It only takes 5 seconds for website visitors to decide whether to stay or leave. FIVE seconds! Many business owners who DIY their website are sometimes clueless where to start when designing a website, especially the front door of your business (read: THE HOMEPAGE). Don’t worry, I’m here to help! Here are some of the most important aspects to keep in mind when designing your own homepage:

1. Clear Value Proposition

Make sure that your audience can tell about what you do, what they can get from you in the first 3 seconds. Keep your headline clear, simple and no puff. You know that feeling when you visit a website and you can’t tell what it does? You’re left staring at a bunch of words on the homepage with no call-to-action.  The company’s been in business for 10 years but they still haven’t updated their marketing copy. That’s not good if they want to attract new customers.

2. On-Brand Visuals that Resonate with Your Ideal Clientele

For any businesses, it’s important to have a cohesive brand and look that resonates with your ideal clientele. The key is finding what speaks to your audience and being able to speak their language visually. It’s about understanding who they are and what they like while staying true to yourself as an individual or company. 

Branding should not only represent what services or products your company offers but also capture the essence of the company’s culture. A good brand starts with knowing yourself and understanding what resonates with your ideal clientele.

In order to develop an effective brand identity that really speaks to your target customer base, here are some key questions that should be answered before getting started: What kind of personality do I want my business persona to have? Who am I trying to attract? What am I trying to help with?

3. User-Friendly and Clear Navigation

If your visitors don’t know how to use your site, they’ll leave. You want someone to arriev on your website and know exactly where they can find the information they want and need without being confused. 

4. Call-to-actions

A call-to-action is an essential part of any website. Without a clear message, visitors will walk away without clicking on anything or taking the desired action.  You should make sure that you use short and concise text to get people interested in reading more about what they can do with their lives; Invite them into something new by telling them exactly how it could change their life (if it does!) and try to eliminate distractions around the CTA buttons. Try to avoid having too many CTAs that lead to different pages/ purposes.

5. Social Proofs

People tend to hire/ buy from you if they can see what other people say about your service. The more social proof you have, the stronger your chances are for success in attracting new customers and retaining old ones. That’s why it’s important to include this on your homepage or at least as part of its design with graphics made specifically for this purpose!

6. Minimum Distractions (Design and Copy)

Don’t make your homepage a digital junkyard. A lot of people get caught up with what to include on their site, but that’s not always a good idea if your goal is conversion rate optimization (CRO). CRO experts say we should take away anything from our websites that can distract visitors or pull them down different paths before they convert. You want them focused on one thing: converting!

7. Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are a great way to grow your mailing list and generate more leads. They help you to build more direct connections with your potential customers. These can be anything from eBooks, webinars or even PDF guides for prospects who want to learn about what you have on offer first before making the big commitment.

8. Proper Use of Images/ Illustrations

Images and illustrations can be used to make a website more interesting. Make sure the images/ illustrations you choose to use suit the content and the purpose of the section. 

The result of having this checklist is that you’ll have more visitors stay longer in your website which can lead to more clients coming your way.

Interested in discussing this further? Schedule a free consult call HERE.