Your website’s homepage is vital to your conversion rate. A visitor’s first impression of your company will define their actions – whether they browse additional pages, sign up for your newsletter or whether they leave your website. Properly designed homepages effectively convert visitors into leads or customers, so it’s important that you design yours with conversion in mind.
The Purpose of Your Homepage
Your website’s homepage serves three purposes:
- To introduce new visitors to what you do.
- To encourage visitors to explore your website.
- To convert visitors into leads.
Homepages that don’t fulfill the first two criteria are much less likely to fulfill the third. Your homepage should inform customers and leave a lasting, positive first impression.
How to Design a Homepage That Converts
Design quality directly impacts the success of your homepage. There are several design elements you must include in order to improve your conversion rate.
1. Communicate What You Do
Clearly tell your visitor who you are, what your mission is and what you have to offer. Your homepage should convey to visitors a strong idea of the products or services that you provide within just a few seconds.
2. Avoid Clutter
A cluttered homepage is a common obstacle to conversion. Visitors will immediately leave a website if they can’t find what they are looking for, so keep your homepage design simple.
- Use a straight forward structure, intuitive navigation.
- Make your CTA buttons clear to your visitor.
- Include white space in order to make text readable.
- Avoid using images or media that don’t add to the user experience.
- Avoid using rotating banners, which have proven to inhibit conversions.
3. Use “Above the Fold” Design Elements
The idea behind “above the fold” design is to feature your most important content in the top-half of the page. This should include your call-to-action buttons, as well as any other content your visitor should see the moment they load your homepage.
4. Use Effective Fonts
At the very least, your homepage should feature a legible font. Use fonts from the same font-family for most of your page – applying a variety of different fonts can make a homepage unattractive and unprofessional.
Your choice of font will depend on your audience and your message. Sans serif fonts are common choices for tech and marketing companies, while serif fonts are popular on travel websites. Ultimately, you should use an easy-to-read font that matches your brand’s tone.
5. Include Captivating Images
Finally, you want to feature interesting images on your homepage. You don’t need to cover the entire page with media, but you will need one or two interesting images in order to captivate visitors.
- Choose images that match your colour scheme.
- Select high quality images that won’t appear pixelated or blurry.
- Include interesting images that represent your brand and your message.
- Show off your product or service in action, if possible.
Excellent images are a great way to give visitors a positive first impression of your brand.
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