I’ve seen a lot of websites, some good… some not so good! It’s amazing, in the digital world in which we live in, to see how many businesses that have websites where the home page is not inviting at all… matter of fact it’s telling people to “go away”! What does your home page say? We’ll talk about that is this week’s edition of Manic Marketing Monday.

In the realm of digital marketing, nothing is as important as your website. It’s important to have quick and relevant information for your potential clients, a clean, simple layout, and a visible avenue for them to contact you. But if your homepage isn’t a welcoming front door, a browser won’t go very far. Hey remember folks, this is America… our attention span maxes out at about 15 min. And when it comes to checking out websites… potential customers/clients will make their decision whether or not to stay longer in about 5 seconds. If your home page isn’t welcoming, they’ll simply move on.

As entrepreneur.com wrote: “It’s apt that we refer to the main page of a website as home, because that word evokes warmth and belonging.” It’s that feeling that should come to the forefront of decision-making in the early stages of designing a website. We would want clients to feel welcome if they walked into our office, we should think of our website as an extension of our office – an extension of what we do & how we do it. Our website’s home page should be the front door, one that is welcoming and says to browsers: “Welcome, thanks for stopping by! Hang around and take a look!”

Sometimes we can’t tell if our home page is welcoming or not, we’ve looked at it way too long. If so, ask someone for an unbiased assessment. Ask them if your home page makes them want to look further. If the answer is: “Uh… well… not… really??” Then maybe it’s time to put out a new welcome mat!

scottJ

owner/artist Brown Cow Design