Not only is this the first marketing mistake I will be pointing out, it's also the #1 worst mistake you can make with marketing.
The mistake: The home page
The home page is the most vital part of your website. Simply because that is the page most people will see first. So how is it the #1 mistake?
Well, it's not the home page that's the mistake, it's what people put on the home page that is the mistake. Of all the websites I review, 90% of them make this simple mistake: They don't tell people why they should stay, what they should do, or what the site is even about.
Some people either fill it with too much stuff, or not enough stuff. But primarily just not the right stuff.
It's true, if people can't find what the site is about, why they should stay, and what to do if they want to stay in 5 seconds, they will leave. People make heavy use of the back button. Getting traffic to your website is completely useless if no one stays longer than 5 seconds.
Soooo... how do we answer those three questions in 5 seconds?
There isn't always a simple formula that you can follow that will work. Thankfully for us, there is a simple formula for the home page that always works. So lets take a look at this formula.
| Header: | Make sure your header is small. People don't come to your website to look at it. |
|---|---|
| Navigation: | Have it somewhere out of the way where people are expecting it. And have it organized! |
| Headline: | Here is the big one. Everything on your website is pointless if you don't have this one right. Have a good headline! It has to be one of the first things people see. Make it big and the first thing on your home page. With it, you have to catch the attention of your visitors within 5 seconds. This is the deciding factor for if your visitors stay or not. More on the headline later. |
| Copy: | Make sure you have good copy after your headline! If you got a visitors attention with the headline, you are only half way done. Now it's time to answer the users questions. For now, use AIDA for writing your copy. I will write more about writing good copy at a later date. |
And there you have it. Keep your home page simple and have a good headline and copy and you will do a lot better. And I WILL write more about good headlines and copy later. :)
Joey
