Homepages often become a junk drawer of content that someone, somewhere, thought was important enough to cram inside. But the homepage should be treated with more reverence than a junk drawer. And so should your users. It's not very hospitable to tell guests to rummage through a haphazard mess to find what they want.
Not everything belongs on your homepage. But what does belong on your homepage? Well, it depends.
Why the homepage matters
Almost everyone thinks the homepage is important. It's close to being a universally acknowledged truth. That's why everyone wants their content on the homepage.
But most website visitors won't enter your site through the homepage. They will come from a search engine or an external link and land on one of your internal pages. This behavior is why every page of your website should be welcoming and usable, not just your homepage.
So why is the homepage so important?
Every single page on your site links to the homepage. It's the easiest page to get to. Even if it's not their first impression, there's a high chance visitors will find themselves there. Some research shows that 36% of visitors will click on your logo to reach the homepage after reaching your site via a referral. It can be an escape hatch for users who didn't find what they were looking for or a jumping-off point to see what else you have to offer. The homepage lets users quickly scan to know they are in the right place or do a little window shopping.
People expect your homepage to be there when they are ready to use it.
Determining what belongs
What journey do you want new visitors to take? What about returning visitors? What about visitors who have landed from an internal page? What tasks do they wish to complete based on their position in the funnel?
Your users should decide what goes on your homepage. How do you know what they want? Ask them. Establish a process for user research. Look at analytics and heatmap tracking, conduct interviews, compile search terms users enter into your site search, and collect site feedback at the bottom of pages that are high-profile or not performing as well as you'd like.
Even a little research is better than the random whims of a stakeholder who wants the company values page front and center on the homepage. You can show that the page has had only 20 visits in the past 3 years despite its current prominence. Users obviously don't care about it.
Governance will look different between organizations. What's important is that you agree on a governance process that focuses on user and business needs, not arbitrary desires. Shaping this process and discovering these needs is part of what content strategy is all about.
Let's say you have a process, but the answers are still fuzzy. You don't have the clarity you want on what should go on your homepage. Time to prioritize.
Prioritize
Not everything can go above the fold (even though on the web, there is no "fold"). That's not the end of the world. Users are willing to scroll. Eye-tracking studies have found that a majority of visitors definitely scroll at least a little bit. But the top of the page will be seen as the most important. It will still get the most eyeballs.
So, how do you prioritize the content on your homepage? The answer is not "put everything in a carousel at the top." That's not prioritizing. That's only stuffing several things into an even smaller junk drawer. The University of Notre Dame found that 1% of visitors clicked on the feature, and of that 1%, 89% of the clicks were on the first position of the carousel.
What are the most important things you are trying to communicate? If your website was on a billboard, what would you want people to know after they drove by? If someone on the sidewalk had never heard of you before, what would you yell out of the car window as you raced past?
As you evaluate the priority of content on your homepage, go through these questions:
- In one second, what do they need to know? How about two seconds? After two minutes?
- We often wireframe the homepage on a phone when going through this exercise. Everything is ordered and stacked. What comes first? This prioritization can carry through to larger screen sizes.
- What's recent and relevant? Do users really want a link to your board meeting minutes from 2017? They might need to be on your website somewhere. But the homepage?
Elements to consider for your homepage
If you want some ideas to kickstart your workshops, research, and testing, here are some things you might want to consider for your homepage.
- A brief explanation of the site. Who are you, and what do you do?
- A primary action for new users. "Sign up for service."
- A primary action for returning users. "Pay your bill."
- A primary visual. Something that represents what you do or evokes the feeling you want users to feel.
- Credibility statement or image. Let visitors know they are in the right place. Proof of credibility is especially important for government agencies. For some organizations, the logo might be enough.
- Examples of the types of content your website contains. Teasers for articles. Upcoming events.
- Contact information. Usually, near the end for users who didn't find what they needed.
Navigation and wayfinding options
Here, we must stress the importance of a clear main menu. Since you can't put everything on the home page, you need a menu that accurately reflects the main sections of the site using terms that your audience understands. Consistent navigation is essential. It should reflect how users think about your services and offerings, not how your internal teams are organized.
Your search bar also belongs on the homepage, maybe even as part of your main navigation. Users like to navigate websites in various ways, and some want to type something in a search bar. Site search also serves as a fallback from any page.
Homepage mistakes to avoid
The biggest mistakes fall into two buckets.
Too much content
You want to present a sample of your website content, but don't go overboard. Too many items will overwhelm users and undermine the reason you put those things there in the first place. A "quick links" list of 20+ links is not quick. Avoid aggressive advertisements, pop-ups, and overlays, which can overwhelm and frustrate visitors.
"As the number of elements — text, titles, images — on a page goes from 400 to 6,000, the probability of conversion drops 95%." - Google/SOASTA Research, 2017.
Check out the front matter of a book. It has the title page, foreword, table of contents, other books by the same author, and maybe some pull quotes. The front matter is not the whole book but a gateway to the rest of the book. Make the gateway too long or confusing, and you risk people putting the book down before they even get started.
Not enough content
You also don't want too few items on your homepage. Avoid a false floor where it appears there is no more content to dive into. If you list events, don't make it look like the events on the homepage are the only events on your website. If you list products, give a cross-section of your offerings that entices visitors to delve deeper. You don't want them leaving your website thinking you don't sell what they want when you do sell what they want.
Don't leave room for misinterpretation. Don't be coy or vague. Tell visitors exactly what you do and use enough content to convey the message. Research has shown that 46% of visitors won't trust a company if its mission statement is unclear.
A window for your shop
Your homepage is important. It should give your users an idea of your site's contents and offer clear directions to what they might want. It should act like a shop window on the street, where users can glimpse what to expect should they enter.
Visitors won't be browsing your window only for its contents; they'll also be judging its organization. Cramming everything into a shop window gives the same impression as a junk drawer: "Welcome to our space! Please rummage through the mess."