One day as a teenager, I was home alone.
My neighbor friend called and said, “Listen carefully and don’t ask questions. Get out of your house, right now. Come to my driveway, and don’t cut across your yard.”
Say what?! Was this a joke? But I did as he said.
When I got to his house, he was outside pointing toward my roof.
When I looked, my jaw dropped. I saw something I’d never seen before and I’ve never seen since.
If only I had a camera.
Above my house was a cloud of swarming bees, so many they seemed to cover the sky.
They were flying down the chimney and one by one entering my living room through a small crack.
In desperation, we called a beekeeper. Thankfully, he arrived in about thirty minutes.
As he stepped out of the van, I watched his unique process:
1. He put on his beekeeper suit
2. He grabbed a long pole with a net at the end
3. He climbed a ladder while carrying the net
4. He dipped the net into the chimney as bees swarmed around him
5. He pulled out the net after catching the queen bee
6. He climbed down the ladder
7. In a few minutes, all the bees had dispersed
He used a tried-and-true process. And it worked! Bye-bye bees.
Designing Your Homepage Like A Beekeeper
Process takes the guesswork out of important projects.
Imagine if you approached your website homepage design like a beekeeper. Instead of throwing in random pictures and copy and then hoping for the best, what if you used a strategic process?
A homepage should help grow your business. Your website has to do more than look pretty. It should be your 24/7 salesperson.
After years of designing websites, we've found the following to be kick-butt tools for reaching new customers.
Elements For An Effective Homepage
1. Hero Photo
Your banner photo should pop in high-resolution. Show someone happy, like they just benefited from your product. We call this person the “hero.”
Avoid pretty landscape pictures or buildings (unless you do landscaping or architecture) and make sure your picture connects to your core offering. It’s also the first thing people see. So… Get. It. Right.
2. Call To Actions
Scatter buttons throughout your homepage, encouraging people to do something! Be bold and give easy on-ramps, such as:
Buy Now
Download PDF
Watch Video
Schedule A Free Consultation
Receive An Estimate
Contact Us
3. Easy Navigation Options
Avoid the temptation to have too many options. A minimized menu is much easier to navigate than rows of assorted drop downs.
Think about it. Would you rather use a remote control with dozens of buttons or one with the needed basics? Streamline your menu and customers will appreciate it.
4. Picture Of Owner/Team
Don’t hide from your customers. People like to see people. When sites are too corporate, they come across as robotic and uncaring.
Display pictures of your leadership team and employees because it gives a softer, personal touch. You’re thinking, “I look bad.” No, you don’t. There are a lot of folks uglier than you, so smile for that camera.
5. One-Liner Statement
Can you describe your business in one sentence? It’s critical. Once you crafted the best version, place it in your website's prime real estate and show that puppy off.
All of your messaging flows from your one-liner. It also helps site visitors quickly understand what you do and the problems you solve.
6. Welcome Video
Videos are powerful because they draw eyeballs. When you post an overview video to your homepage, it builds the confidence of prospective customers.
Keep it short (around a minute), and avoid being boring. Think about it this way: if you had 60 seconds on live prime-time tv to discuss your business, what would you say? Hint: stay away from the usual cliches: “great customer service” “family-owned” blah blah blah. Make that sixty seconds sing, baby!
7. 1-2-3 Process
Customers freeze when they’re confused. But if you describe your process simply, you'll usually win the sale.
Use the power of visuals, with images depicting the 1-2-3 steps of working with you. When you follow it with a call to action button, it’s like pointing customers to the yellow brick road.
8. Free Giveaway For An Email
People love anything free. And when you offer a freebie to help solve their problems, you’ve earned the right to ask them for contact information.
It’s a perfect trade. They receive something (like a PDF document, video download, or promo code) and you get their email address to continue building the relationship. Ahhh, wuv true wuv.
9. Social Proofing / Testimonies
If you enter an empty restaurant, how do you feel? You probably wonder if the food is bad or if the kitchen is dirty — why else would everyone stay away?
The same thing goes for your business. Crowds attract crowds. When people see positive reviews about how you’ve helped others, it gives them confidence. And when they feel confident about you, it translates into more sales. Yes, please.
10. Bottom Drawer
At the very bottom of your homepage, this “drawer” of space can host some important info. It's the perfect spot to place more menu options (so they don’t crowd the top of the page), social media icons, and contact details.
It’s also an ideal area for another messaging slogan since this footer repeats on all your pages. In other words, it gives more space to pour out your awesome sauce.
The Website Design Framework
These ten elements can help you develop a winning homepage.
Do you need to do them all in order? Not necessarily. Can you add other elements? Sure. But consider it a framework that turns website visitors into customers.
And the best thing? No beekeeper suit is required.
Need A New Website?
We’d love to design your website!
We’ll help you uncover the perfect messaging and apply it to the above process. You’ll end up with a site that helps grow your business and makes you look smart. And incredibly good-looking.
We also provide:
Google Ads
Graphic Design
Email campaigns
Copywriting
Marketing strategy
Videography
Radio, TV, print ads
About Me
Hey, I’m Brian, co-founder of Genie Jar Digital. Born a Tar Heel but now a Virginian, I’m a father of five and the husband of one amazing lady. My family has a thing for Golden Retrievers. Given the right circumstances, I can do a mean moonwalk on a slick kitchen floor.
