Writing the Best Home Page Possible
Home Page Copywriting Tips

Writing good home page copy for your website is one of the most challenging writing jobs there is.  A good home page has a number of jobs that it needs to perform for itself, plus it needs to be an effective gateway to the rest of the content in your website.

Here are several ideas and tips that should help.

You need a great headline.

The headline on your home page in <h1> tags or in a larger font size and bold like this page needs to capture and convey the value proposition or "unique selling proposition" of your website.  A website home page, regardless of the quality of the other content in your website, will invariably be the most visited direct landing page from organic search.

When visitors first come to your website they are looking for something and have a purpose in visiting and you need to communicate with a high degree of clarity what your website is about and what you can do to help them find what they are looking for.

The focus of your headline and the explanation of your value proposition or unique selling proposition should be directed to your visitors' interests.  It should not be all about you.  It should be about what they are looking for.

Write a scanner stopper headline.  Get them to read what else you have to say.

Give them something quick & easy to read & think about.

A good sub-headline or very short one or two sentence paragraph needs to support your headline and expand on your unique value or selling proposition.  Keep it quick and simple.

Most website visitors are not readers, they are scanners, at least at first.  You need to capture their attention and lead them in to what else you have to say.

The eye path of scanners shows that top left is a key area of your page.  Don't make them wander across the page to find your important message.  For more information about scanning and usability, visit Jakob Nielsen's website, www.useit.com.

You only have a few seconds to reel them in.  Your headline and supporting sub need to be compelling and to the point.  Want to know more about copywriting for the web?  Read my page about web copywriting basics.

You have their attention!  Now what?

Make it very easy and obvious to lead your visitors to the two or three or four most important pages in your website.

Don't make them study your navigation, like the extensive navigation on my website here.  Give them some keyword rich anchor text hyperlinks in several short and informative paragraphs of copy about the most important things you do.

Don't make them hunt for what it is you want them to know about you.  Feature the links that help the majority of your visitors understand what you do and how you can help them.

Credibility is crucial, absolutely crucial.

How many websites have you visited where a quick look around gives you no idea who the website belongs to, where are they located, can you call them on the telephone?

The answer is way too many.

There are a lot of great people doing business on the Internet, and there are a lot of ghosts with websites as well.  Read this page in my website about website credibility and the study done at Stanford University several years ago that is even more important today than it was in 2002.

Website visitors need to know in very short order that you are for real and that they have more reasons to trust you than not.

Put your company name, address, phone, FAX, on every page in the website, which is not only good for credibility but is also good for local search rankings.

If you have credentials, certifications, a BBB membership, testimonials from real people, make those obvious in the peripheral areas of your pages.

Keep the tone of your headline, sub-head and page copy hype free and informative.  Write from your heart, like you would explain what you do in your business, service or quest to your best friend over a cup of coffee.  Honest to the bone well written copy is rare.  When you write this way, it WILL make a difference.

Picking a home page target for organic search.

For some websites, this can be a challenge.  Will your home page have an opportunity to achieve top rankings on Google?

The only good way to answer this question is to do some brainstorming on targets accompanied by search phrase research.  Read my page about keyword services.

Being helpful to your website visitor and leading them into the most important content in your website is the first priority of a home page in my opinion.  If you can get a top ranking for your home page as well, this is a big bonus.  But, it is not always possible.  And, it is not crucial to your success.

The most important point to understand about organic rankings is that you can write as many pages as you want about relevant topics for your website and each and every one of those pages has an opportunity to earn a ranking for the target of choice.  One page, one subject.  New subject?  Write another page.  That is how I have built my website to over 250 pages in the Google index, almost all of which have a first page ranking for something relevant to what I want to do with my website in attracting visitors who may be interested in my services.

For your home page, you need to help your visitors understand quickly what your website is about, make it easy for them to find what they are looking for, and to make them comfortable that they can have confidence in you as a legitimate person with an honorable business that can help them meet their needs and achieve their goals.

The Value of First Impressions

First impressions are very important, and in the case of your website home page, gone in 60 seconds is wishful thinking.

Gone in 10 seconds is more likely unless you give them a good reason to read more and explore.

Need help with your home page?  Please contact me for assistance, thanks.

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