How To Make an Awesome Homepage Design
A homepage is like a front door to your house, lobby to your hotel, and a table of content to your book. The homepage design is the first thing people will see on your website that will grab their attention and guide them to what they need. This is why homepage design is the essence of your websites.
Visit us at Viva One Digital where we can help design your homepage and your websites.
Here is what you should know about homepage design
- Homepage and its Importance
- Important Elements of a Homepage
- Interesting Homepage Layouts
- Others Factors to Consider
- Conclusion
Homepage and its Importance
“Homepage is the page typically encountered first on a website that usually contains links to the other pages of the site.”
Marriem-Webster
The homepage is where your brands and your products are introduced from the first time. It is a first impression maker for your brand. Homepage should be designed carefully to serve its purpose to hook customers’ hearts and to give them an easy access to other parts of your websites. It is crucial for the homepage to be very user-friendly, if not, the customers will leave your sites before they see the real gold which are your phenomenon products or services.
Important Elements of Homepage
- Logo
- Headline and Sub-Headlines
- Navigation Panel
- Call-to-Actions (CTAs)
- Benefits
Logo
Obviously, your brand’s logo should be on the homepage. Your logo will build your brand recognition. It will help visitor remember your brand better.
Headlines and Sub-Headline
Your homepage design need headline and Sub-headlines to attract the customer. It should be short while still make lots impact. The headline should say why the customers need your products or services. The sub-headline should be about your brand, what you offer and how can you treate your customers’ pain point.
Navigation Panel
Navigation panel is one of the most important elements on your website, not only for homepage design but other pages as well. Navigation panel is where the main menus are shown and can be access through it.
Homepage design with a good navigation are considered user-friendly. These websites will be loved by customers and visitors. They will be able to find what they want to know easily. They can access to your products or services quickly with just a few click.
Call-To-Actions (CTAs)
Call-to-actions are a short phrases that tell the site’s visitor to do something such as sign up, try for free, or buy it now. It should be interactive, either be in the fill-out-form or link to another page.
CTAs will give the customers a head start of how and where to sign up for your services, how to contact your brand, and how to get your products.
Benefits
In this part, your should state the benefits of what you offer. Explain what you do and offer, show what value you have, what you can bring to the table. Talk about how your products or services could help the customers and how your brand standout from other competitors. The benefits should be in a list so it is easy to read. List the benefit in short pharses then explain further.
Although the benefits should be on the homepage, but it not necessarily need to be above the fold.
Interesting Homepage Layouts
Homepage layouts influence how the visitors view your website. The homepage need a layout that are easy to follow. It should be able to draw visitors attention to what you need them to do or see. Let’s take a look at some effective tips to enhance your homepage design.
To arrange the homepage design, the logo and headlines should be at the center or top left position where the site visitors can see them right away at the first glance. Navigation panel can either be on the top line of the page or at one side of the screen. Call-to-Actions can be on the right side or at the bottom of the screen, since you want to customers to look at other parts such as headline and sub-headline first.
Homepage layouts can follow the general website layouts, these layouts are considered suitable for homepage design.
1. Asymmestrical Layout
This layout is good for a landing page and homepage design. The asymmetrical layouts can grab readers’ attention well since it is unpredictable and fun. The images and color will guide the reader’s eyes to where and what you need them to see.
2. Fixed Sidebar Layout
Fixed sidebar layout have a navigation bar at one side of the website at all time. It helps the site visitors access the main menus and change sites within your websites easily and fast. The red box in the photo indicate the fixed sidebar on H&M website
3. Full-screen Photo Layout
Full-screen photo layout use a photo as a background and put other elements on them. The photo should be impactful. It should tell story of your brand or your products. Netflix website use this layout as well.
4. Z-shape Layout
Z-shape layout follows the rule of how human scan media. we start from top left to top right, then go down to bottom left the right to create Z-shape. This layout is perfect for homepage since it suitable for light-content page. Photos and texts are used to guide reader’s eye.
Other Factors to Consider
Apart from homepage layouts, there are some factors are should be put to consideration. Those factors are colors, typography and contents.
Colors
Colors play big role in every websites. Colors influence mode and tone of the websites and your brand. Choose colors carefully to express brand’s personality and image. Consider creating or using color palette on your websites and homepage design to make the sites coherent and recognizable.
Typography
Typography is an art of texts and words. One element of typography that you should consider in homepage design is font. Fonts tell readers about brand characteristics. Good fonts also make the homepage look more appealing to site visitors. Using different sizes of texts help highlight your messages and draw attentions to each part of the homepage.
Contents
Lastly, the most important factor in any pages. The contents is the Sun of your homepage. It should be carefully written and planed. Use the words that are powerful in order to grab readers attention and to persuade them to choose your products or services. With good content, visitor are more likely to choose your brand.
Conclusion
Now that you know all the basics of homepage design, pay attention and put effort in every details to enhance your websites and to convey your value to the customer. Choose the layouts, colors and fonts that represent your brand the best and never go easy on the content.