Thursday, August 22, 2013

The Perfect Home Page







The home page is the front door of a web site. It’s the first page most visitors see. So, it better be compelling to keep visitors on site long enough to perform the most desired action (MDA).

Home page text focuses on the needs and drives of site visitors who landed on the site for a reason. They need or want something. Prices, product descriptions, free consultation, information – they need or want something.

Home page text meets the needs of site visitors. Here are the elements of a well-designed home page in sequence, from top to bottom.

The Headline
The headline is half the job. The headline focuses on the needs of site visitors. Describe “the problem” in the headline.

NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT – AGAIN?
DEBT IS A BUMMER.
DON’T BE A LOSER: THIS YEAR’S STOCK MARKET WINNERS.

Headlines.

The Problem
Expand on the problem in a short paragraph, citing examples visitors recognize. Describe the impact the problem has on the site visitor’s health, family, finances, business – whatever – in 300-500 words. Use negative space to simplify scanning.

The Solution
How does the client company fix the problem? Keep it general. Keep it simple. Keep them reading.

In some cases, the solution can be described in bullet-point format to facilitate a quick scan of the home page. 

Benefits
What are the benefits of engaging the company behind the website? Benefits sell. Hype doesn’t.

A money-back guarantee, 30-year warranty, free shipping, 20% off, state-of-the-art design, an expansive service area – all potential benefits to site visitors.

Use a bullet list to describe each benefit.

Incentives
Coupons, a free ebook, a free consultation, a free website audit, discounts – all of these enticements encourage the performance of the MDA, whether it’s to call the company or place an order.

The Call To Action
Close out home page text with a strong call to action that, not only encourages the performance of the MDA, but also tells site visitors HOW TO PERFORM THE MDA.

ORDER NOW SIMPLY BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW
AND START ENJOYING BETTER HEALTH FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY

A strong call to action that urges the reader to order, tells the reader HOW to order, and provides a reason to place an order – family health.


Create home page text using these elements, in this sequence, to create home pages that improve conversion rates and make clients happy.

Need help with your home page. Visit www.webwordslinger.com for all contact info.

Later,
Webwordslinger