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Alesco Marketing
Doug Williams

How to Write a Killer Home Page

Your home page is the single most important landing page on your site. If it has a weak message, loads too slowly or is poorly organized, your visitors will just leave. You have less than 3 seconds to engage a prospect. Your home page is where you convince arriving visitors that you have what they are seeking.

Broadband connections may be getting faster but visitor attention spans are getting shorter.

  1. Load time: A 2009 study by Forrester shows 47% of consumers expect a Web page to load in 2 seconds or less. 40% of consumers would leave if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Slow load times can be caused by invalid code, media heavy pages, improper use of widgets/scripts or slow hosting.
  2. Simplicity: An ornate design will hide your message and it slows your web page load time. A talented designer may want to show off their skill, but message clarity is more important in making the sale. You do need a professional look and feel with clear navigation.
  3. First Impression: Place your important information and your call to action clearly "above the fold." This is what your visitors see without scrolling. Start with a clear page headline because everyone reads them. Entice the visitor to read further into the body text. Your layout should take advantage of eye scanning patterns.
  4. Message: Your headline should grab your reader's attention and the body text should stimulate interest and assure your reader they are in the right place. Are you clearly addressing the "burning question" that your ideal buyer will have? Write in a customer focused style.
  5. Navigation: Is your navigation clear and easy to understand? This is not a place to use creative wording. You want instant understanding to encourage visitors to move around your site. Arrange your navigation to form your ideal selling sequence.

Start by Asking Questions

Your website should answer your visitor's questions and solve their most urgent problem or need. Writing web content is the most time consuming part of creating your website. There is an easier way. I call it the questions method for writing web content.

If you develop questions and then answer them, it makes writing web page content much easier. I don't mean having your website look one continuous FAQ page. I mean weaving together your answers into an interesting story.

Purpose: Start with the reason you are creating your website. What is the purpose for your website? Are there specific products or services you want to promote? What action do you want visitors to take? This could be to buy, sign-up, request a quote, or call.

Problem: What is the problem your visitors are trying to solve? What questions do they need answered before they decide to buy? What is your best selling sequence? Use this to plan your site map and the order of your navigation.

Home Page: You will want to use your most important keywords on this page. What is your value proposition? Use this in your page headline. If I came to this site, what would I most want to know or find out? What advantages do you offer over your competition? How is what you offer better? How will what you offer benefit your customer? What makes your service convenient to use (faster, easier)?

ABC Text: What are the ADVANTAGES, BENEFITS, and CONVENIECES of using your product or service? This is the heart of what a home page needs to say. Advantages are why you are better than your competition. Benefits are what a visitor will experience by using your product or company. Conveniences are how you make life easier for your customer with speed of service, quality and great customer service.

The question that a visitor asks is what can you do for me that your competition won't? Remember write about how you can help your customer and not so much about your company.

Call to Action: You should place action words somewhere prominent. Use words such as CALL NOW, Request for a FREE Quote, Talk with our experts now! Using short phrases with an immediate word encourages the visitor to make a quicker decision. Figure out what you want from the customer and encourage them to do it!

Format: When writing, make your content scannable and concise. Brevity and clarity are important. Write as if you were answering someone's questions on the phone. Use simple words and write with shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs.

A well written home page greets a visitor with solutions to their problem. It is organized to be quickly scanned. It shows how you are different and why your solutions are the best.