Your website’s homepage is basically like a digital welcome sign that greets people when they visit your site. When creating a website we can sometimes get so engrossed in making everything look nice, but this isn’t always enough. If you want to keep visitors glued to your site, you need to have a homepage that is functional and easy to navigate. As the one of the best web design agency Brighton has to offer, here are our top tips on how to create a killer home page.
Keep Your Layout Clean & Easy To Navigate
Keeping your homepage clutter free is essential. If you have an excessive amount of information, images and videos greeting whoever visits your page, they can often feel overwhelmed.
DO: Choose a layout that’s clear and easy to navigate and ensure that all of your key information and content are present when the user clicks on your site.
DON’T: Clutter your homepage with pointless images, banners, clip-art and never ending text paragraphs. There should be a clear journey of where your customer wants to look.
Always Source High Resolution Images:
It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. So when it comes to your homepage, this saying should ring true. Photos have the innate ability to let your site visitors know what your business is all about. There are plenty of excellent free stock image sites to get you high-resolution images, so there’s no excuse. It’s also worth noting that strong images can do the job of paragraphs worth of text, so use this to your advantage.
DO: Use high resolution that will make users want to see the other areas of your site. Nothing screams unprofessional more than a blurry, pixelated picture.
DON’T: Add loads of images to a webpage which don’t serve a purpose. A few solid images should be more than enough to get your message across.
Make sure that your colour scheme and background work well together
Colour is one simple, yet important element that sets the tone for your homepage and will probably be consistent across all your pages. With that said, you want to make sure that you are picking those colours wisely. When creating your website, make sure that text is easy to read against the background and ensure that the colour palette isn’t garish and overbearing.
DO: Go with a colour scheme that works well together and reinforces your brand identity.
DON’T: Add too many colours or pick a background colour that steals focus away from your main images and text.
Optimise Your Buttons & Hyperlinks
Not every homepage will need ot have buttons, but if you’re going to utilise them, you should utilise them correctly. The buttons, or call to actions (CTAs), are the gate to other pages, websites, products and so much more. If the purpose is to make people take actions and click, you’re going to have to make them tempting.
DO: Keep the wording of your buttons short and concise. If possible, keep it under 4 words.
DON’T: Let your button’s go unseen, if you want people to click on them, don’t overlook the importance of placement.
Update Your Content Regularly
You can’t have a perfect homepage without good content. Your primary objective should be to ensure that site visitors immediately understand what your website is all about. Remember, you can always go into more detail on other pages of your website so there’s no need to write a novel straight away. If you want people to learn more about your business, try adding an ‘about us’ page.
DO: Keep your text current & fresh. Doing so will let your visitors know that the information they’re looking through is up to date and dependable.
DON’T: Overdo it. In most cases, nobody is looking to spend a few hours reading all the text on your website, so make sure that the text you’ve focussed on is the key points you want to get across.
Summary
There are an infinite number of ways to create a home page. If you’re unsure of where to start, hitting these key points above is a great starting point. If you’re looking for solid advice from a web design team in Brighton. Don’t hesitate to give us a message and we’ll try and make your vision a reality.