Designing Your Home Page: 13 Essential Components to Consider
A home page is just like your front room. Visitors leave an untidy room quickly with a bad impression. If a visitor bounces from your website before 2 minutes, that indicates a below-average session duration. What’s the point in working so hard to build a website and ending up with poor session duration?
Only a well-optimized, user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing website home page with simple navigation can hold visitors and motivate them to continue browsing. Still unsure about what to include on the front page of your website? Keep reading this article, I’ll guide you to the right steps to designing an effective home page.
Things to Consider When Designing a Home Page
Home pages should be designed based on users’ intent, considering their psychology and preferences. A visitor takes only 10-20 seconds on average to decide what to do next after entering a home page. So, you have very little time to help potential customers find what they’re looking for and guide them to quick decisions. Make sure your homepage incorporates the following ideas to bring the best outcomes.
1. Know Your Purpose
The purpose of an ecommerce or business website differs from that of an information and entertainment website. A business site focuses on selling products and services, but an information site emphasizes providing necessary information on specific niches. And other websites serve different purposes. So, at first, ask yourself how you want users to react while they’re on your website. Design the home page in a way so it persuades visitors to follow your direction.
2. Use Simple and Intuitive Navigation
As you already know, visitors switch websites too fast. A clear navigation system across the whole home page helps visitors notice menus, buttons, and other links and facilitate the decision-making process. If they find what they need within a moment (10-20 seconds), they’re likely to stick to your browser for a few minutes more. Make the buttons bold and clear with explicit call-to-actions (CTAs) and attractive design and colors. I suggest you keep the most important links on the left side of your home page as a good practice. You can also use a drop-down menu as sub-navigation to keep the main page clutter-free.
3. Use a Standard Design
The first impression is the key to converting a visitor into a customer. An aesthetic design will draw visitors’ attention right away. Every component of a home page belongs to the design section. According to stats, 94% of first impressions have a direct connection with design-related elements. So, a visually appealing home page is critical to engage visitors to browse more.
A good homepage design includes creative layouts, relevant CTA buttons, contact information, client testimonials, social media outlets, etc. Most importantly, don’t forget to use eye-soothing color palettes. You can also incorporate the following ideas into your design.
- An attractive image with text inlays comprising CTAs and copies
- Slides informing about collections, offers, and discounts
- A video introducing the company and its products/ services
4. Choose the Right Color Schemes
Colors affect human psychology and feelings. The right color can trigger visitors to respond according to your plan. It’s not wise to choose a random color without analyzing the target audience. The different audience reacts differently to the same color. For example, white refers to purity and wedding colors in the USA, but it symbolizes a mourning color in China, Japan, India, etc. Moreover, colors also deal with readability, aesthetics, and consistency. So, choose the right color schemes to stand out.
5. Use Original & Sharp Images
Undoubtedly, high definition images improve the visual quality of a site. But, big-sized images reduce the load speed of webpages. That’s why you need to balance HD photos and light sizes. It's better to use original images rather than using stock photos. Original images contribute to increasing the authenticity of a website.
6. Optimize Site Speed
Avoid using unnecessary information and uploading high-resolution images if not needed. Too many high-resolution images and superfluous JavaScript files decrease the load speed of a website. Though it falls under the responsibility of a developer, optimize your website to get an effective home page that loads completely within 2-3 seconds.
7. Put a Search Bar
Most users know what they’re looking for while only a few roam aimlessly. Use a smart search bar on the home page to help pre-determined visitors. A search bar allows you to find the required information and products consuming less time. This will improve the user experience and help retain customers.
8. Include a Shopping Cart for Online Stores
A shopping cart should be made visible on the screen during the whole browsing process of a home page. As an ecommerce site aims the most at selling products, shopping carts are a mandatory part of home pages. If a visitor adds products to the cart, he/she should be notified through the cart icon.
9. Show off Awards & Certificates
Awards, certificates, testimonials, reviews, etc. user-generated contents improve the credibility of a website. If you ever achieve any award or certificate, don't forget to display them on your home page. A little showoff is acceptable in such cases. Showcase your achievements to the entire world by putting them on your homepage.
10. Check the Home Page for Multi Devices
Traffic comes to a website from various platforms. People use computers and mobiles of different operating systems and screen sizes all over the world. You need to optimize the design in a manner so it remains usable for all users, regardless of their device types. Flash banners, gif animations, pop-ups, videos, and other dynamic elements may not appear perfectly across all devices. Only intensive checking and optimization can ensure the best multi-device usability.
11. Highlight the Blog Section
The blog section plays a pivotal role in content strategy. Your blogs will determine your place on the search engine results page to a great extent. Highlight the blog section to persuade visitors to read your content. Usually, blogs convey a message that you possess a helpful attitude to visitors and have expertise in the products you sell and the services you provide. So, make the blogs easily accessible to visitors to build a relationship with them.
12. Add a Signup Box for Email/Newsletter/Subscription
If you want to generate leads, simply put a signup/subscription/newsletter button at the bottom of the home page. Integrate a minimalistic but engaging design for the signup box. It represents splendid success if a visitor wishes to get synced to your website.
13. Make Adjustments When Necessary
Keep up with trends. The digital world is developing every day. For ecommerce sites, products and offers change depending on special occasions. You need to make the necessary changes to the homepage design to keep the information up to date and improve the user experience. Besides, if your current homepage can’t improve session duration, maybe it's time to make adjustments to render better results.
When a visitor comes to the homepage, he/she actually stands on the threshold. It's the role of a homepage to convince him/her to enter the house. I have included all the key features of a standard homepage. Now, it's your turn to implement these ideas and reap the benefits of having a well-designed homepage.
At Royex, we try to be up-to-date with all the latest UI and UX trends and incorporate them in our work. If you are interested in our UI/UX, Graphics, Web designing services, then kindly contact us at info@royex.net or call us at +971-56-6027916. Royex, the leading website design company in Dubai can help you create effective and eye-catching websites that will increase your business image and give your business a high conversion ratio.