The Dos & Don’ts for an Awesome Homepage

Homepages are like digital welcome signs that greet people when they visit your website. Having a beautiful design isn’t enough. If you want to keep visitors glued to your website, you need to have a homepage that functions as an uninterrupted environment for them.

Here are the dos and don’ts for creating a homepage that draws visitors in deeper.

1. Layout

Keeping your homepage’s layout clean and clutter-free is essential. Website visitors tend to feel overwhelmed if they’re presented with an excessive amount of information and images. You will come off more organised and professional if your website’s content is well thought-out and tidy.

• Do: Choose a layout that is clean and easy to navigate. Make sure that all of your most important content and images are kept above the fold, where your viewers eyes will most likely see them.
  
  
• Don’t: Avoid cluttering your homepage with too many images, icons, clipart, banners, never-ending text and so on. No one wants to sort through a messy page.

2. Images

A picture is worth a thousand words. When it comes to your homepage, this saying rings true. Images have the ability to let your visitors know what you and your website are all about. Strong images can do the job of countless lines of text, so use this to your advantage.

• Do: Use high resolution images that will make your users want to see the other pages of your website. Nothing says unprofessional more than a bad quality image.
  
  
• Don’t: There’s no need to add every amazing image you have at your disposal. A few solid images should be more than enough.

3. Colours and backgrounds

These simple, yet important elements set the tone for your homepage and will probably be the same throughout all of your website’s pages.

• Do: Go with a colour scheme and background that work well together and reinforce your brand.
  
  
• Don’t: Steer clear of adding too many colours and don’t pick a background that will steal the focus from your main images and text.

4. Buttons

When using buttons on your homepage, make sure you use them right. Your buttons – or call-to-actions (CTAs) – are gateways to other pages, websites, promotional items, product galleries and so much more. If the purpose is to make people take action and click, you’re going to have to make them tempting.

• Do: Keep the wording of the CTA as clear and short as possible. Do your best to keep it under 4 words.
  
  
• Don’t: Try not to let your CTA go unseen. If you want people to click through, don’t overlook the importance of placement.

5. Text

You can’t have a perfect homepage without good, solid text. Your first objective should be to ensure that your visitors immediately understand what your website is about. But remember, you’ll be able to go into more detail on the other pages of your website, so there’s no need to write a novel. Getting carried away and writing overly descriptive paragraphs is a surefire way to make your users fall asleep.

• Do: Keep your text fresh and current. Doing so will let visitors know that your website is up-to-date and a dependable source of information.
  
  
• Don’t: Do not overdo it. In most cases, nobody is looking to settle down for a few hours to read all the text on your website. Be sure not to lose your visitors’ attention by going into way too much detail or repeating yourself when you just don’t need to.

SOURCE: Wix