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Whether you’re just starting on your new website or simply putting the finishing touches on it, there is one important thing that is critical to get right: your homepage content.
With the rest of your website categorized into nice little sections, it’s easy to know what to write on these pages. The homepage, on the other hand, isn’t always as straightforward. For that reason, we recommend waiting until the rest of the site is done and writing your homepage last. In this guide, we’re going to walk you through step by step how to write a homepage. We’ll show you how to get into the user’s mindset, and write content that will both help them find the information they need as well as better convert tentative readers into potential leads.
Who Uses Your Homepage?
If you are using your website to attract new clients through SEO or paid advertising campaigns, you probably have some dedicated landing pages. These are pages that serve to provide specific pieces of information to specific target demographics. But your homepage needs to be broader than that. And in order to define the purpose of your homepage, you want to identify the kind of people who will use your homepage. And these people will fit into one of two categories: browsers and landers.
Browsers have already found your site through an internal page and are navigating back to the homepage to find out more information. Landers have loaded your homepage first, usually coming in either directly or through one of your other web properties or social media channels.. In both cases, these users are probably looking for specific information. And so the goal of the homepage should be to serve as a gateway to the rest of your site to help them find this information.
Part 1: Above the Fold
When web designers refer to “above the fold content,” they are talking about the content that you first see when you load a site. The content that is front and center and doesn’t require any scrolling to access. We need to use this space to direct users towards our primary goal. What’s the number one goal of most business websites? To get in touch with more potential customers! So the above the fold content needs to serve two purposes. First, it needs to tell people exactly who you are and what you do. Second, it needs to give people an easy way to get in touch with you if they like. You’ll want to come up with a catchy heading. Introduce your brand, and come up with one simple sentence that describes what you do. Keep it simple and to the point. Hubspot has a great example of this:
“There’s a Better Way to Grow: Marketing, sales, and service software that helps your business grow without compromise. Because ‘good for the business’ should also mean ‘good for the customer’”
Simple, catchy, and engaging. You know who they are and what they are about. Want more information? Throw a nice big phone number and contact form up top to get these visitors to reach out. Now that it’s time to elaborate, we can move below the fold.
Part 2: About Us
Just below the fold is where you can really start to get into the writing. These next few sections will serve to reiterate and summarize the different parts of your website. Start off with an about us. Tell your readers who you are, and what you do. You can keep this summary simple and to the point, and link out to our “about us” section for readers who want to know more.
Part 3: Services
Here is where you can really get into the meat of what your company offers. Even fairly slim companies tend to have a variety of services or even a variety of clientele that they serve. This is where you want to provide a quick breakdown of the different products or services that you offer. You don’t have to get into a ton of detail here. Remember, the goal of the homepage is to help readers find the information they want. Just a quick paragraph for each service followed by a link to the inner page on your website where you explain in more detail what the product or service is.
Part 4: Social Proof
If people are still reading, you can bet that they are interested in working with you. Here is a great opportunity to share some social proof. Social proof can be anything from reviews left by past clients to examples of work that you’ve done. For a construction company, photos of local buildings you’ve completed are great social proof. For service businesses, testimonials or reviews are the best things to put here.
Part 5: FAQS & Contact Information
At this point, you’ve shown your readers who you are, what you do, and given some references. By now, most readers should have either contacted you or moved on to the page that offers more of the specific information they’re looking for. But if they’re still on the page, they probably haven’t quite found what they want. This is the perfect opportunity for another contact form. We recommend offering a 24 hour response time and leave a phone number. In certain industries, this is also a great opportunity for an FAQ section. If you find that you are often answering the same questions over and over again on the phone, writing out an FAQ section might help qualify some of your clients.
Wrapping it All Up
When you first start writing a homepage, it can be hard to know where to begin. But in the end, your homepage should be like a summary of your entire website. You tell people who you are, what you do, and direct them to the parts of the site where they will find more of the information that they are looking for. And at both the top and the bottom of your site, you want to invite people to get in touch with you. Because ultimate, getting people to reach out to your business is the goal of the website.