Does your home page invite people to stay and look around? Or does it make it needlessly hard for them to find what they’re looking for quickly? Here are 5 of the most common frustrations website users report with home pages:
- Unclear Concept. Within the first couple seconds, the visitor needs to grasp what your company does. Show your products and put a brief positioning statement front and center. Don’t waste time with Flash introductions and fancy title pages. They slow load time, and convey little information.
- Confusing Navigation. Generally speaking, the main categories belong on the top navigation, subcategories on the left navigation, and rarely accessed categories on the bottom. Make sure the labels on each button clearly convey the content of the linked page.
- Excessive Scrolling. Studies show that 30% of people don’t scroll vertically, and 92% don’t scroll horizontally. Put the most important information “above the fold” and never make people scroll horizontally. If the home page becomes too lengthy, divide it into additional pages.
- Too Much Text. Don’t simply take your brochure and post it on your website. Websites require less text, shorter paragraphs, lots of bulleted copy and plenty of images to help the reader get your message quickly and clearly. A text-dense home page encourages visitors to move on to a more readable site.
- Missing Contact Information. Don’t make your visitors search for a “contact” button in order to reach you! Put your phone number and physical address on every page. Otherwise people may wonder what you have to hide.
