Your site’s physical structure should not be taken for granted. The hierarchy of the components of your website and how they relate with one another must be fashioned in a way that does not defeat the purpose of your website. Also, if you’ve invested in SEO initiatives, structuring your website is also material. Hence, it must only contain the vital elements and it is on how you arrange them which could trigger scrolls and clicks. It’s really a transitional page that gets users closer to your content or product. If website visitors get stuck reading a whole bunch of introduction text, they may never take that essential next step that takes them into the real meat of your website. Your homepage becomes an important portal for users to find contact and “about us” information. In this article, we will share the important considerations of structuring your website to increase impact and clickthrough rates.
- Your homepage must be clear and concise. Think of your homepage as the gate to your house where you have to open it before you can actually get in and enjoy the inside. Your homepage is very important because it shows your credibility as a website and it’s supposed to guide your visitors where to go on your website. The edge of having a brief and concise homepage is allowing your visitors to grasp what your website information is all about without them leaving your site. This task should be pretty straightforward especially when the product or services you’re offering are simple and familiar. In fact, you should be able to accomplish everything you need in one to three sentences, as a general rule. The danger in having a lot of text, visitors might miss out on important details while being drawn to the teeny tiny irrelevant ones, thus decreasing your chances of a conversion. When you keep your copy concise, you remove everything but the copy you want your readers to focus on.
- Place compelling Call To Actions. Call To Actions (CTAs) guide your visitors on what to do next. It must be strategically placed in your homepage without being too forward nor being too lax because no matter how compelling your CTAs are, if they cannot be seen then they are deemed useless.
- Stay Above the Fold. “Above the fold” simply refers to the portion of a page a user can view without scrolling. It’s what appears as soon as they land on the page, and is the first content they’ll see. The rule is for all necessary imagery, headline and text must be seen in one fold regardless of the browser your visitor might be using. The challenge here lies on your creatives team to incorporate what’s necessary to be seen on the fold. Remember that other visitors are visual learners and if what they see doesn’t appeal to them, they won’t linger on your homepage.
- Keep your copy unique and short. The true purpose of a headline is to compel them to keep reading and moving through your page. If a visitor is interested they will keep on scrolling down and navigating through your pages to gain more information about your brand. Essentially, it needs to make them want to learn more. Coming up with a unique copy entails creativity. Make sure that you don’t deviate from your brand’s identity because at the end of it all your website’s goal is to drive more sales.
- Advertise your values as comprehensive and as clear as possible. Your marketing team should be able to advertise the values and package rates you’re offering without having your visitors browse through the subsections of your websites. If your business is providing the most cost-effective solution, then by all means incorporate that in your homepage.
- Incorporate the use of white space. The simpler your homepage is the better. At times, imagery and text in your homepage can get overwhelming and not so readable. The use of white space can solve this dilemma as they function in separating text, graphics, and other elements, and prevents pages from feeling too crowded. It can also enhance the importance and distinctiveness of the type and draw the eye to specific pieces of copy.