It's Not All About The Home Page

I was recently reflecting on the key principles of good web design and it struck me that a lot of our conversations with clients end up talking about their Home Page.

Don't get me wrong, it's always great to have interaction and engagement with a client about their website, however, do we need to give the Home Page such a prominent role?

• Unfortunately, like most things in life, the answer lies somewhere in between...

Yes - your Home Page is a very important aspect of your website as it can sometimes be viewed as the "front door" to your business online. If you are engaged in any offline promotion you are probably promoting your main web address. Customers and people who “know” your firm will also tend to remember your home page or at least search for your name online. So if definitely pays to make sure your home page lives up to expectations.

• However… what about all those people who don’t know your company? Maybe they haven’t even heard your name, never mind perform a search for your company name. How are you expecting them to find out how great you are and to do business with you?

If you are employing a content strategy (and if you aren’t, please talk to us about starting one today!), have you thought through the fact that your target audience ‘should’ be finding your content because it addresses the pains and challenges they are suffering, rather than your content simply promoting your company and/or a range of services?

• Trying to ‘attract’ potential new customers and clients to your website because you have content which interests them means that when they arrive on your website they will most probably be arriving there - to continue the ‘front door’ analogy - through the windows, the side door, the back door, perhaps even down the chimney - not the Home Page!

These visitors, these potentially valuable customers, will be arriving because they think you have something interesting for them to find out or learn. They are there because you have some knowledge they want to consume.

With this in mind, take a big step back and now look at your website design and ask yourself the question that if someone arrives on your news section to read a blog about something interesting you have written about - what will help them to make that transition to do business with you?

• Are you offering them more advanced / detailed content in the form of a Whitepaper or eBook?
• Have you designed a smart journey for them to follow as they travel through the Buyer’s Journey (i.e. Awareness Stage, Consideration Stage & Decision Stage) whilst educating them along the way?
• Do you have Calls to Action to entice them to get in touch and/or to download your advanced content or have you simply got a news item on your website and it just ends... and that's it?
• Have you designed a Smart website which will change to present only ‘relevant’ and ‘related’ information to specific visitors who come back for a second time?
• Do you have a range of different types of content matched to each stage of the Buyer’s Journey?
• Have you signed off your content with a short author bio and invited them get in touch if they have any questions and/or offer them something to read, download or buy?

With the right content strategy in place you can begin to grow traffic to your website because we all know that:

1. the more traffic to your website the more the chance of generating leads; and
2. the more leads received from your website, the more potential there is to win more clients and customers.

As mentioned previously, with more relevant content on your website your visitors should be arriving at this content because it interests and helps them, so now you need to use your:

1. Social Media posts to be promote this content - not just your home page
2. Email Newsletters to promote specific pieces of content - not just your home page
3. SEO to entice more organic traffic to your content - not just your home page
4. Online ads to promote much more relevant content - not just your home page

As you can see, the sum of the parts is beginning to build and the first signs of a ‘lead generation engine’ is beginning to show. With the right content coupled with the right methods of content promotion, your website will start to attract relevant visitors to consume this content - not just your home page. The more you do this, the more traffic you will start to build, the more leads you will start to generate and the more clients and customers you will start to win!

SO… in summary, don’t expend all your energy worrying about how good your home page looks. Spare a thought for some interesting content and how you will draft it and promote it in order to generate leads and win new customers.

• Get this right and your online marketing will be well on its way to generating a return!

If you would like to find out more about how we use this very same strategy to generate business for Enlighten IC, please get in touch to Schedule A Quick Call. Alternatively, you may wish to download a copy of our guide to “Designing A Website To Win New Clients” packed full with lots of useful hints and tips on getting your website strategy right.