Creating Your Home Page

By: Erin Ferree

Clients often look to us at elf design to provide them with ideas about what belongs on a simple home page. In response, we often direct them to several home pages that we have designed in the past, as well as some other samples, to help guide them and to begin our conversation about what to include on their home page.

A home page has three basic functions:
• To introduce the site's navigation, the basic links a user will click on to reach the pages in your site. These should stay consistent throughout the site.
• To be a "landing page", or the first page that appears when first time visitors visit! It's important to include a few basic sentences about who you are and what you do, so that they can see at a glance if they are in the right place.
• To allow frequent visitors to find out what's new on your site and in your business. If you have sections on your site that you update regularly (like articles or a portfolio), or if your business adds a new product or service, these updates should be featured on your site's main page. This makes it easy return visitors to learn about your new features.

Here are some examples of different home pages that demonstrate several approaches to home page design here:

www.thomasdugan.com: A good basic home page for a brochure website. The content of this website does not change often, so an "Updates" section is not necessary. This site is intended for new visitors and new business.

www.copykat.net/main.htm: Another basic home page-this page follows more of a "linking" model. This home page provides ways for you to delve deep into the site.

www.pilatesfamily.com: This home page offers some information about Pilates, the way that this particular business approaches teaching Pilates, and further extends the company's brand with a watermark of the logo.

www.fabulousentertainment.net: This site's home page explains the different categories of musicians and entertainment support that they represent. This is a great approach for a site where navigation links are nontraditional.

www.reillygrouptravel.com: This home page offers a basic description of services for first-time visitors, along with information about current travel programs that are being offered along the left-hand site. The current travel section is updated each season with new tour options.

www.menlodesigns.com: This home page, for a custom-built furniture company, is mainly a "display" model home page.

www.leadersearch.com: This home page highlights the 3 main service areas that this coaching company concentrates on. If you have multiple target audiences or offer several types of services, this is a good home page model.

www.bettytill.com: This is an example of a "long copy" home page. Recent data suggests that longer copy may be more successful in converting prospects to sales than shorter copy - so this may be worth experimenting with!

These basic home page types are examples of the choices that you have when designing your home page-each business's home page should be a unique reflection of your brand and business objectives. We're happy to talk with you about designing a better home page for your business, or designing a whole new website. Contact us and start the process!