Ask a hundred people how to design a home page for maximum results and you’ll receive a hundred different ideas. And for good reason. When it comes to placing copy on a home page, there are many variables that makes one more successful than another. It depends on the industry. It depends on the focus. It depends on what you’re selling.
While there may be different many different approaches to creating copy for your home page, there are some general strategies that can help guide you through the process.
Start with your purpose.
What do you want your visitors to accomplish?
What information are they looking for when they visit your site?
When people visit a website, they have a goal in mind. It might be to find an answer to a question, or to learn more about a subject matter. It might be to confirm an opinion, or simply entertain. In any case, they are looking for something specific to meet their needs.
Studies show that overall, people have certain behaviors when visiting a site. Around 80 percent will scan a page, while a mere 16 percent will read it word for word. People judge a website by its looks, with people converting quicker if a site has a great page layout, and is structured in such a way that makes it easy to move around. Above all, people want concise information without all the marketing hype. The more honest and direct you are, the more they will trust you and move forward.
In order to give your reader what they really want, its important to do so in a manner that meets their expectations. Which in many cases means giving them choices. A good home page should be able to capture attention. The next step is where the action takes place.
Dig Deeper: 3 Simple Questions To Create Irresistible Copy On Your Website
Action can take the format of clicking to another landing page to learn even more. It may mean signing up for a free report or white paper, giving away an email address in return. It may mean clicking through and finalizing a purchase. In any case, its critical to understand what brought your visitor to your home page in the first place in order to determine what they will choose to do next.
Copy should not only answer questions, it should also address fears. It can do so through direct copy, and adding a few paragraphs of copy to back up your claims. Or it may be with easy to use navigation and simple claims such as “money back guarantee”. What means most
Copy is about persuasion. Your goal is to move a visitor into a potential customer, and from having potential to closing the sale. That may take a few minutes of reading, or it may take months of following. It depends on how aware a person is of your business and your product/service, and how comfortable they become that you are the solution provider.
It’s not about short or long copy. It’s about writing just enough to convert a first time looker into something more.
What is your copy saying about what you do?