitor on that page.

There are a number of design principles that should not be overlooked when you are undergoing a redesign of your website. If you are uncertain as to your design expertise, I would encourage you or your organization to entrust the counsel of a reputable design firm. The return on your investment will more than pay for itself.