Your Website Homepage: Don't Overthink It
I conceived this post after seeing an increase in the number of websites where the top/main menu navigation links are on-page links on the homepage.
There are two main pros to this navigation approach:
Fewer pages to manage — usually one page (the homepage) where the business controls where the visitor jumps to on the page based on what’s listed for each top menu link.
Fewer pages to track in an analytics solution.
However, there are more than two cons with this approach:
Pro #2 above can also be considered a con when it comes to landing page visit tracking in tools like Google Analytics. You won’t know how popular a section is unless you use heatmap software. And with sections not being parsed out across dedicated pages, you won’t know what your time on section (equivalent to time on page) or section bounce rates (equivalent to page bounce rates) are.
Your homepage can become very long with more products/services and company information being added over time. Unless your page is exceptionally well designed, this can lead to a confusing experience for your visitor.
A symptom of con #2 is that section sharing — for example, a satisfied customer wants to share your flagship product or product category “page” — can be at best confusing and, at worst, minimized or nonexistent. This is because successful sharing depends on the customer copying your link (ending with #[section name]) that exactly matches up with the desired section he or she wants to share with his or her network.
Regardless of whether you build a traditional homepage — where listed areas of the business have their own landing pages — or a low- or one-page site where your homepage contains on-page links representing your business areas, keep the following in mind in the interest of your busy target audience.
The best piece of advice I got regarding homepage design came from David J.P. Fisher, who’s been in my network since I lived and worked in Chicago back in the aughts. This past fall, after reviewing my homepage, he recommended that I shorten and reformat it so that who I serve and how I help my audience are up top. Only after I clearly show this, he advised, can I have the chance to “earn the scroll” — the opportunity for my audience to dig deeper into what I’m about.
Another way to think of this is as an inverted pyramid, which is used by journalists to structure their news reports. Except instead of starting with “who, what, when, where, why, and how,” at the top of the homepage you’ll:
Define your audience’s pain point (or several points, but keep it brief).
Share your solution and how it solves the pain point(s).
Add a call to action to contact you or jump to a new page to learn more and buy (or take an action on the path of buying such as sending a lead form or scheduling a call with you).
You can see from the last section that the best homepage, for your business and for your customer or client, starts with content that’s all about them.
In an early iteration of my homepage, up at the top I had an About Me section that led to my About page. My thinking in setting up my homepage that way was, “My audience will want to know who they could be going into business with before purchasing what I offer.”
Over time and with the help of David and several other trusted contacts, I realized that this line of thinking wasn’t best serving my target audience. My audience is the hero of the story; it’s my job to frame their struggle — the things they’re dealing with that keep them up at night — and to show how adding my expertise into the “plot” will help them to complete their journey (story).
TL;DR
There’s a ton of guidance out there on the best ways to structure your homepage, ranging from short to long and with various levels of “flashy” things to hook your audience such as background video and widgets. However, you’ll be best served by focusing on the basics. For your audience, that means how you are uniquely positioned to help them sleep better at night.
