There is lots of advice on the topic of search engine optimization, i.e., how to boost your search position in Google, maximize your online visibility, and increase traffic to your website. However, even if you do push your website into Google’s top positions and attract more visitors, if your homepage is of poor quality, those visitors will quickly bounce back to search results looking for a better result. This not only makes the traffic useless to your site but will increase your bounce rate and hurt your performance in search results. Of course, a website needs to look professional and attractive, but that is only the tip of the iceberg.
Here are a few suggestions to help you improve your website’s homepage and convert more of your traffic into customers.
Add new content regularly
Your homepage should be up to date with the latest content, promotions, and information. If you are advertising a summer sale in December, visitors will assume you have not updated your website in a while and may lose some confidence in your brand. Set yourself a monthly reminder to check the homepage content and update it as regularly as possible.
Include a call-to-action
What do you want your customers to do when they arrive on your website? You might want them to sign up to a mailing list, buy a product, or place an inquiry via a lead form so you can contact them. Your homepage should focus on one clear call-to-action and make it as easy as possible for customers to complete that action. For more information on improving the usability of your website, click here.
Make it easy for visitors to contact you
Visitors may not be ready to complete the action you want them to, and those people may need to contact you or get some answers to their questions first. Your contact information should be easy to find at the top or bottom of the homepage and/or via a clearly labeled ‘contact us’ button, which links to a page of contact information.
Use video and images
Have you heard of TLDR? It stands for Too Long Didn’t Read and can be a real turn-off for website visitors. If your homepage has lots of text on it, try to reduce it to only the most important pieces of information and break it up with unique photos and graphics. An even better option is to have a promotional video by A Wing Visuals on your homepage, which demonstrates your product and/or introduces your brand or service.
Refresh your design
Website design moves on quickly, and if your website was designed a while ago, it may be looking tired and outdated, which is also how your brand will appear to visitors. You might not have the budget or time to have the whole website updated, but the homepage is your shopfront, so it is worth investing in it and ensuring it makes a great first impression.
Maximize page speed
A website that takes time to load up can be very frustrating for visitors, and they have come to expect pages to load within 3 seconds. If your homepage takes longer than this to load up, 50% of visitors will abandon the website and look elsewhere. Particularly slow websites are also penalized in search results.
Optimize for mobile search
Many internet searches are carried out on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, so your website must be designed for both desktop and mobile. Mobile website design will make the site much easier to view and navigate and can boost your performance in search results.
Photos courtesy of gettyimages.com
