As an online business owner, your website — and, more specifically, its homepage — will serve as your virtual storefront. So, you’ll want to ensure that it’s optimized to help you reach the right people, earn their trust, and make you more sales.
There are a range of steps you can take to ensure that your homepage and website give the best impression of your business. Read on to find out more.
Make buying your products or services very easy
It’s important that you make it incredibly easy for people to travel from your homepage to your checkout page. Essentially, the quicker and easier they can find and buy what they’re looking for, the more likely they’ll be to convert. Online shoppers like convenience, so the less friction they encounter when browsing your website the better.
There are a number of tactics you can use to ensure it’s as easy as possible for people to buy your products or services after landing on your homepage. For instance, you could provide a very clear call to action that tells them exactly what to do or where to go to move forward in their buying journey. Better yet, place a simple instruction on a button visitors can click on to be transported to the exact web page that will suit their needs.
Alternatively, you could provide a sophisticated search tool that uses a small amount of information to point your customers in the direction of the exact product or service that they require. For instance, if you own a car parts retailer, you could ask for a car’s model and license plate number in order to provide them with the exact product range they require. Or a beauty brand could ask for a customer’s skin tone and type to recommend the best items to suit their needs.
It can also be helpful to ensure that it’s incredibly easy for people to contact you from your homepage. Sometimes website visitors may have questions or concerns that need to be addressed before they move further into your sales funnel, so making it incredibly easy to get in touch with you is another great way to optimize your homepage to secure more conversions.
To give you some inspiration, let’s take a look at two companies that have already supercharged their websites’ homepages by making their visitors’ shopping experiences as convenient as possible.
CondoBlackBook is a company that specializes in helping people to find their dream Miami condo to rent or buy. And, on their homepage, they have a very convenient search tool that takes people straight to the properties they may be interested in. All users have to do is input their preferred neighborhoods or ZIP code, then click “buy” or “rent” and they’ll be presented with a list of condos that fit their requirements perfectly.
The key here is that CondoBlackBook doesn’t ask for a lot of information from their website visitors — they just need a couple of details to provide people with the listings they’re looking for. If you decide to add a sophisticated search feature to your website’s homepage, keep this in mind. The less information you need to point your customers in the right direction, the quicker they’ll be able to find what they require and the more likely they’ll be to buy from you.
Rainbow Movers, a full-service moving company in California, takes a slightly different approach to making life easier for those who land on their homepage. As you can see in the image above, they have a very simple contact form that interested parties can use to request a quote from the company. All they need to do is provide their name and contact details, as well as the date of their move, to get an idea of how much the company’s services cost. And, because they’ve provided their contact information, Rainbow Movers can reach out to website visitors to ask more about their situation and arrange their moves.
This approach can be particularly effective for service-based businesses that need to collect specific information from prospective clients before committing to a job or project. Providing a contact form like this on your homepage can be beneficial for everyone involved, as it will make life easier for your target customers and provide you will all the information you need to work out whether you’re going to be a good fit for the people who get in touch, so you can ensure they get the best service possible.
Target the right keywords in your homepage copy
Targeting the right keywords on every page of your website is very important for boosting your SEO. Keywords are the terms or phrases your target audience is typing into search engines like Google when looking for products, services, or content like yours. Incorporating the right ones into your website’s copy can help you to reach the right people and ensure you attract the most high-quality traffic possible.
To find the keywords you should be targeting on each page of your website, you’ll need to use a specialist keyword research tool like Moz’s Keyword Explorer or SEMrush. When you’ve chosen a platform, input a range of simple words related to the work you do. You’ll then be presented with a list of relevant keywords and phrases, along with the number of searches they receive each month and how difficult they’re going to be to rank for. Identify the ones that are most relevant to your products or services and then begin to assign each keyword or phrase to a specific page of your website.
It can be difficult to choose which keywords to target on your homepage in particular because you won’t want to focus on those closely related to what you sell — these should be assigned to your product or service pages instead. So, for your homepage, focus on using more general keywords and any phrases that don’t quite fit into any of your other pages.
Showcase positive reviews from previous customers
When people land on your website’s homepage, you’ll have a very short amount of time to win them over and convince them to browse the rest of your website. So, you’ll need to do everything you can to earn their trust as quickly as possible. One of the easiest and most effective ways you can do this is by displaying positive reviews from past customers.
