Your home page is the single most crucial page of your site. This is the page that will be the primary entry point for a majority of your visitors. It is also the page that sets the stage for the rest of the site giving visitors a birds-eye view of who you are, what you’re about, what you can do for them, what you offer, and how they get the information needed.
The importance of making sure your home page is user-friendly cannot be understated. This page, more than any other, has to pull together so many elements without being overbearing or overloading the visitor with information overkill. Despite the over-reaching purpose of the home page, simplicity is the key. Provide the necessary information and usability elements and you’ll lower your bounce rate and improve site conversions along the way.
Site identification
The home page’s first function is to convey to the visitor what site they are on. Company name and logo must be clearly and obviously displayed.
Identify page
Visitors should know that they page they have landed on is, in fact, the home page. A quick glance at the page should make this obvious.
Site overview
Home page content should provide an overview of who you are and what you do. It should go on to introduce the main areas of your site, giving visitors the opening to continue through to the information they came for.
Calls to action
Use textual and image links that convey a distinct call to action that drives the visitor to the desired destination.
Splash pages
Splash pages should never be used. These pages serve very little purpose and tend to annoy visitors.
Minimize content
Home page content should be kept to a minimum. This page should serve as a jump off point (enticement) to direct visitors to the deeper sales content pages.
Minimize scrolling
Vertical scrolling should be kept to a minimum. Ensure that most important information is visible “above the fold”.
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Stoney deGeyter leads an exceptional crew of web marketers who work overtime to make him look good. He's a prolific writer on all things web marketing and has published a few ebooks, tutorials and tools that help make online marketing (look) easier. He's also a very friendly guy who loves to help others velocitize their web marketing. In his free time Stoney get's involved in community services and ministries, enjoys his friends and loves on his kids. Read Stoney's full bio.
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Not sure about that home page content should be kept to a minimum business. I think you need a good measure of text content to help identify the subject/theme of the site to the engines. You can have the bulk of it below the fold by all means, safely tucked underneath your call to action if you will, but you should have it.
BB
Bill, I’ll disagree, but I guess that depends on what a “good measure” of text is. Search engines are pretty good at getting the gist of the page without having hundreds and hundreds of words. The amount of text on the page should be dictated by the necessity of getting the point and sales message to the visitor. If you can do that then the engines won’t be an issue.