I can’t tell you how many home pages we look at that are aesthetically pleasing but are not effectively drawing in new leads or getting customers to return.
The most basic concept that is missed is that you want this page to effectively show up in the search engines. So the keywords and description associated with the home page are the most important ones on your whole site. The other key area is the content on the page itself. A lot of pages have really nice pictures with no searchable content. Often times these pictures do not have a description that can be accessed by the search engines to evaluate the relevance of your site. Remember if your customers cannot find you they will not buy from you.
Excluding the search aspects and looking at the home page itself it is important to remember that the home page is often times the point where your potential customers bounce off to another site, decide to stay and find out more, or best case scenario call and/or come into your store.
The home page has just a few seconds in which to communicate the correct information to gain the customers attention. It is important that your page does the following things quickly and effectively:
1) Say what you do and more importantly why you are better.
2) Provide an effective call to action.
3) Make it easy for people to find you or contact you. This I must admit is one of my pet peeves. More than once I have been interested in buying something from a company and can’t figure out how to contact them or buy the product. My response is like most other people, I go to another site that has this information.
4) Does your home page provide an easy way for your current and potential customers to connect with your organization through your newsletter, blog, Twitter, or Facebook?
All these basic things are important if you want your web visits to convert into customers. Take a look at your site with these basics in mind and it is very likely that there will be some simple improvements you can make.