Your website homepage should include specific content that’s helpful and generates leads quickly. Does your website homepage help people or deter them?
The website homepage for your business needs to answer four questions within a few quick seconds:
- What do you do?
- Who do you help?
- Why should someone trust you?
- What should they do next?
Most small-business websites fail during those critical first few seconds.
Even though a website homepage might look nice, maybe it’s not answering questions that visitors ask.
So, what are the website homepage elements every business should have?
A Clear Headline Above the Fold
This is the first thing people see without scrolling.
Avoid vague headlines like:
- Welcome to Our Website
- Innovative Solutions
- Beautiful and Functional
A website headline needs to clearly state:
- What you do
- Who you help
- Where you provide services (if local)
Get creative and write better headlines that are helpful.
Examples of better homepage headlines.
- Affordable Website Design for Northern Michigan Small Businesses
- Easy-to-Update Websites for Busy Small Business Owners
- Custom Ecommerce Websites to Sell Online 24/7
The goal is to make first-time website visitors understand your business and what you do.
People also need to know if you’re a local business near them.
Obvious Call-to-Action (CTA)
A good call-to-action tells your visitors what they should do next.
Don’t hide your CTA or make people hunt for it.
Examples of Good CTA Buttons
- Request a Free Quote
- Schedule a Consultation
- Email the Web Designer
- Get Free Google Business Profile Tips
- Start Shopping Our Products
A great website homepage is a map that helps guide visitors.
Your homepage should help them find their destination, whether it’s a CTA, specific service pages, or your shop area for buying online.
Mobile-Friendly Design
More and more visitors are coming to your website from their phones.
If your website loads slowly, makes people pinch and zoom, has tiny buttons, or feels cluttered on a small device, they will leave – quickly!
Plus, Google continues to favor mobile-friendly websites.
Make sure your buttons are thumb-friendly and your text is easy to read on small devices.
A mobile-friendly homepage should be easy to use with one thumb.
Have you checked yours recently?
Trust Signals – Reviews, Years in Business
People are getting more cautious as they browse online.
That means you’re dealing with visitors who tend to be very skeptical.
To build good trust signals, your homepage should quickly prove that you’re the real deal with real people, you have experience in your industry that can be trusted, and you are open for business.
What are some trust-building elements?
- Reviews and client testimonials
- Links to your Google reviews
- Years in business
- Certifications or memberships
- Real photos of the people behind your business
- Local community involvement
Trust matters more than flashy design and reduces any hesitation people might have for contacting you.
Use and Share REAL Photos
Stock photos hurt trust, especially if the first thing we see on your homepage is obviously a stock image.
This is not the place for a generic image or background.
So, what is the image at the very top of your landing page?
That first impression is important, especially when it’s the first time someone learns about you.
Swap out those stock photos for real images of your business, staff, products, and location.
Sharing real photos is especially critical for local businesses.
Your own photos help both conversions, plus Google AI understands your business better.
Add a Quick About Section
I keep reminding my clients during a website build that people hire people.
I always recommend adding a short section on the Home page that says who they are, why they started the business, and what makes them different from their competitors.
About sections should always be conversational and more human.
Because, people hire people.
Services or Product Overview
This is where understanding your Home page as a map is helpful.
You need to share what you do and send people on their way to learn more about your services or view products.
I like to design “launching blocks” for the most important services my client wants to get hired for.
If my client’s site is ecommerce, I add a block of most recent products and/or a block of featured products (determined by my client).
Creating launching points helps with SEO and tells Google’s AI more about your business.
Local SEO Signals
If you serve a local area, adding local SEO signals to your homepage will tell search engines exactly where you are located along with the communities you serve.
Your homepage should clearly mention city names, service areas, regions, and even landmarks.
Examples of Local SEO Signals:
- Serving Harbor Springs, Petoskey, Charlevoix, and Northern Michigan
- Located on the Beautiful Tunnel of Trees in Northern Michigan
In order for Google to rank your site local, your location has to be very clear.
Helpful Website Footer on Every Page
Surprisingly, lots of people scroll down to the footer of a website.
All those skeptical searchers need to know you’re credible before exploring further.
Provide a good footer with your contact info, social media links, services areas, and copyright information.
Plus, a good footer is valuable for SEO and usability.
SEO Foundations, Obviously!
Good SEO starts with your homepage structure.
What does that mean?
Your homepage has a proper page title, includes a meta description, is built with the right H1-H6 heading structure, has optimized images with ALT tags, and includes the right schema markup.
Every Website Homepage
The best homepages are clear, helpful, trustworthy, easy to use, and easy to understand.
Your website homepage is not just a piece of digital art.
It’s your first impression, and it’s your trust builder.
24 hours a day.
