Your homepage is your company’s business card, a critical element to showcase your brand. If visitors don’t engage immediately with your homepage, you’ll likely lose them forever. In fact, research shows 47% of visitors leave a website after viewing just one page.
To create a click-worthy homepage, you must provide the right atmosphere. Both the design and the text must capture your visitor’s attention, and make them feel “at home” by addressing their pain and happiness points. They must connect with your messaging.
You must start with a large “hero” image, blocks of features/benefits text, contact information, a subscribe form, testimonials and buttons with the “call to action” — book an appointment, reserve a space, buy the product.
Focus on your key messages:
Your homepage must clearly explain your offerings — and who they benefit. This is critical to engaging your visitors. To assess your current homepage, ask yourself:
Will your visitor easily understand your business?
Will they quickly grasp your offerings? Your copy, graphics and overall homepage layout must work together to showcase your company and what it offers. Visitors must immediately see the value and benefits of your services or products — and how to take action.
A best practice in homepage development is to get feedback:
Show your design (with text) to people who represent your target audience — friends, family. Ask for an honest appraisal, then make adjustments that make sense. Let them see the result, and work from there. You want to get this right.
Will your visitor easily find your website?
You must use the right keywords that will draw visitors to your homepage, which is an essential part of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Keywords not only improve your results when a visitor searches for “sleep apnea testing” or “sleep apnea treatment” — but will also help engage your website visitors.
When using these types of keywords, you will help visitors connect with your services/products, so they will more easily see the value and benefits your company offers.
You might serve more than one audience, which is fine. Perhaps you provide sleep apnea testing for those who aren’t yet diagnosed; they only know they have some symptoms. You might also provide treatment for those who are diagnosed. Or perhaps you serve visitors with either obstructive sleep apnea or central sleep apnea.
Many companies address more than one audience on their websites. Just make sure you communicate to each one separately. Welcome both audiences, and address their needs in separate text blocks — with links to website pages dedicated to their specific needs.
Put essential information up front
If your company has a physical location, the address and hours details must be easy to find. This should appear on every website page, in the footer. Or set it apart so that it’s very obvious. Create a Google My Business profile that contains this information, too.
Even if your company is an e-commerce operation, your homepage must have a simple contact form, email address, phone number, or social media link. You might also include a signup form to prompt visitors to leave their contact details — to receive blogs, updates, deals and other valuable messages. It’s a good way to build relationships with prospects.
Feature your favourites:
Showcase popular products or website pages on your homepage. Include testimonials that help build trust and reputation. If you’ve won awards recently, post that in a banner – with pics – on your homepage. Update your homepage frequently with these highlights, all to encourage visitors to keep exploring your website and buying your products.
Create an easy-to-follow path:
Make it easy for users to navigate to what they’re looking for from your homepage. A centrally located navigation menu — with links to key website pages — will make it simple for people to find their way around quickly.
Keep the design simple:
While your homepage must accomplish many things, it must be visually as uncluttered as possible. You can’t overwhelm visitors with lots of text, colors, animations. Keep it simple yet powerful, culling all but the necessary elements that best sell your services/products.
If your practice would benefit from a Homepage Makeover, we can help.
Somnowell Marketing has a team in place to create a homepage that will attract and convert prospective patients. Our professional team of writers, designers and social media experts has worked with Sleep Industry companies like yours that need content. We know all the design and social media best practices, and can ensure your homepage draws, engages and converts visitors — to meet your goals and build your business.
