Creating a home page for a website isn’t easy. Many people try to cram as much information on that first page as they can, including all the company’s information, ads, promotions, news, search bars, and subscription registrations.
While your site’s home page as your first impression to visitors and potential customers, you don’t want to make it so confusing or full that they don’t have any reason to delve further into your site.
Too much information can bore people. When I go to a site and see lots of text, I don’t bother reading through it all. I’m at that site for a reason, to search for information or to buy something. Usually, I know what I want. Not everyone likes to “window shop” or has the time for it. I want to get in and get out – fast.
The home page is not the place for your company’s “About Us” information. Sure, you can give a little teaser or synopsis about your company, but save the bulk of it for another page.
Reserve your products for another page, too. Don’t list every single bit of stock you have on that first home page. Trying to get people to buy right from your home page is a little like the pushy salesperson jumping on you the moment you walk in the door.
Your home page should where you present an overview of your whole site. Tell people a little bit about what you sell and where they might find it. Write a short paragraph and then provide a link to that information deeper in the site.
For return visitors, the home page serves as a bookmark. They can come back, view the main page for updates, and then go right to where they need to go within your site.
The home page is where you are going to incorporate the keywords for the search engines. Think about the content you are going to write for that page carefully to save space and not load the site with text to cover every keyword. Stay away from using “Welcome to…” Get right to the meat of the matter. Your visitors already know where they are.
The recommended length of content for a home page is 100 to 350 words. Anything longer, and people will lose interest. If you’re not sure what to write or how to incorporate keywords naturally, hire a professional to write it for you (insert shameless plug for JCM Enterprises here).
If you keep your home page simple and straightforward with good content and keywords, you’ll drive more traffic to your site with a lot less effort.