To collect reviews, always send post-purchase emails to your customers. You could ask them some simple questions or just provide them with a link to a platform like Trustpilot or Google Reviews where they can leave a short message with their thoughts. You should also aim to always respond to your customers, thanking them for their feedback and letting them know you plan to implement any suggestions they had. If you’re struggling to convince people to provide you with their reviews, giving them an incentive like a discount on their next purchase can help.
The types of reviews you’ll want to collect and display on your website to provide customers with the best shopping experience will typically depend on the type of business you have. For instance, if you sell a lot of similar products, you may wish to ask your customers to give their purchases a star rating out of five to help future website visitors compare the different options you offer. But, if you have a service-based business, written or video testimonials can be particularly helpful for providing more context about the problems you can help to solve.
To give you some inspiration, let’s take a look at an example of a company that does a great job of effectively displaying customer reviews on its website.
iFlooded Restoration is a company that provides water, fire, and mold restoration services in New York City. Of course, anyone looking for help in this area is likely to be in a stressful situation and will only want to hire a company that they know they can trust. iFlooded Restoration proves that it is that business by displaying positive reviews from past clients on their homepage.
They have written testimonials in a carousel, which address common worries that prospective clients may have. For instance, their past customers talk about how their possessions were handled very carefully and the company really put them at ease. Each review is also accompanied by the name of the person who provided it, which gives them more credibility. Additionally, these reviews sit right next to a range of certifications that the company has been given by industry bodies, further supporting the idea that they’re great at what they do.
If you run a service-based business, this is a technique that can really help you to win the trust of people who have just heard about your company. So, consider adding detailed and helpful testimonials to your homepage to grab people’s attention and secure more conversions.
Display any awards or qualifications relevant to your work
Similarly, another way you can provide concrete evidence that you’re great at what you do and optimize your homepage is by highlighting any relevant awards or qualifications you’ve collected. Much like positive customer reviews, these will help to show that you really know your industry inside and out and can provide a service new clients will be happy with.
This can be an especially fruitful tactic if you work in a particularly serious field, like the financial, medical, or legal sectors. People looking for assistance in these areas will only want to invest in the services of companies they know they can trust to do a fantastic job, and making them aware of any industry awards or related qualifications you have is sure to prove your skills and expertise.
Let’s take a look at one company that uses this technique effectively to give you some inspiration.
Caffee Accident & Injury Lawyers know just how important their awards and associations are for showing that they’re experts in their field. So, when someone lands on their homepage, a range of the company’s relevant accolades is one of the first things they’ll see.
Anyone who comes across the firm is likely to be in quite a stressful situation, so seeing that the company has been recognized for its great work is sure to put visitors’ minds and ease and push them towards hiring the firm to help them. If you work in a similar field, displaying information like this on your homepage could mean the difference between someone hiring you or choosing to leave your website without learning more.
So, consider adding any relevant awards or qualifications that you have to your website. It’s a great technique for earning people’s trust and making more sales.
Ensure your homepage content is helpful and engaging
Finally, getting your homepage copy right is incredibly important, as it can make or break a sale. So, you need to put some serious thought into what kinds of information you’ll need to include, how you can grab people’s attention, and what tricks you can use to let website visitors know you’re genuinely great at what you do.
Here are just a few top tips that can help you to get the best results with your website’s homepage copy:
- Put a lot of focus on the benefits of your products or services, rather than their features
- Show off your brand’s personality to build a connection
- Earn your audience’s trust by providing evidence of your skills and expertise
- Ensure your website visitors know that you understand their needs
- Showcase any past results that demonstrate your abilities
Overall, you need to concentrate on helping your website visitors to understand exactly how you can help them. Help them imagine just how better their lives could be with your products or services — if you can do this successfully, they’ll be far more likely to browse the rest of your website and make a purchase with you. That’s why publishing the right content can have a huge impact on your sales.
Summary
If you want to give people the best possible first impression of your business and make more sales, you need to ensure that you’ve optimized your homepage. By making it easy to find what they need, showcasing evidence of your abilities, and targeting the best keywords with your copy, you can keep your customers happy and increase your conversion rate.
If you would like any more advice for growing your company and making more sales, check out WebKu’s business section. There are lots more articles that will provide you with even more expert tips.
Author bio
Aaron Haynes is the CEO of Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner that supports marketing agencies and professionals. The company specializes in helping businesses to improve their online visibility and ultimately make more sales. The Loganix blog has a lot more information and advice, so make sure you check it out if you found this article helpful.
Add Comment