Beyond The Home Page
Remember the way the web was a long time ago? When committees would argue and fight over the home page and having a spot above the fold, oh wait that was just last year or for some maybe just yesterday or today. Well your website home page is no longer the main focus you thought it once was, sorry to be the one to break it to you, I’ll leave it up to you to break it to the committee.
Home pages should probably get the least focus when it comes to prioritizing effort and ROI. The fact of the matter is the average web user is using the web a lot differently now then they were in the past. With the proliferation of search, social network sites like facebook, blogs like this one, and real simple syndication (RSS) home pages are becoming less important. All of those tools mentioned previously and a host of new ones that haven’t been created yet are driving more and more visitors deeper into a website than ever before and the majority of consumers bypass your home page completely.
The good part of this is that each page of your site, not just your home page will have a wider reach with a longer lasting lifespan, and the ability to attract a new audience like never before.
The bad part is that we as marketers and designers need to adapt to this change, and adapt quickly. The importance of each interior page, your landing pages, your detail pages and category pages has suddenly tripled overnight and they need to do more heavy lifting now. They no longer have the home page to support them anymore. Every page is now a home page.
To capitalize on this, we need to change the way we design those overlooked interior pages. They need to be designed using persuasive web design. Each page needs a strong, clear call to action supported with persuasive influences to drive visitors deeper into your site and closer to conversion and you need to start today.
Tags: home page, Marketing, Persuasive Web Design, webdesign