Many would argue that a site's homepage is the single most important page of a site. That's true to a certain extent. It is a doorway to the site and an important one, but it's not the only one.

The truth is a visitor can enter your site through a number of ways. For example, as search engines crawl your site and index it's content; a visitor using any major search engine will be able to potentially enter your site through any page. It won't always be through the homepage.

Having said that, let's focus on the homepage as a starting point for a majority of your visitors.

So, what is the purpose of the homepage? Ultimately, you want to inspire your users to take action. Here are some practical, easy to implement guidelines for creating a highly inspiring homepage for your site.

Communicate the site's purpose
The homepage should clearly communicate what the company does, the value it offers the user and the products and services the company offers. Be creative. Consider making the homepage design slightly different from interior pages. It should have a memorable and distinct look so users recognize it as a starting place when coming from any part of the site.

A tagline is a great way to succinctly define your company's value to the user. Users have come to expect it to appear on the homepage. Include a descriptive tagline (3 to 7 words) about your products or services. Avoid cute and clever phrases that don't really tell users the value you offer them. Position the tagline in the header near your logo.

Extend your brand online
Your Web site is simply another way to communicate to a target audience, as are traditional print and media channels. While print marketing materials are useful leave behinds for sales calls, the typical Web site user wants information presented in a different way than what they see in print.

Keep content short and simple. Users want useful information served up quickly in scannable chunks. Short paragraphs and bulleted lists are ideal.

Use customer-focused language. Avoid marketing lingo that tends to be ambiguous and make users work too hard to figure out what you're saying.

Go easy on the graphics. They may look pretty but used too much they can overpower the page and take up valuable real estate that could be used to drive users to take action. Show the company name and/or logo in a reasonable size and noticeable location (usually in the upper left). Generally, images should consume no more than 5-15% of the space on the homepage.

Help users clearly understand their options without being overwhelmed
The key to designing an inspiring homepage is in understanding your target audience. Define each type of visitor that might visit the site and organize content in a way that will drive the user deep into the site. Creating a "call to action" for each high priority area on the homepage is a good way to drive the user deeper into your site.

Whether your site's objective includes increasing revenues, generating leads or simply sharing information, design the "calls to action" around these objectives. A call to action might be "buy now", "get more information", "take a tour", "download" or "sign up".

Designing intuitive navigation is another way to help users understand their options on the homepage. Have understandable, easy-to-use navigation that begins on the homepage and carries throughout the site.

Group items in the navigation area so that similar items are next to each other. For example, group corporate information such as ‘About Us', ‘Contact Us', ‘Investors', ‘Client Login' and other information about the company in one distinct area. Likewise, if the product area is extensive, consider grouping them in another area distinct from the global items mentioned previously. Keep the number of global navigation elements to seven or less if possible.

Don't provide multiple navigation areas for the same type of links. Groups that are too similar can fragment and complicate the interface, making the user work too hard to create order and meaning.

Drive users to high priority information
Strike a balance between static versus changing content on the homepage. Designate area(s) of the homepage where you feature revolving content such as current news, a new product promotion or a trade show appearance. Users will visit your site more often if they know you have something new to offer, but they'll value consistency as well. Items such as a tagline, company description and navigational areas should remain static.

Time and date stamps used when content is updated are generally considered "outdated". Tie dates to specific content such as news rather than to the site as a whole.

Try to include most if not all of the homepage content "above the fold" thereby not requiring users scroll down. Add a visual clue when content falls below the fold to encourage users to scroll.

Links are another way to drive users to take action, however, make the links functional. You may be going for clever and cute, but the user just wants to know what to do and what they've done. Allow link colors to show visited and unvisited states. Use meaningful text in the link names to tell users what they'll get when they click. If a link goes to anything other than to another Web page, such as linking to a PDF file, tell users what actions follow links.

Designing a homepage is no easy task. While users may be attracted to the look and feel of the homepage, they'll stay because of what you have to offer and how easily they can get it. Many of these homepage design principles can be applied as you design your entire site. Stay tuned for a future article, "Why Do Customers Leave Your Site?" for useful tips on applying these design principles site wide.

If you have any comments or questions about any Aware InSites, feel free to contact us at info@awarewebsolutions.com or call 800-783-8919.