A website home page is the face of a company. It’s your first impression and sometimes your only chance to grab attention, build trust, and guide your target audience to take action. A combination of design, SEO, and branding will give your target audience and search engines a positive experience that keeps them coming back for more. 

So, what makes a home page design perfect? Let’s break it down, section by section.

What is the Purpose of Your Website Home Page?

Your home page is like a tasting room – you’re offering samples of everything you do and offer with the intention of enticing visitors to take the next step. It introduces your differentiators, services, about page, free offers, content, and how to connect with you. Then, each section on your home page links to different pages with more complete content about that topic. It’s the beginning of a journey your potential client will take to working with you!

Psychology Behind the Home Page

First impressions happen in milliseconds. Your home page should make people feel comfortable, confident, and understood. That’s achieved through a combination of branding, copywriting, and design. It all works together to provide a positive experience for your audience.

Keep in mind that most users will scan the page, not read every single word. While copywriting is hugely important, the design will keep people engaged. Design your website home page with skimmability in mind. Use headlines, subheadings, and a visual hierarchy to portray the most important information front and center. 

The simpler and more intuitive the experience is, the more likely users will stay and explore other pages on your website. The longer they explore, the more likely they are to inquire!

Picking a Website Platform

Which website platform is best for your business? My preferred platform is Showit. I love the design and customization capabilities it offers. Of all the web design platforms I’ve tried, Showit has the most versatile design features without requiring coding knowledge. It’s the platform I recommend to all my clients! And before you ask if Showit is good for SEO, the answer is yes!

The Perfect Home Page Design and Layout

As a web designer, I’ve researched and designed many websites for various clients. I’ve seen some horribly designed websites that make me immediately exit the page and others that are beautifully designed to make me want to continue learning more about the company. From this research and experience, I’ve created a method for creating the perfect home page design. 

Powerful Headline

Your headline is one of the first things people see when they click on your website’s home page. It needs to be a clear position statement that grabs attention immediately. Your headline is also your H1 tag, which signals to search engines that this is what the page is about, so it needs to have a keyword in it. 

Under that, give a brief 1-2 sentence description of who you are, what you do, and who you serve. It’s important that this section is above the fold for SEO. Again, search engines read the page like humans do. This will probably be the second thing users and search engines see, so it’s important to tell them right off the bat what you’re all about.

Brand Positioning Statement

Next, give your unique value proposition. Why would someone want to work with you over a competitor? Share what makes you different! This is a simple statement, but it should be designed to grab attention as someone scrolls down your website’s home page.

About You

Introduce yourself! Include a headshot and a brief description of who you are. It only needs to be a few sentences because you will provide a CTA button that leads them to your About page to learn more about you.

Introduce Services

Next, show them how they can work with you. Display your services and give a CTA button to your services page so they can learn more. Again, this is just an introduction to what you can offer, so you don’t have to go super in-depth about each service. You’re just giving them a taste of what you can do for them!

Social Proof

Social proof is so important on a home page. Anyone can create a home page and say they’re an expert. Social proof will back up that claim. Build trust with your audience by providing testimonials, portfolio work, statistics, and reviews on your home page design. 

Free Offer

Give them a little taste of your style! Provide a freebie for them to stay connected with you. Most people need to be nurtured a little before hiring you for your main services. Your email list is the perfect place to do this! Offer a free template, PDF, ebook, demo, list, or video to engage them with your brand.

P.S. Download my free website planner to help you plan your website strategically and for conversion!

Call-to-Action (CTA)

The last thing on your website home page is your main call to action. This is the step of working with you. Most service providers will link to their services page or contact page. It’s like saying, “Okay, you’ve seen everything I can do. This is the next step.” You’re helping them along the customer journey. 

The CTA section is an engaging headline with a 1-2 sentence explanation and a button. Consider what you want them to do next after exploring your home page. That’s your final CTA! 

