The 10 best techniques to make your website homepage standout

By Kylie Harcourt, Jul 21 2021

They say first impressions last. But in this digital age, that first impression isn’t necessarily going to be of you. Rather, it’s going to be of your business website. So what does your website say about you? And how can you ensure it stands out from the competition.

Here are our top 10 techniques to help ensure your website homepage makes that all important first impression.

1. Employ a website designer

When it comes to creating your website, there are a few different options available to you. The DIY options have increased, with Square Space and Wix options. While these may save you money, it won’t necessary save you time.

Website design is an art form and just as you would invest in an original for your art collection, so too must you invest in a website. A good designer will know what design components help make a website homepage standout. These will include clear, concise design elements that depict your brand and business, welcome visitors and are easy to navigate.

2. Give your customers direction

Have you ever driven round and round a roundabout wondering which exit to take? Or maybe you’ve walked up the street, rather than down it, when you’re meant to be meeting a friend in the middle. There is nothing worse than getting lost, except, perhaps, not being able to find something when you know it’s there.

Websites help generate sales leads and this starts from your homepage. Therefore, make sure your page is easy to navigate. Visitors to your site must be able to find everything they are looking for – and more – with ease. Ensure your homepage follows a logical design and includes key links that prospective customers are in search of. If they can’t find it, they’ll go elsewhere.

3. Write attention-grabbing headlines

Remember, the key purpose of your website’s homepage is to make a good first impression and to draw prospective customers in. An easy and effective way to do this is with attention-grabbing headlines. But they must be done – and used – correctly.

Whatever your headline says, deliver on it. While you can have fun with headlines, making a play on words for example, if visitors can’t find the promise that you’ve made to them in the headline, they’ll begin to lose trust. Effective headlines are short, simple, clear, succinct and honest.

4. Craft clever content

Content isn’t just reserved for the body of your website, it plays an important role on your homepage too. While your headline may be big and bold to draw your visitors in, your content is what keeps them there.

Use content to really showcase your business. Let your organisation’s personality shine through, show visitors you’re unique and assure them that what you’re offering is something they simply can’t do without. Talk to them, offer them guidance, advice and support, and let them know they’ve come to the right place. You don’t need to have a lot of content on your homepage, in fact it’s advisable that you don’t as it can be overwhelming, but rather go for quality over quantity.

5. Choose pictures for a purpose

It’s said a picture paints a thousand words. Well, it’s true! An image on your website can speak to people without you needing to say anything. Before they’ve even seen the headline or read any of your well-written content, they can be drawn in, or turned away, by the image on your homepage.

This means there’s a lot riding on your images, so choose them carefully. Are they depicting what you want people to think about your business? Are they doing the talking for you? Sliding banners allow for more than one image on your homepage. It also provides that extra dynamic of having movement. At the end of the day, images are an essential component of any standout homepage.

6. Show off your credentials

Chances are you’re not alone in what you do. You’ve got competition out there, which is why you want to ensure your homepage stands out. When a prospective customer visits your homepage, they’re looking for two main things:

1. Do you have what they’re looking for?
2. Do you have the credentials to provide it at the quality they want?

Your website homepage is one of your greatest sales tools, so sell yourself. Have you won any awards or been nominated for some? Put that on your homepage. Are you a member of a professional association or body that has kudos in the industry? Put those logos on your homepage. It’s ok to brag about your success. In fact, it’s essential you do as not only does it help make your homepage stand out, it shows your visitors you and your business are good at what you do!

7. Include testimonials

Just as visitors want to know whether or not you have the credentials to deliver on a service or product, they also want to know if your previous customers have been happy with your work. The way to get this across on your homepage is via a testimonial – or three. Ask some of your happy customers to write a testimonial for you. Often, a sentence or two is enough for prospective customers to be assured you know what you’re doing.

Having testimonials is the first step. Just as important is making sure they’re easy to read on your homepage. Don’t let them get lost in fancy design or fonts. They don’t need it because the words will speak for themselves.

8. Make your Call-to-Action buttons prominent

So, a visitor has landed on your website homepage. What next? You want them to act. But, don’t wait for them to do so, give them a gentle push. You can do this with a Call-to-Action button.

A Call-to Action button is how you can generate quality marketing leads to your business. By providing an incentive, whether that be in the form of an offer or a competition entry, or encouraging your visitor to take that next step by registering their details with you, call-to-actions make a difference.

However, for them to be as effective as possible, your call-to-action needs to sit prominently on your website homepage, stand out in terms of design, and state clearly what its purpose is.

9. Share your social media icons

Your website homepage may be a prospective customer’s first point of call, but if you’ve invested time and money into it, you don’t want to be changing it all the time. The good news is you don’t have to. That’s the role of your social media channels instead.

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram accounts (just to name a few) play a huge role in enabling you to interact with your customers in real time. So make it easy for them to follow you. Place your social media icons in a prominent position on your homepage.

Include a link to your blog as well. This is another way your customers can keep up to date with what your business is doing.

10. USPs

All of the elements listed above work together to help your website homepage stand out from the crowd. But how does your business stand out from the crowd? What are your unique selling points (USPs)? What makes you different from your competition? And not only different, but better?

Include a short bullet point list (perhaps five or six, maximum 10) of your USPs on your homepage. Don’t bury them in the ‘About Us’ section of your website, shout them from the rooftops on your front page! Make mention of your services or products, awards and credentials, your team, and even things like your easy to find location, car parking availability and late opening hours.

Bullet point lists are easy to scan and are often what people gravitate to when they’re doing an initial skim through your website, so make sure your USPs showcase your point of difference.

At HGB we live and breathe these fundamentals of account management here in Hamilton. If you’re looking for a marketing consultancy partner that will put your success ahead of their own, click on the link below to see what services HGB can provide for you.

While the world of websites has changed since HGB’s inception in 2013, the fundamentals remain the same. We’ve updated this blog to reflect some of these changes.