Why your home page should be a summary of your entire site​​​​​​​​

Humans naturally tend to judge a book by its cover. It happens in a variety of situations in life and business. When it comes to your business and brand, you can (and should) mitigate this judgment because it can affect the growth of your business.

You can do this by making a great first impression in the online spaces where your audience connects with you: your social channels, emails, and website. First impressions can make or break your brand and your sales. And if there aren’t any sales coming through, that affects your income. 

For this post, we want to talk specifically about why your home page should summarize your entire site and what to include on it to make sure your audience is immediately impressed with your business, has the best website experience possible, and knows where to go next in the buyer’s journey. 

Why a great home page is essential

Your home page should look, feel, and sound great. Why? Because it’s the page that delivers important resources, reflects your branding, highlights your mission, and helps your audience move through to the next step. 

Your home page should be a summary of your entire site. But it’s not a dumping ground for any and all information. There is nuance to summarizing your brand and business in a way that doesn’t overwhelm your audience. Copywriting is definitely key, but so is design.

How to summarize your brand on your home page

People naturally fall off the further down they have to scroll – either because the content doesn’t speak to them or because they clicked to another page. Your home page should be clearly laid out with all of your brand’s important links, offer information, and the specific call to action you want people to take. 

So what information do you put on your home page?

Put important information first

Most people who land on your homepage are more than likely interested in working with you or what to learn more about your services –so we want to show them all you have to offer. But the further you have to scroll, the less likely people are to see the content.

Put your important information first. Usually, this includes a summary of your offer’s value proposition. How do you help your clients find transformation? Tell your audience why this transformation is important for them and how you provide it. 

Here’s an example of what we mean by putting important information first. 

If you want your audience to book a coaching call with you, we recommend highlighting your services –specifically, how-to book that coaching call—before introducing them to your template shop or blog. 

Pro tip: you can test this on your own website using HotJar to see the trajectory a website visitor takes on your website. It’s a super helpful tool with a free version, too!

Include social proof

We recommend putting social proof on your home page. Whether you’re a service provider or sell products, people want to know your offer has worked for others before investing in you. Prove that your value proposition is true. 

Include a selection of your best testimonials from previous clients and present them on your home page. 

Always use a call to action

Tell your audience what they need to do next to access their own transformation. Do they need to schedule a 1:1 coaching call with you? Do they need to buy your course? Do they need to hire your services for their next launch? Tell them!

Plug & Play With Sections Of Your Home Page

If you still aren’t sure what to include on your home page, here’s a simple layout you can follow:

1. Opening headline + subhead

Headlines pique curiosity enough to keep your visitor on the page and entice them to keep reading. If you need help writing a catchy headline, we have a blog post here all about it.

2. Freebie opt-in

Do you have a free resource you’re promoting or trying to build your email list? Include a banner opt-in or a section on how this resource will help them with a specific problem. You can always upsell later on with a sales email campaign. 

3. Connection points

What benefits will your visitor get when they work with you? What are their frustrations, and how can you help them?

4. Mini about section

Yes, this is an “about you” section, but really you want to focus specifically on how you solve problems for your clients and what sets you apart from the competition. Always tell your story with your potential client top of mind.

5. Where to go next

Always have a single, prominent call to action. Ask yourself, what is the number one thing I want my visitors to do when they arrive on my website? Help them do that by indicating clearly when and where they can take that next step.

6. Testimonials

As mentioned above, proving that your offer works is a sure-fire way to turn website visitors into raving clients. People love knowing that you’ve helped others find their desired transformation. You can also include examples of your work here!

7. Footer

Don’t underestimate a footer. It can reel in the visitors who haven’t found exactly what they were looking for on your home page and potentially were about to click off –until they glanced at your footer. Your footer can include navigation to main pages, contact information, social media icons, email sign-ups, search box, latest blog posts or articles, Etc. 

Always try to catch your website visitors before they leave and present them with what they are looking for!

Just remember to make your home page work for your brand. The outline above isn’t a black and white layout for your business website.  You could easily swap your mini about section for where to go next. If you aren’t prioritizing your email list, you could put your freebie in your footer, link to your portfolio, etc.

Your homepage can also include extras like highlighting blogs, media features, your mission, a Facebook community, podcast, etc.

The best rule of thumb we can give you is: if it’s important for your brand, you should highlight it on your homepage.

If you need help writing your home page, website, or any other copy for your business, contact us and find out how we can help you grow your brand!