June 2008
Your Homepage – Your Store Front
Posted by: Jason on 2 Jun 2008 @ 10:50 am Category: Web Design
When creating a website, the homepage is one of most important facets of the web design process and generally the rest of the site will flow from this page, so it is very important to get your homepage right first. A homepage in many ways is responsible for answering the key questions a visitor will have. Hopefully in writing this blog I can enlighten how users interact with a website and identify some important points to consider regarding homepage design.
Keep it simple
One of the pitfalls many organisations fall into is the desire to cram everything they offer into the homepage. A homepage should offer only a taste of what the site has to offer. If a user is interested they will delve deeper.
Who are you?
First and foremost your homepage should act as a snapshot of what your site offers and who you are. This must be achieved very clearly and quickly as in general a user will decide in less than 10 seconds if a website offers what they are searching for. Consider what you do when searching the Internet. Chances are you enter a site and decide very quickly if it's worth your while to stay, if things are unclear you will move on. One way to achieve quick recognition is to use a tag line in the masthead or an image that depicts the type of business or industry you're in.
How do I get there?
Another important point to consider is to make sure you provide clear directions of how to get to various areas of the website from your homepage. A strong navigational menu will go a long way in keeping users confident that they can find what they are searching for. Many people also return to a homepage to reorient themselves, so be sure to include gateways to the most important sections of your site.
Prime real estate
Placement of content on a homepage is also very important. Consider what is most valuable to your visitors and place it higher on the page. Anything that appears underneath the 'page fold' may not be seen by a user. (The page fold is basically the bottom of your page before you need to scroll down to view more of the page). Keep your welcome/introductory text to only a couple of paragraphs as a user will not read through walls of text to understand who you are.
Keep it fresh
Try to update content on your homepage regularly as this will provide users with a reason to return (this is not always possible as some home pages are static in nature).
The above covers some of what I believe to be important points to consider when creating a homepage and hopefully help you understand that your homepage is the front door to your organisation and will influence if a visitor stays or leaves.
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