What should you put on your homepage?

Your homepage is the most important landing page of your website and yet surprisingly few organisations put the right information on it.

Four seconds to grab the visitor’s attention

The opening text of your website’s homepage should be able to tell visitors in four seconds or less what you do and what you are selling. Think of it as the opening statement of a company résumé – it should highlight the key products, services or skills you are offering.

Some homepage do’s and don’ts…

• Don’t put a company logo, strapline, video, fancy Flash graphic and ‘click here to enter’ on your homepage, it’s a real turn-off. Visitors want to find what they are looking for instantly so cut to the chase.
  



• Don’t put anything to do with you company history, vision and values, mission statements, employee numbers and corporate information on your homepage – these belong in the ‘About us’ section.
  



• Do keep your content refreshed by running an RSS or company news feed on your homepage.
  



• Do - if you want to be found on Google and other search engines - ensure your homepage contains keywords and phrases that people would use to search for you on the internet. But be careful, your text must make sense and be readable, informative and intelligent to visitors and search engines. Search Engines like Google rank websites on the relevance of their content.
  

Last but not least, test out your homepage content on people who know nothing about what your company does or sells. Their feedback will tell you very quickly if your homepage is doing its job!