website development

Building Your Homepage For Success- Web Design

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Your website’s homepage is your digital shopfront. Just as people wander past a shop window and make the decision on whether to go in or not, your homepage is where potential customers will decide quickly whether they’re interested in what you’re offering. Not only this, but a homepage is a launchpad to the rest of your site, so making sure it’s got both form and function is essential 
Here are some areas of importance when it comes to building a successful homepage: 
 

BRANDING

Did you know that 94% of first impressions of websites are design-related? A good design feeds into all other aspects of your website, and it starts with the homepage. Making sure you’re creating a good first impression with visitors to your site will have a lot to do with how it looks. Take note of the kind of information you’re including on your homepage – make sure you’ve got the essentials whilst also avoiding cluttering the design. 
Of course, branding isn’t all about design. Delivering your brand voice is everything from the use of your logo to the tone you take with your writing. Being consistent is crucial, as well as putting yourself in the shoes of an ideal customer; are you providing a positive and informative experience? 
 

CALL TO ACTION (CTA)

It’s safe to assume that visitors to your site will be looking for something in particular, so you want to make sure that they can find it easily and quickly. As well as a straightforward navigation bar, including relevant call-to-action buttons, will guide your visitors efficiently and inform your conversation rates. The more intriguing the CTA is, the better chance you have of users spending more time on your website. 
 

WRITING

Firstly, everyone hates typos. Once they’re spotted, they’re hard to forget. Have at least one extra pair of eyes look over your copy before clicking publish. Better yet, find someone who isn’t as familiar with the business who is less likely to unintentionally skip over-familiar content. 
As well as being clued up on your grammar, the copy you choose for your homepage could be a user’s first impression of who you are as a brand. If you’ve got to pique someone’s interest quickly, focus on the benefits your business can offer over the features/services. It may be important to describe what you do, but try to relate it to the consumer and why it matters to them; you can go into more detail on other pages. A homepage is a snapshot of your business, so make sure it’s delivering a good message.
Don’t forget: make sure your copy is optimized for search. 
 

IMAGES

Visuals matter. A lot of homepages will make use of hero images in order to grab people’s attention, and for good reason. Try to use original imagery that’s of high quality and clearly communicates your brand. 
 

CONTACT DETAILS

These should be clear from the very start. Limit the hesitation for customers and make it obvious how they can get in touch. Ideally, your contact details should feature on all pages to ensure maximum conversion opportunities. Remember to include links to your social media accounts, too. 
 

USER EXPERIENCE (UX)

Understanding and continually improving the user experience (UX) of both your homepage and your website as a whole is the best route to a successful site. Here are a few things that can affect the UX of your homepage:

  • Page speed – A single second of added page load speed can cause sales to drop by 27%. if the page takes too long to load, users will simply give up and try a different site. To ensure you’re keeping that bounce rate low, monitor the loading times of all pages on your site. This is something we can help with.
  • CTAs – as we mentioned above, clear navigation through your site is essential and it starts with the homepage. 
  • Consistency – what you present on your homepage should also be reflected in the rest of your site. Ensure you’re consistent with design, messaging and content. 
  • Broken pages – it’s frustrating as a user to have found the link you need, only to find that it leads to nothing. Monitor your pages to make sure that any links from the homepage continues the user journey and doesn’t disrupt it. 
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Why Is Your Website Speed So Important?

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Site load speed is the time it takes to completely show the substance on a particular page, and as client conduct develops and they become less quiet, it’s turning out to be a higher priority than at any other time to ensure it’s just about as rapid as could really be expected.
Google, alongside other web search tools, punish destinations that have a sluggish burden speed, as this connects with helpless client experience. Google doesn’t see this well, thus it is reflected in their rankings. Implying that site load speed has the ability to represent the deciding moment of your site.
Amazon says that one moment of burden slack time would cost them $1.6 billion in deals every year” – an exceptional illustration of the effect site speed can have on your business.

First Impressions Are Lasting Impressions!

For an online business, your web load speed is your ‘first impression’, so, as with any first impression, you want to make sure it’s a good one! Quick web load speed gives the user a stress-free experience and makes them feel in control, which means they’re more likely to spend longer on your website and return in the future. 
However, if your page loads slowly it can signal to the user that something isn’t quite right which can, hand in hand, make them question the professionalism of your company, causing them to drop off. 
This is also referred to as a bounce rate which is the percentage of visitors who come to your site and leave after only viewing one page. The bounce rate is impacted by a number of factors, including load speed. Those who bounce only view one page before abandoning the site, therefore the load speed of that first, and only, the page they view is extremely important. 

How Does Web Speed Impact SEO?

Website performance has a heavy impact on the conversion rate – the percentage of users that visit the site who convert. For example, if 100 people visit a page advertising washing machines, and 5 users actually click the buy button, then the conversion rate would be 5%. Studies have shown that the quicker a web page loads the better the conversion rate. Showing how important a smooth user experience is to reach the business’ desired outcome.
 

So, How Fast Should A Website Load?

 
The magic number that Google is looking at is 2 seconds! 
The shorter the load time, the more you’ll boost customer confidence and trust in the website, increasing the chance of them returning, and encouraging others to visit it. Research has shown that if the site takes longer than 3 seconds to load you can risk losing 40% of your visitors, which is definitely not a risk worth taking! Recognizing the problem is the first step, the next is to understand why the site is loading slowly and what you can do to improve things to speed it up.
 

How Can You Make a Website Load Faster?

 
So, what can you do to make your web page load faster? There are many factors that contribute to slower loading times, so here are just a few things you can do to help optimize your website:

Optimise images

Images are a vital part of any website. However, if they’re not added correctly they can hinder your website’s functionality and increase loading times. Go through your website and assess every image – Is it fulfilling its purpose? Is it taking up too much space? Could it be cut out? If you can remove it, do. 

Upgrade your web hosting

Although you may have originally kept to a low-budget host, in order to keep up with traffic it’s important to update your hosting plan. The plan you choose, along with the website will impact your site speed.

Uninstall unused plugins

The use of plugins is a great way of improving site performance, however too many can weigh your website down and slow down your load times. So it’s important to only download plugins that you’re actually going to use, and make sure to have regular clearouts.

Use a cache 

Having caching enabled will mean your site speed will be quicker for returning visitors. As when a user visits your site all of the elements need to be loaded, these elements are then stored in a cache (temporary storage on their hard drive), shortening the site load time.