Homepage fundamentals. ge fun. Increase your conversions

Transcription

1 omepa undam als ho Homepage fundamentals ge fun ament Increase your conversions

2 A website has two masters: the goals of the site s creator and the needs of its visitors. Every homepage, as the entry point to a website, must consider its visitors needs, desires, and behaviors. When you re considering adding a pyrotechnics show to your homepage, ask yourself: Is this what my visitor needs, wants, or likes? Does it help my visitor accomplish the goals I ve set out for her? Your homepage should answer these 3 questions Where am I? Whose site is this? What do they do? What can I do here? Can I buy something? Download resources? Sign up for something? Why should I do it? Why should I entrust my money to you, versus the competitor?

3 Homepage roles & goals Remember, every web page has a goal or rather, two goals, your goal for the visitor and the visitor s goal. These guidelines outline good practices for your homepage, but keep in mind your visitor s needs and your goals and decide whether these guidelines work towards those goals. The homepage is the front door of your website. The primary purpose of the homepage is to move visitors through it to the areas of the site most pertinent to them. Your website is a holistic conversion funnel; your homepage is an essential entry point to this funnel. Some good practices for opening the door to your website and creating conversions: Welcome the visitor Introduce her to the site Help her find what she needs Let her know what she can do and what she is supposed to do Make your homepage engaging, not like an advertisement. It needs to be a conversation, not just a sales page. Set up a flow logic: What is the priority of information on the page? Always provide the path that leads to a decision As companies evolve and grow, the homepage inevitably degrades. The primary reason for this is internal politics or competing department goals, resulting in a homepage jammed with a hodgepodge of messages and methods. [1] Resist the urge to set too many goals for the homepage.

4 Welcome the visitor Introduce her to your site Help her find what she needs Let her know what she can do and what she is supposed to do Always provide the path that leads to a decision

5 Content & Design As with the homepage guidelines, there are exceptions to every rule. The guidelines below aren t even rules! They simply provide you ideas to consider. Establish a strong value proposition: Why should I care? Why should I stay on this page? Create short, strong headlines: e.g., Effective Marketing Made Easy. Support your page with quantitative statements. Reduce the amount of copy as much as possible; visitors will get overwhelmed otherwise. Provide the opportunity for the visitor to explore. Don t hit her with the offer without options to learn more about it or simply look around the site. Any images on the homepage need to be relevant to the goal of the page. You need a clear eye path for the page. Decide where people s eyes should go and make sure design and content both work towards that goal. Too many colors and design elements (including for buttons) disrupt the thought process of the visitor. Measure Success Make sure your metrics collection and testing tools allow for tracking return visits as this can be a large chunk of engagement. (Marketing Experiments studies suggest that 2% to 40% of traffic consists of returning visitors.)

6 Prioritize the objectives of your homepage As mentioned earlier, homepages most often fail when multiple goals vie for the visitor s attention. Your organization may have many departments, requiring a website with dozens of pages, but your homepage should offer clarity of purpose to your visitor. Primary When possible, a homepage should have a single objective identified as the key performance indicator. This objective usually relates to long-term business goals for example, if your long-term goal is building an list, your homepage performance indicator can be the number of submissions from the lead generation form. Major Identify less important, short-term objectives that may or may not directly relate to the business model. These will most likely come from different internal departments or marketing campaigns e.g., an upcoming sales presentation or a special product offer. Minor Some objectives are functionally necessary for a homepage, but are not tied directly to revenue or any marketing efforts e.g., site navigation or legal information. Citation [1] Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Director of Marketing Experiments, Homepages Optimized: How using the homepage as a channel led to a 9% increase in conversion (2010),

7 About Synotac Synotac builds websites and digital strategies for small and midsize companies. Learning is the keystone of Synotac s culture and its members believe strongly in sharing what they learn. Marketing Insights Sign up for weekly tips that take 60 seconds or less. Synotac digests the mushrooming mass of data, tools, and services in the digital marketing space then delivers you a weekly insight with a clear action to improve your business s design, content, and strategy. Learn with us: synotac.com/insights