If you have a business website, then one of your main goals is to improve the conversion rate of visitors into customers. Whether you’re selling a product, a service, a membership subscription or just building a fan base, your home page should be conversion focused.
The web design industry, though still very young, has learned much and evolved greatly over the past 20 years.
We know have a proven formula for designing and laying out content on a home or landing page.
Here is a detailed checklist of the type of content elements you should have on your home page to optimize it for converting your visitors into customers.
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A HIGH QUALITY FULL WIDTH BACKGROUND IMAGE
The first impression the visitor sees will determine if they stay or leave. This first impression should make an immediate and emotional connection. They visitor should be moved. The combination of background image, title and tagline needs to inform the visitor in 3 seconds that they are in the right place. Selecting the right image is very important, and more important is testing the image. A test can be set up between two different images to see which one is most effective at converting your visitors into customers.
AN ENGAGING TITLE AND TAGLINE
Your title is one short phrase that CLEARLY defines what your site is all about. Your tagline is one or two sentences that expand on and support the title.
IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Make sure to clearly identify your target audience. This means that you will have to first define, for yourself, your target demographic. The headline “VOICE LESSONS FOR MEN OVER 40” is much better than “VOICE LESSONS FOR ALL AGES”, because you can then target men over 40 interested in singing lessons. Although many people may leave your website when they realize it’s not for them, your conversion rate will be very high when you drive the right traffic to your site.
A CLEAR OFFER
State your offer in two simple and short sentences. Make it understandable. The Call-To-Action should restate the offer only shorter.
A CALL-TO-ACTION
Tell the visitor exactly what to do. “RESERVE YOUR SEAT”, “JOIN NOW”, “DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK”, “SCHEDULE A CALL”, ETC…
A SINGLE CLEAR OBJECTIVE
What should the home page do? Inform, entertain, sell, subscribe,
A VIDEO INTRODUCTION
Use video to introduce yourself (brand, company, team, products, services) to the visitor. It could be an animation with voice over, or a spokesperson speaking directly to the visitor.
AT LEAST 3 BENEFITS YOUR SOLUTION DELIVERS
Not FEATURES, but BENEFITS your products/services deliver to the visitor. “A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP”, “DOUBLE YOUR INCOME”, “MEET THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE”, “LOSE WEIGHT”, “LAUGH MORE OFTEN”, ETC…
IMAGE LINKS TO YOUR MOST RECENT BLOG ARTICLES
Use your blog post’s featured images to link to your most recent blog articles. If you’re not sure whether you need a blog, read this article: SHOULD I BLOG TO IMPROVE MY BUSINESS WEB PRESENCE?
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