The importance of Home Page Web Design

The homepage is the most visited page on your site. It is a gateway which is used by many different types of users, who come to your site looking for useful information and they are easilly disappointed when they don't fine it. These visitors are your current and potential customers and they come for many different reasons, whether education blog posts or useful FAQa. They will judge your organization based on their experience with your website. They will judge your website based on how helpful and easy to use it is - and boy are they quick to pass their judgement, quickly bouncing from your site if they don't immediately find what they're looking for. Did you know that the homepage often has the highest bounce rate of all the pages on your site? But by following simple homepage design guidelines you can considerably decrease this abandonment rate. In fact, I have seen websites decrease their bounce rate by more than 60% by following similar step by step guidelines to what I'm about to share with you.

Step by Step guidelines to a perfect Homepage web Design

• Create Credibility and Trust: Users will start judging your credibility the second they reach your website. Which means the first visual impact your homepage makes should create a sense of trust and credibility. You can achieve this by simply creating an appearance which matches your user expectations with regards to your industry and your corporate identity.
• Clarify what your company does and establish your Brand identity: Your homepage design should clearly establish your brand identity and clarify what you do. A good logo will fulfill this requirement. But always remember to check the quality of the logo image you use and if you are not a big brand like Coke or Pepsi, then try to describe what you do in your logo. Alternatively you can also use a good functional tagline.
• Meet User Expectations: Easier said than done. But because website users like it easy and have a plethora of options on their fingertips, it is important you spend some time analyzing their expectations and incorporating them in the homepage design. Consider analyzing aspects such as:
  • Things your target audience want to see the most
  • Products or services your target audience finds the most important
  • Products or services successful competitors consider important
  • Insights you learn from customer feedback and surveys
  • Insights you learn from website metrics such as best selling products, most visited pages and most searched terms
• User Friendly Navigation: Website navigation helps visitors navigate through the site and gives a sense of control to users. Follow standard website navigation conventions and try to enhance user ability to explore your website. Remember that a good navigation system helps organize your site.
• Search function and Sitemap: Today more and more users search for content on the internet. They expect similar functionality from websites as well. Use Sitemap and Search function to enhance user experience. In other words, make it as easy as possible for them to find what they're looking for
• Interesting content that sets the organization tone: Undoubtedly one of the main aspects of perfect homepage design is establishing conventions, setting the organization's tone and keeping the user interested. Use a distinctive writing voice to set yourself apart from competitors.
• Use fewer but better graphics: Using good images not only makes your homepage attractive, but guides the visitor in their desired direction and can convey a mood, helping persuade visitors to trust your site.

Homepage web design mistakes that even the best websites make

Unfortunately, many organizations don’t realize the importance of homepage design in achiveing one of their main goals: to persuade visitors to click a link and not abandon the site. Organization often make the mistake of filling their homepage with to many options, images and information, with the hope that visitors will find something that interests them.

However an experienced web design company will plan your homepage web design and present the right image to its users. It will ensure that your audience easily finds a good reason to remain on your website. It will also provide a smooth experience until users find the information they are looking for.

The homepage is often the first place a new visitor arrives on on your site, so it's crucially important to design your homepage build trust and credibility, makes clear from the start what you do and why your new visitor should hang out with you for even more than 3 seconds. At Hammockweb, a leading Los Angeles Web Design Company, we focus on conversion oriented web design. We take care of each and every aspect related to designing a website that attracts and keeps visitors engaged and this process often starts with your homepage.