What’s the homepage for?

Every website has a homepage, but what’s the real reason behind it? A homepage is your 30 second elevator pitch, the cover letter of a resume, the prologue to a book, the front of house, a summary of contents… you get the idea.

Simply put, it’s the introduction page to your business. It should tell someone who you are and what you do in minimal detail. Your homepage should capture the user’s attention and make them want to learn what you offer, who you are and how you can help them in more detail.

It builds trust with your users. If a website goes straight into a sales page, you’re not going to close the sale - especially if the user is visiting you for the first time. Your users need to get to know you more before they work or buy from you. By sharing what you do, who you are and how you can help them, you’re building trust and allowing them to become more comfortable with you.

Your homepage should be:

• short

• simple

• easy to read

So how do you create a good homepage?

1. Keep the text to a minimum and don’t use large paragraphs. As technology evolves, our attention span shrinks so having 5 long paragraphs that describe what your business does, will not work. People want information faster than they can blink. Keep it short, simple and easy to read!

2. Incorporate lots of images. Not only is this visually appealing in terms of design but it helps people focus on your content. Think of how a children’s book is laid out, lots of images in between a few lines of text. The use of images helps give the user a break from reading while still allowing you to continue telling your story, without the use of words.

At the end of the day, your homepage is your TL;DR (too long; didn’t read). Sometimes people don’t read heavily detailed information because they don’t have time or they just don’t want to. Your homepage allows users to read the summary of your business and learn what you offer without having to click into the other pages of your website. You can learn a lot by reading a summary and your users will know if they’re a right fit just by landing on your homepage.