Your homepage is the face of your website. It’s your website’s brick and mortar exterior, its first impression, and its “make it or break it” moment. As such, Your homepage is of the utmost importance when it comes to your website. In fact, marketing experts believe that your homepage is the most important page of your website—more important than your product detail pages, even.
If you want to not only generate leads, but generate leads that convert, there are 6 very important things you must have on your homepage. Read on to learn more.
Be Aware of “The Fold”
When it comes to website design, one of the most central elements that designers think about is “the fold”. No, this isn’t some futuristic alternate universe. It’s the line that separates the part of your homepage that is visible without scrolling, either on mobile or on desktop.
The idea is to get as many of the most important elements of your website above the fold as possible, including your description, CTAs, menu, contact information, and more. If you want visitors to convert, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. By putting the essentials above the fold—or at least enough to keep them engaged—you’ll do all the hard work for them and keep them scrolling.
Draft a Strong Company Overview
The first element that you must have on your homepage is a strong and easily digestible description of your company. Experts suggest that visitors should be able to understand exactly what your company is and what products or services you offer in just 3 seconds. Here’s how to do that:
- Headline: Start with a several-word headline that summarizes your company.
- Short description: Add a few sentences that describe your offerings and their usage; what problem does your product or service solve?
Have you ever been on a website in which the navigation just doesn’t make sense? The menu doesn’t take you to the pages you want to reach and there’s no rhyme or reason to its design. It’s a terribly frustrating experience, and one that’s sure to drive potential leads away.
Be sure to create an easily navigable menu. Limit it to 5-6 options, and if you need to include more, try to nestle them inside others to keep clutter to a minimum.
Let’s take a look at a real-world example: As you can see Shareable for Hires has laid out a useful, minimalist navigation that will help users find what they’re looking for and help them make sales.
Create a Lead Magnet
For businesses that have a longer path to purchase, a lead magnet is an invaluable tool to drive conversions. This is a free, typically downloadable piece of content that is both relevant to your offerings and of value to potential leads. In exchange for its download, you can ask customers to provide you with contact information. They end up with useful information, and you end up with a new and pre-qualified lead.
When designing your lead magnet, think about common issues or concerns that bring customers to your site. For instance, if you sell solar systems for homes, you could create an ebook that is the ultimate guide to converting to solar. Include the cost of converting to solar, the savings, the process, and more. Not only will this indirectly sell your services, but it will also position your company as experts in the field.
A final tip: be sure to provide information that isn’t easily available elsewhere in order to increase the likelihood that a lead will want to download it.
In terms of contact information, the standard for lead magnets is first and last name, as well as email. However, you may want to ask for additional information based on your offerings. For instance, if you tend to receive leads from a wide range of visitors in differing target audiences, such as direct consumers and other businesses, you may want to include the opportunity for people to self-identify to help guide how you will market to them.
Include 3-4 CTAs
A call-to-action, otherwise known as a CTA, is a simple line of text, often surrounded by a colored box or other object, that links users to another page on your site. You’ve likely clicked on thousands of CTAs throughout your life. It’s those “Click Here”, “Download”, “Show Now”, and “Sign Up” buttons on every site you come across.
When it comes to your site’s homepage, it’s important to have well thought out CTAs above the fold. You should also have them throughout the page as you scroll down. CTAs should link to your most important pages, such as your product or service offerings, pricing page, FAQs, and your lead magnet. They should be quick and easy ways for visitors to get to the stuff that really matters.
To ensure that you’re utilizing your best pages in your CTAs, think about it this way: each CTA should speak to a different step in the buyer’s journey. For buyers who are in the awareness phase, you can link to your lead magnet. For those in the consideration phase, link to your offerings and FAQ. For those in the decision phase, link to your pricing.
Finally, the text of your CTAs should be short and actionable. Simple and easy to read verbs are the best choice for your CTA text. Opt for “Learn More” over “Products”, “Download” over “Guide”, and so on.
Add Your Contact Info
Your contact information is an all-too-often overlooked element of your homepage. It’s important to provide potential leads with a direct line to contact you. Leads who have questions but cannot easily get ahold of you are likely to look elsewhere for a solution. By providing a straightforward way for customers to contact you, you’ll have the opportunity to answer any questions and quickly further your leads down the path to conversion.
Your contact info may be listed in a few different ways, including:
- A phone number to your customer support or sales team
- A 3rd-party chat application that allows customers to easily message you
- An email address for customers who would prefer to reach you via email
Final Words
Lead generation is central to the success of your business, but can feel like a significant challenge. With these tools, you’ll be able to generate a steady stream of high-quality leads that quickly and easily convert. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see a huge change overnight. Improving your lead conversion strategy is a long game and once you pick up momentum, you’ll see just how worth it your patience was.
