As the name implies, a homepage is the very first page every visitor sees on your website. The best homepages are those that can grab the visitors’ attention in the first few seconds. Even if your website is simple, it’s a must for your homepage to be engaging.
Features to Make Engaging Homepages
It is a lot to expect of a webpage. Also, you may have seen far too many profile pages that are not well-designed and often fail to captivate users.
The following sections will go through essential features you can implement to your homepage to make it stand out from the rest.
Easy Navigation
Three clicks or could be less from the main page to purchase is one of the rules of thumb for an engaging website; therefore, that will be your services or the product page.
You would always like to ensure that your visitors’ needs are met quickly and efficiently for your business.
Any assistance you can provide, such as a Buy Now button, easy-to-understand menus, or link to service or product page, can increase or even maintain user engagement.
If we go with Apple’s website as an example, you will see how their main page highlights their recent products while also providing a link to each product.
Effective CTA
The majority of nice-looking homepages that are easy to navigate often don’t do much if there is no clear call-to-action (CTA). If you want your page visitors to be your customers, having a well-written CTA is necessary.
Take the Spotify website as an example; they offer a 3-month premium package that can be canceled anytime as their CTA. Other well-used CTAa includes free trial periods, subscriptions, contact us, etc.
Bear in mind that a CTA doesn't always have to be about anything related to purchasing. It can be scheduling a future service arrangement.
CTAs only need to be clear and adequately visible for users. In addition, they should be tailored to your target market for each stage of the sales process. Make your CTAs stand out using catchy, practical wording. Also, be clear about what you exactly want from your visitor with each call-to-action.
Effective Design
Homepages with a simple layout are the ones that can easily engage users. Their clean designs can eliminate the potential for mess and ambiguity.
If you want to, you can mix up the page layout as well. It will give your visitors the impression that they do not see the same page repetitively.
Adding a lot of white space will also elevate the entire clean look of a homepage. It is what you need to include in your website should you want a balanced layout that is consistent with the feel and appearance of your brand.
For instance, take a look at the 99.co website. This site employs all of the excellent design methods to provide a clean and professional look. The text also comes in a high-contrast level, improving its legibility.
Easy-to-read Content
The best homepages are those with content that won’t make visitors get tired of reading them. To make your content more interesting to read, consider making it scannable.
Use section headers to break up large amounts of content. In addition, using your desired keywords in the headings will help your site rank higher in search engine results.
For instance, in one of the articles in 99.co; the content is written by breaking up the text using numbered lists. It enhances the engagement and readability of the content and the readers’ rate of retention.
The content also maintains a human, warm, and inspiring tone to make readers stick from the beginning to the end of the article. In addition to this, a conversational vocabulary plays a significant role in keeping the readers engaged.
Furthermore, short paragraphs consisting of three sentences won't make readers swamped by lots of text. The presence of white space between one section to another provides readers a time and space to rest their eyes.
Fast Loading Speed
Homepages that take more than ten seconds to load will be unable to gain the visitors' attention. Ideally, a good page should quickly load in just two seconds. It will enable the viewers approximately three seconds to scan the headline and graphics all together, determining whether or not they find the webpage interesting.
While it’s impossible to control the visitors’ connection speed, there are certainly a few things you can perform to speed up the loading of your page. These include using a reputable web server that offers a strong network.
Keeping the number of plugins to a bare minimum will also reduce the time your page requires loading. Also, don’t be misled by what’s on your screen. You will find a cache that stores all the data from past visits.
Ask someone to visit your website and evaluate how the device they use performs the loads. It is done to get a true sense of how fast it can load. To have a clearer view, consider deleting your cache first before checking your webpage load speed. It is the last essential step you need to ensure for making engaging homepages.
References:
- https://colibriwp.com/blog/homepage-design/
- https://www.webfx.com/web-design/how-to-make-website-more-engaging.html
- https://evergreendm.com/how-to-build-an-engaging-homepage-on-your-website/
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/homepages-engage-visitors-shaan-nicol
