10 Points to Improve Your Homepage Content

Your homepage is the most critical page on your website. You have only seconds to convince a new visitor that they should stay and not click on to a different site. In those first few seconds your words, images, layout and navigation must work to attract, engage and convince new visitors to spend more time on your website.

Homepage are often focused on imagery because designers and web site owners agree that the most important thing is to make a powerful first impression. On certain websites this is obvious because there are lots of photos or flash movies and and next to no content. If there is no written content then once a new visitor has gotten over the first surprise of the clever imagery they will then be disappointed to find no substance to guide and help them, and they may leave the site.

Quality content on your homepage is also important for search engine optimisation (SEO). Search engine spiders crawl written content as it helps them decide how relevant a web page is to the search phrase that someone has typed in. This relates to where they list the web site in their search engine results. Google and the other search engines give the most importance to the homepage of each web site, and this is why you should have good clear words on it.

Sometimes there is a trade-off between design-focus with little written content, and providing enough content for users and search engines. You should ask yourself, would I rather have the flashiest looking site that is 100% how I like it, but with not many people finding it; or a website that is 90% how I want it, but that is being found by people and they are staying on it longer?

The search engine marketing and usability benefits of writing homepage content far outweigh the simplicity and design benefits of having no written content. At a minimum your homepage should have 200 words and if possible 250 words or more is better.

When you prepare content for your homepage note that web site users do not read every word on the entry pages of web sites. Rather they scan with their eyes for visual clues that point them in the direction of the information they are looking for. All users will be on a mission to achieve a goal that may be to find a product or person, download a document or check office hours.

Below is listed 10 simple rules that together will contribute to making your homepage more effective for both users and search engines:

1. Make sure that you cover off the four key information questions a new user may have about your company: WHO you are, WHAT you offer, HOW to use your website, and the WOW – what makes you better?
2. Prioritise the key messages so the most important information is at the top of the page.
3. Make sure the important homepage copy is visible on a laptop screen and not pushed down out of view by a big banner or imagery.
4. If possible keep sentences under 15 words so users can view them quickly.
5. If possible keep paragraphs under 6 lines so the web page has spaces.
6. Use normal words. Don’t use company jargon or marketing lingo as new users will get annoyed with waffle.
7. Make the first and last sentence of each paragraph the most important.
8. Where possible use numbering or bullet points to break up content and make it easier to view quickly.
9. Repeat the keywords you want to rank for at least 3-4 times on your homepage, retaining their word order. Note this is not enough on its own without proper optimization, but it is very important.
10. Place a call to action in appropriate places to actively direct new users from your homepage to the important parts of your web site you want them to see, such as product pages or customer endorsements. A text link supporting the call to action should go in the last line of a paragraph.

Your web site designer will usually manage the visual impact of the site as they have expertise in that area. Often however you will be required write or at least edit the copy on the homepage yourself. If you use the 10 guidelines noted above, and if your content can answer the four core questions of What, Who, How and Wow, then your homepage will be more likely to retain new visitors.