The first thing someone will see when they visit a website is typically the homepage! That's why it's so important for a homepage to provide exactly what people are looking for. The best homepage design will wow customers and convince them that you’re trustworthy, talented, and worth investing in. This article will give you some homepage best practices, such as how to design a homepage and what to include in it for the best homepage design.
Design strategy: At a high-level overview, design decisions on a website homepage communicate a lot, so it’s essential to consider every aspect of a homepage design. These definitions should align with the interests of the target audience while establishing a strong brand identity.
Grow Your Brand Recognition
The best homepage design captures the essence of your company and the brand identity you want to convey to potential customers. The website homepage should be a cohesive verbal and visual representation of your brand. You can build brand recognition by creating a consistent Style Guide to define visual elements.
Visual design: Another important aspect of designing a homepage is considering visual elements such as colors, fonts, shapes, illustrations, and images. Use visuals strategically to make the website's home page aesthetically appealing and highlight important points.
Incorporate Visual Design Elements
Engage and retain visitors to your website by creating an eye-catching visual design for your homepage. Through visual hierarchy, you can attract attention to the most relevant content of the page. By strategically using colors, fonts, shapes, illustrations, as well as layout, scale, and visual contrast, you can make specific parts of your homepage stand out to work as a call to action or announcement.
Select the Right Imagery
You'll want to include images on your homepage to visually represent what you do. Images have the potential to quickly and effectively reach visitors in a striking and impactful way. Be careful to select pictures specific to your company, and avoid using generic stock photos that don't speak to your brand. Imagery should seamlessly align with the visual guidelines outlined in the brand identity.
Usability: Make It Easy To Navigate
The homepage of a website should be easy to navigate. The purpose of a homepage is to welcome your audience and guide them through your services and your website. When people visit a website for specific information, they may spend little time on the homepage looking for what they need. A confusing or cluttered homepage is off-putting and may lead people to close it immediately and look for a more polished competitor. A well-structured homepage will help people quickly find what they're looking for.
Check Mobile and Desktop Compatibility
An excellent homepage of a website is responsive, so it works perfectly whether your visitor uses a laptop, smartphone, or other device. To make your homepage design mobile-friendly, you could limit pop-ups, adjust the text readability, and design for different-sized screens or viewports.
Content: Choosing a design style is one thing, but selecting the right content (text, images, videos, etc.) to share on your homepage is equally essential. What content is important to include in your webpage?
Customer-centric and Testimonials
Shift the focus to the customers' needs and pain points, making them the central figure of your messaging. The customer is the hero, not the company. Your business should act as the guide, offering the right plan to help them achieve their goals and fulfill their needs.
Your homepage is a chance for you to advertise the best you have to offer. Listing the benefits of working with you is an excellent way to encourage visitors to seek you out. You may want to include sample projects that have been successful as proof that you have experience and well-suited knowledge in your field. Quotes and testimonials from clients are also powerful indications of trust and reliability for future clients. If you have any awards, recognition, press, or certain companies you've worked with that you want to highlight, add them to your homepage, too.
Calls to Action
If you want to turn website visitors into leads and potential customers, include several calls to action on the homepage of your website. These could be a contact form, an item for sale, links to your portfolio or social media, a link to sign up for your newsletter, or whatever you most want people to do upon visiting your website. The number of visitors who complete your call to action can be measured through analytics to evaluate the performance of your website home page and how well it generates interest in your work.
Stay Up To Date
Update your website home page to reflect your business’s growth and evolution. Stay fresh and visually compelling.
It's worth investing time and energy into perfecting your homepage design. A great user experience encourages visitors to explore your website and enhances your SEO outcomes, improving visibility and user engagement.
The best homepage design should be made with your target audience in mind, displaying content that accurately captures your brand identity while also offering concise CTAs. For some website homepage design inspiration, why not check out our case studies? When you’re ready to create your best homepage design together, get in touch here.
