First impressions matter.
When someone visits your website, the first thing they’ll see is your homepage. The way your homepage is set up can make or break your conversion rates.
I know how much time and effort it takes to improve your SEO ranking and drive more traffic to your website.
If you’re seeing a boost in your website traffic but not in conversions, it’s time for you to analyze your homepage. It doesn’t matter what type of business you have or what industry you’re in, focusing on the design of your homepage pays off.
Where do you start?
Your website has so much to offer. It can be overwhelming to decide what you want visitors to see first. It’s tempting to include as much information as possible.
I’ve helped tons of businesses revamp their websites. I’m going to share some of the top elements of a homepage you need to focus on.
If you follow these tips, your homepage will turn into a conversion machine. Here’s how you do it.
Keep it simple
Websites with simple designs have higher conversion rates.
As I briefly stated earlier, some websites try to cram as much information as possible into a small space on their homepages. They want to show off all their products, services, awards, affiliations, contact information, and anything else you can imagine.
If this sounds like your homepage, simplifying your design should be the first thing on your agenda.
It’s fine to include lots of information on your website, but it doesn’t need to be on your homepage. Take a look at this design from the Mint homepage.
Focus on speed
Speed has a huge impact on your conversion rates. If your website loads too slowly, it’ll kill your conversions.
People are impatient. In today’s digital age, we’re used to getting content at lightning speeds. If a website doesn’t load right away, its bounce rate is likely to increase.Your page loading time has a direct correlation with the previous point I talked about. Simple websites load faster.If you’ve got tons of images, long blocks of text, complicated menus, lots of colors, flashing lights, and other unnecessary elements, your website won’t load very quickly.But what if you’ve got a simple design and it still takes a while for your website to load?
I’d evaluate your web hosting services. While it may sound appealing to choose the cheapest option for hosting your website, you get what you pay for.It’s worth it to spend the extra money to ensure your website doesn’t crash or have problems loading pages, especially the homepage.
The increase in website traffic and the boost in conversions will easily pay for the extra costs, plus extra in the long run.
Use quality images
Images can definitely help boost your conversion rates.
Websites without images seem plain, boring, and somewhat unprofessional. But that doesn’t mean you need to go crazy and put as many images as possible on your homepage.
As you now know, too many images can hurt your page loading time. Furthermore, research from Google found pages with fewer images have higher conversion rates.
Run A/B tests
Let’s say you’ve made some changes to your homepage, and you’ve noticed your conversions have increased. That’s great news. Does that mean you’re done?
Absolutely not. While your conversions may have increased, you don’t know whether you’ve reached your peak yet. Keep striving to improve your website. One of the best ways to figure out whether you’ve got the most optimal design for your homepage is through A/B testing. Also known as split testing, A/B testing involves running alternative versions of the same page to see which one has a higher conversion rate: 50% of your traffic sees one design, while the other 50% sees another. It’s important you don’t change too many elements between the two versions when you run these tests. Otherwise, you won’t know which factor impacted the results.
You’re better off changing one element only, such as the CTA button text, color, or placement.
Optimize your website for mobile devices
It’s awesome that your site works well on a desktop, but that’s not enough if you want the highest conversion rates possible. Your homepage needs to be optimized for smartphones and tablets.
Obviously, this will crush your conversion rates. Half of Internet users expect your mobile website to load in less than two seconds. Mobile optimization is important for all websites in every industry. However, it’s even more important for ecommerce stores.
Conclusion
If you’re unhappy with your conversion rates, analyze your homepage.
Start by simplifying the design. This will make it easier for visitors to find your CTA.Simplicity also translates to a faster page loading time. Make sure you have suitable web hosting service.Your homepage should have high quality images. Just be sure to use them sparingly. Too many images can have a negative impact on your conversions.Run A/B tests to see which elements of your homepage can be modified to improve conversions.
Making sure your homepage and the rest of your website is optimized for mobile devices is an absolute necessity.