Homepage design: What should I say to sell my services?

The home page is the most important part of your website. It’s where most of your prospects will land, and, with the 3 to 10-second attention spans the average person has online, you’ve got to grab their attention fast. 

So how should you go about homepage design or redesign? All it takes is some website content strategy. Let’s walk through our five top tips.

One: Lead with a clear message. 

Start your homepage design with a “hero” message that clearly states what you do. Clarity helps prospects grasp exactly what your business is about — if they don’t understand, they’ll bounce. 

If your favorite headline is a little poetic or clever, make sure the copy that supports it is crystal clear. What you want is quick understanding with a bit of personality. Follow the main message with a call to action linking to your contact page. Why wait? A strong main message can be all it takes to convince a prospect to contact you.

Two: Highlight your services

Provide a bit of detail about the kinds of services you offer. If you have a large menu of services, content bucketing helps.  For instance, a yoga teacher might organize their offerings into: Classes, Group Training, and Personal Training. 

Bucketing gives your audience a high-level understanding of your services so they can quickly scan the page and see if you offer what they’re looking for.

Three: Say why choose you

Why should your prospects choose you over your competitors? Take some time to think about what makes your services so special, and work that into your homepage design. Your goal is to spin your offer as better — and provide reasons that your audience cares about. Ask yourself:

  • Is it your years of experience or a well-qualified team? 

  • Is it your speed, flexibility, pricing, or the results you get? 

  • Is your approach unique or more convenient to a prospect’s lifestyle? 

Take a look at your competitors before jotting down your answers. Hone in on the way you are different or better, and shout it from the rooftops on your home page. 

Four: Share your Success!

Have you gotten great results or praise? Include evidence of your success on your home page. Once people understand what you do, the next thought is “can this help me?” 

If you provide weight loss or life coaching services, sharing successes may come easily to you. But sharing success can work for any business if you give it some thought. Housekeeping businesses free up time for the chronically busy. Accountants save countless dollars and stress. Dog walkers ease guilt by taking busy owners' pets out to play.

Communicate successes in the form of a testimonial — or in the form of stats, like; “Saved our clients an average of $XX tax dollars.” You can even make mini-case studies.

Five: Always end with a way to make contact 

At the end of any website page, be sure to show a way to contact you. Never take chances with fickle online attention spans. Scrolling back to the top is just work. 

Some users are used to scrolling to the end. Others have engaged with what you had to say. Reward them by making that contact button as convenient to hit as possible. You gave visitors an easy call to action at the top of the page, but if they weren’t ready, no problem. By the bottom, they’ve seen your argument and may be ready to reach out. 

Could my home page be my only page?

Yes! For some businesses, a thoughtfully done home page may be all you really need. We’ve created a website design course that teaches service-based business owners how to do it.

We call it the One-page Website course, and we often recommend this one-page strategy to new businesses who don’t have a lot of content but want to look good online. It’s never too soon to get a digital “salesperson” online, putting you in the best light 24/7. Thinking through your content is one of the best steps you can take to get a great site up.

Go DIY and get your new site up in one day

If you’re ready to get a site online or redesign your current site, our One Page Website is the perfect solution to incorporate strategy and design into a one-page site that converts. 

The course costs just $97 (but now through Dec. 31, 2020 you can save 30% with code HOLIDAY) — either way, it’s a steal; and if you really clear the decks and concentrate, you can get your new site up in just one day. 

If you approached an agency offering web design services to do this work for you from scratch, you’d need a budget like this:

Copywriting ……………......… $1,500

Design………………..…………....$4,000

Development………….……....$2,500

Project Management ……...$1,500

Total Value …………...……...$9,500

But we’ve packaged up strategies that really work for small businesses so you can save money by going DIY. You’ll learn the website content strategy and design techniques you need go get a One-page Website live on Squarespace. The class includes: 

  • Step-by-step instructions to draft your home page content structure

  • How to write your own web copy

  • How to find and create your visual assets 

  • 15 font styles and settings ready to plug-and-play 

  • 18 color palettes and settings ready to mix-and-match

  • Step-by-step instructions on how to put it all together on Squarespace 

  • How to launch it to the world!

Intrigued? It’s easy to learn more and get the course here.

 
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