3 Tips for Better Homepage Web Design

Your homepage is the most important page on your website – there’s no denying this fact. While you may have particular product pages that generate revenue – or blog posts that generate shares – your homepage serves as the online representation of your brand. Think of it like your virtual storefront. When people pass by or drop in, this is what they’re going to see. That’s why it’s so alarming that many businesses put homepage web design on the back burner.

3 Tips for a Better Homepage Design

While you’ve always been told not to judge a book by its cover, the reality is that everyone judges books by their covers! In terms of web design, this means your visitors are judging your brand by your website’s homepage. If you aren’t confident in it, then it’s time to do something about it. Here a handful of tips to get you pointed in a positive direction.

1. Start With a Quality Header

The header is arguably the most important component of your homepage design. It’s certainly the most visible. When investing in a redesign or update, this is the place to start. While there’s a lot of creative freedom in designing a header, make sure that you keep things simple.

Modern web design is all about minimalism. You want to say more with less. In terms of a website header, this means only including features and elements that are totally necessary.  Let’s take a look at two examples to see what this looks like in practice:

• StartJobs: The StartJobs header is effective for a number of reasons, but primarily because it’s functional, yet simple. It has a built-in search feature, which is an important component of the website, but it doesn’t overwhelm. The large cityscape background gives a clean, professional look that’s appropriate for the industry.

• Mint: Another example worth studying is Mint. Their header is similar in that it features a large, simple background. However, it does a nice job of including a value proposition sign up button that feeds nicely into the rest of the homepage experience.

As you can see, a quality header is simple and concise. There’s no need to go overboard. You want a clean look, and a minimalist header will help you achieve this.

2. Aim Above the Fold

The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time designing your homepage, only to discover that visitors don’t even scroll all the way to the bottom. Unfortunately, this is what happens in most cases. And because there simply isn’t an effective way to encourage visitors to keep scrolling, the best tip is to keep important content above the fold. DropBox does a nice job of this, putting the sign up form right at the top of the page.

3. Incorporate Unique Visuals

A huge turnoff is to visit a homepage and see regurgitated stock photos. This displays no personality and immediately tells you something about the brand’s creativity and passion. Your homepage needs unique, high quality images that speak to who your brand is and what it does.

One of the best examples of high quality homepage visuals is Gogoro. The images that cycle through the homepage have incredibly high resolution and leave you with the impression that the brand is of utmost quality.

Show Your Homepage Some Love

When you have a dozen different things happening at once, your website’s design may seem insignificant. Don’t fall for this myth, though. Your homepage is one of the most important and visible components of your brand’s image. Now is the time to show it some love and invest in a quality redesign.