What to put on your homepage

A good homepage answers three questions on its first screen: what you do, who it is for, and what the visitor should do now. Below that come proof (reviews, photos, projects), your services with concrete examples, how you work, and your contact details. Everything else is optional. Here is how to lay out your homepage so it brings enquiries rather than just looking nice.

The first screen: you have a few seconds

The first screen is the part of the page someone sees before they scroll. It gets the most valuable attention. In a 2018 Nielsen Norman Group study, people spent about 57% of their page-viewing time above the fold, and 74% of it in the first two screenfuls [1]. That is why the same researchers advise keeping the highest-priority content and the main calls to action at the top [1].

On the first screen, put:

1. One sentence on what you do, for whom and where. "Bathroom and kitchen renovations in Sofia, with a fixed price after a site visit" says far more than "Quality and professionalism".
2. A sentence or two of detail. What sets you apart: turnaround, guarantee, experience, opening hours.
3. One main button. "Call us", "Book a time", "Get a quote". One, not five.
4. A real photo. Your premises, your team, finished work. There is more on that in which photos to put on your website.

Nielsen Norman Group recommends exactly this: a short tagline near the logo that says who you are and what you do [2]. It does not need to be clever. It needs to be clear.

If a stranger looks at your first screen for five seconds and cannot say what you offer, the copy there is not finished yet.

Proof that you can be trusted

Right after the first screen, the visitor asks the next question: "Fine, but are they any good?" Answer with facts, not adjectives:

• two or three real reviews with a name (and a photo, if the customer agrees);
• your average Google rating and a link to your reviews; if you have only a few, see how to get more Google reviews;
• photos of finished jobs, dishes, haircuts, before and after;
• years in business, number of customers or jobs, but only if they are true;
• well-known clients or partners, if you have them.

Proof helps most when it sits close to the button. People hesitate right before they click.

Services: specific, with examples

This is where many homepages fail, with a list of vague words: "Consulting. Solutions. Service." Nielsen Norman Group advises that a homepage should show specific examples of what you offer, not just general categories [2].

For each main service, give:

• a name the customer would type into Google themselves ("tyre change", not "automotive solutions");
• one sentence on what they get;
• a "from" price, or how the price is worked out, if you can say it;
• a link to that service's own page, if you have one.

If you offer a lot, show the three or four most requested and link to the rest. How many pages you need at all is covered in one-page or multi-page website. For the words themselves, there is a separate guide: how to write your website copy.

How you work, and who they will deal with

People worry about the unknown. A short "how it works" in three or four steps takes the tension out: you call, we come for a visit, you get a quote, we start. Add a small block about the people too: a photo of the owner or the team and two sentences. Save the details for your About page, and just link to it from the homepage.

Call to action and contact details

Every big block on the page should end with a clear next step. Repeat the main button after the proof, and once more at the bottom. The W3C's tips on writing for accessibility advise that link text should say where it leads, and warn against vague wording such as "click here" or "read more" [3]. "Book a haircut" works better than "Submit".

At the bottom, put everything needed to reach you:

• a phone number that dials with one tap;
• your address, a map and opening hours;
• a short form or a link to bookings;
• links to your social media profiles.

Buttons need to be big enough for a thumb. Apple's design guidelines say that, as a general rule, a button needs a hit region of at least 44×44 points so people can select it easily [4]. For more ideas on getting a visitor to an enquiry, see how to turn website visitors into customers.

What to cut

A homepage is not the place for everything you know. Cut:

• rotating sliders with five different messages;
• long greetings like "Welcome to our website";
• videos that play on their own and popups that appear the moment someone arrives;
• news from 2021 and visitor counters;
• the big photo that weighs several megabytes.

That last one matters. Google tracks how quickly the largest visible thing on the page appears, usually the big image or the headline, with a metric called Largest Contentful Paint. According to Google's web.dev, a good value is 2.5 seconds or less [5]. If your homepage loads slowly, read why your website is slow and how to speed it up.

A quick check of your own homepage

Open your site on your phone and go through this list:

1. Is it clear on the first screen what you do and where?
2. Is there one clear button without scrolling?
3. Are there at least two real reviews or photos of real work?
4. Are your services named in the customer's own words?
5. Does the phone number dial with one tap?
6. Does the page load quickly, even on mobile data?
7. Does the page title in Google say who you are and what you do? See page titles and meta descriptions that get clicks.

If the answer to most of these is "no", the quickest win is rewriting the first screen.

If you would rather not do it yourself

A good homepage is more about order than about design. If you would prefer someone to do it with you, at Studio V1 a website is about €50 a month and includes design, a build reviewed by real developers, hosting, maintenance and minor updates. The first month starts the build, and the site is live within 7 business days. See how we work, finished projects or what the price includes.

References

1. Nielsen Norman Group. "Scrolling and Attention." nngroup.com/articles/scrolling-and-attention
2. Nielsen Norman Group. "Homepage Design: 5 Fundamental Principles." nngroup.com/articles/homepage-design-principles
3. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. "Writing for Web Accessibility – Tips for Getting Started." w3.org/WAI/tips/writing
4. Apple Developer. "Human Interface Guidelines: Buttons." developer.apple.com/design
5. web.dev (Google). "Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)." web.dev/articles/lcp