P.S. You should have CTA buttons in every section I mentioned so someone can learn more! Remember, these sections on your website home page are just a taste, and the button takes them to a page where they can get all the details.

Other Things to Consider

What else makes a home page design perfect? You need high-quality brand photography and clear navigation menus.

High-Quality Brand Photography

Your website home page should be filled with beautiful brand photos! Whether they’re pictures of you or branded stock images, they should be crystal clear and seamlessly integrated with your home page design.

From an SEO standpoint, the image file sizes shouldn’t be too big because that will cause your website to load slower. Run each image through Tinify before you upload it to your website. This tool reduces the file size without sacrificing quality. It’s one of my go-to tools!

Clear Header and Footer

Your main menu navigation and footer should be simple and easy to navigate. The names of links aren’t clever or funny, but simple and easy to understand. These are the links that should be in each menu, if applicable.

Main Website Navigation Menu:

• Home (optional if your logo links to your home page)
• About
• Services (optional to add dropdowns for specific service pages)
• Portfolio or case studies
• Blog
• Contact

Footer – all of the above, plus:

• FAQs
• Privacy policy
• Terms of service
• Resources
• Freebies
• Social media links
• Newsletter signup
• Press page
• Credit for copywriting, photos, or web design
• Student login portal

Double-check all the links in your nav menus to ensure they are correct. Nothing is worse than landing on the wrong page or getting a 404 error!

Mobile Optimization Matters More Than Ever

More than half of users perform searches on mobile. Your home page design needs to be just as beautiful and optimized for mobile as for desktop. It will look slightly different due to screen sizes, but it should give the same experience whether someone explores your website on mobile or desktop.

Test your mobile website home page for thumb-friendly navigation, fast loading speed, and readable font sizes. Also, consider how CTAs and forms look. Most website platforms offer a mobile preview and editing functionality so you can make sure the page works well before you publish it.

SEO Considerations

The foundations of your SEO strategy start with your website’s home page. This will probably be one of your highest-ranking pages and bring in the most traffic, so make sure it is optimized well!

Keywords

It should be optimized for your most important and relevant keywords. It’s usually some variation of what you do. If you’re a blog writer, you’ll probably want to optimize for a keyword like blog writing or blog writer. If you’re a wedding photographer, your keyword will be something like wedding photographer in [city] or boho wedding photographer. See what I mean? It’s the primary keyword you want to rank for.

Once you choose your primary keyword, include it naturally throughout the page. At a minimum, it should be in these places:

• Headline
• A few subheadings
• Body copy
• SEO metadata

Internal Links

I already talked about how important CTAs are on your home page, but it’s not just for the user experience. Internal links help search engines understand your website’s structure. It discovers other pages on your website when you include internal links.

Branding and Emotional Connection

A well-designed home page reflects your brand voice and personality. It should feel like you. When you get on a discovery call with someone, they should feel like they already know you from reading your website. That’s how personal and relatable your website should be!

Colors, fonts, imagery, and copy all work together to build trust and relatability. Branding is all about eliciting an emotion in your target audience. People don’t buy services – they buy the feeling behind them.

Test, Refine, Repeat

No one’s website is perfect. Even the most popular and successful entrepreneurs are constantly making tweaks to their websites, even if they aren’t super obvious to you. A simple backend edit could make a big difference in SEO, user experience, or conversions. Check Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or an SEO tool like Ubersuggest to see how much traffic your home page brings in and the conversion rate.

Create Your Perfect Website Home Page

You are now fully equipped to start designing your perfect home page design! I know it can feel a little overwhelming. Your home page is a big deal for user experience and search engine optimization. Take time to consider the user journey and what someone needs to know about your business right away. Optimize the page for your most important keywords and review analytics to make sure you’re attracting the right audience.

I’m always here to help! My web design, branding, and SEO services allow you to show up online with a brand identity representing you and your value. Schedule a discovery call with me to learn more about how we can work together!