How to Optimize Your Website’s Homepage
Your website's homepage is the virtual front door to your business! It’s the first point of contact for your clients, and it's essential that you make a good impression right off the bat. A well-optimized homepage can help increase traffic, improve user experience, and ultimately land you more leads. In this blog, we'll explore some ways to optimize your website's homepage and increase its overall effectiveness.
DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES
Before optimizing your homepage, it's important to define your goals and objectives for your overall website. What actions do you want to provide for your audience? What information do you want them to know ASAP? Once you have clear objectives, you can start to tailor your homepage to reflect those.
SIMPLIFY YOUR DESIGN
Your homepage should have a simple, clean design that's easy to navigate. Avoid clutter and make sure your layout is easy on the eyes. Incorporate your brand colors and fonts in a way that is easy to digest. Remember, less is more.
OPTIMIZE FOR SPEED
Page speed is critical for user experience and the dreaded SEO. You can improve page speed by resizing your images for web, minimizing the number of apps used on your site, and ensuring that any custom code is written cleanly.
MAKE IT MOBILE-FRIENDLY
With more and more people accessing the internet through mobile devices, it's essential that your homepage is mobile-friendly. Make sure your design is responsive and that your content is easy to read on smaller screens.
ADD KEYWORDS TO YOUR BRAND STATEMENT
Your site’s brand statement should be a clear and concise phrase that communicates what you do in your business. Your brand statement should appear above the fold and include at least one long-tail keyword that relates to your business.
USE HIGH-QUALITY BRAND IMAGES
Never underestimate the power of good photos. Quality brand images can help tell your story and communicate your brand's personality. While stock photos are a great resource if you’re in a pinch, I would highly recommend setting up a shoot with a local photographer so that you can get true-to-you images for your website and other marketing efforts.
HIGHLIGHT YOUR UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
Your unique value proposition (UVP) is what sets your business apart from your competitors - aka it’s your special sauce. Sometimes it’s hard to give ourselves a little pat on the back but prominently display your UVP on your homepage so your audience can see WHY you’re the best.
INCLUDE CALLS TO ACTION
Each page of your website should lead to the next. Utilizing CTAs on your homepage not only the user through the journey of your website but can also help increase conversion. There’s nothing worse than reaching a dead end so be sure to encourage your audience to take action using links and buttons.
KEEP YOUR CONTENT FRESH
Regularly update your homepage with fresh, relevant content. This can include new products or services, testimonials, images, the whole nine. Fresh content not engages your website visitors but also helps with SEO. All hail mighty Google, am I right?
In conclusion, an optimized homepage is critical to the success of your site. It’s the first point of contact that your clients will have with you so be sure to let them know what you do with a clear brand statement, lead them throughout your site with CTAs and showcase your brand with fresh content and unique brand images. By following even a few of these tips, you’ll be on your way to an incredible front page for your business on the WWW.
