We all have that favourite website, that we can’t help but claim a natural affinity to. Whether its because of a liking for the product that the website relates to or because of the website’s design and functionality itself, there is something that captivates us. From a design point of view, creating that perfect website is a real art form and one that requires a great deal of toing and froing.
There is arguably no part of a website more important than the homepage. It is the opening gambit for captivating users and often the most important page in terms of search engines, but what is it that makes a great website homepage?
Calls to Action
A great website homepage will encourage people to take action on your site and engage with your product. This doesn’t mean cramming the home page with hundreds of ‘BUY NOW’ buttons, but making relevant attempts to compel users to dig deeper into the site and product.
One site that displays a strong focus on calls to action is the Dropbox homepage which is concerned only with drawing people into the product. (Don’t forget to sign out for full effect)
Optimise for Mobile
With over 50% of searches now performed on mobile, designers and developers who are not thinking mobile first are certainly missing a trick. If a site looks bad on mobile and requires copious amounts of finger pinching, then it is an immediate turnoff for mobile users.
The Evernote site is a prime example of transforming a site for mobile, looking just as slick and crisp.
Clearly Answers Key Questions
When users enter a site, they are look for it to answer 3 questions: Who am I? What I do? What can the visitor do? Carefully written and well-positioned content will seek to answer these questions immediately for the user, and if they achieve this, they likely have a captivated visitor in their control.
eWedding’s site clearly answers the questions of its audience with pace, with visible information well positioned.
Knows Your Audience
We all want gazillions of visitors to see our beautiful website, but the truth is a few, well targeted visitors are of far more use to a brand. Thus, a strong website should know exactly who its targeting audience is and be designed to cater for them. Remember, one engaged user is better than a billion bored drifters.
The Gogoro site works well to entice its established audience with clever animation and interactivity. Be sure to visit the site for the full effect.
Intelligent Layout
User journey is a vital function in a successful website, and a confusing layout will see visitors bounce from the site in seconds flat. Designers need to carefully consider how their users will view the layout of a site on first glance and design around this experience.
The Whitehouse website is clever in presenting a lot of information in a clear, concise manner.
Websites are no longer pretty things found around the web, they are vital components of integrated marketing strategies and their design should consider each other element of these strategies, as well as representing their brand in strong fashion. Stick to these rules, and you won’t go far wrong.
To see how StrategiQ can help with your web design, get in contact today.
