A website home page is like your online store front: its appearance will dictate how customers view your business. If you want them to have a favorable view of your company, then you’d better include these six features:
Mobile optimization
This absolutely has to be No. 1 on the list, because mobile is now responsible for over 60 percent of all web traffic worldwide. Obviously, your entire site has to be optimized, but that includes your home page. If a mobile visitor arrives at your home page and discovers it’s not optimized, they’re unlikely to stick around. Your site will be too much of a hassle to deal with. And if you think they’ll just come back to your site once they’re at a computer, keep dreaming.
If your site it’s properly optimized for every type of device (PC, tablet and smartphone), you’re going to end up repelling many visitors. And really, in 2015, there’s no excuse for a website not being mobile-ready.
A “Contact Us” link
In actuality, every page on your site should have a link that allows the visitor to get in touch. Here at Rhino, we believe it’s very important that the visitor never has any confusion about how to reach your business. Make it abundantly clear how they can contact you, so you never miss out on a possible lead.
Testimonials or case studies
Depending on how long you’ve been in business, you may not have access to many testimonials, but they are a very effective sales tool. Consumers trust the advice of other customers because they believe them to be impartial; the customer giving their testimonial paid for your products/services and was pleased, so therefore they must be good.
Brief description of services
Just like getting in touch, you never want a customer to be confused about what your company actually does. You don’t need to include your corporate history, but a short blurb about your business’ specialty is a good idea. Who knows: it might help you turn an accidental visitor into a customer.
The ability to pass the “blink test”
If you’re not familiar with this insidious theory, allow me to enlighten you. According to HubSpot, the “blink test” refers to the first 3-5 seconds a visitor is on your site. Within those precious first few seconds, they decide if they’re going to stick around and look around the site, or bail and do something else.
So how can you improve your performance in this test? Ensuring your site loads quickly is one way. In today’s world of broadband internet speeds, no one is going to wait around for a slow-loading page.
Striking images
It’s also common practice for companies to place vibrant images on their homepage, to provide some aesthetic value. If you’d like to do this, HubSpot advises you to select images that speak to what your company does or the products/services it provides. You’re discouraged from using cheesy, unrelated stock images that have little or nothing to do with your business. Those sort of images may just confuse or annoy your visitors, and they certainly don’t provide any helpful information.
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