The first impression is the last impression and this statement can’t be denied. This is probably the first thing that is taught to a kid and why not?
With online marketing becoming the need of the hour, impression still needs to be great- Homepage Design of your website will play the key role here.
The first impression is basically on the homepage. Putting common sense to use, no one would purchase a house, if broken panes are shown in the advertisement or in the first place.
The homepage is the first thing that most people see when they visit your website.
Here the statement of impression comes into play. It surely won’t take a user much time to leave if he or she doesn’t find the homepage design engaging and compelling. Homepage in the practical sense is analogous to a home curb’s appeal.
More than 50% of online users cite that the homepage design is the No.1 factor in establishing a credible connection.
Having said that, it doesn’t imply that it’s all about aesthetics.
No one would fancy the idea of having a homepage design that does not bring fruits back. Homepage design should always be such that it converts the visitors into leads and eventually into happy customers.
You have to religiously understand the fact that the customers won’t convert if you don’t give them an incentive and also if you don’t make converting as intuitive as possible.
Key Things Best Homepages Always Pay Attention To
It all starts with winning over the customer with your homepage design.
This is even practical, as your homepage design is the first thing that the customer notices. Honestly, having one of the best homepage design never really hurt any business or website. There are surely many benefits of good homepage design.
Most of the best homepages have few characteristics common in between them.
A simple homepage design does the task of welcoming the user to your website in a proficient fashion.
It portrays your idea to the user as in what is the next step that you want them to indulge in. Most importantly a good homepage design allows the user to explore your website in depth.
(i) You should always try to improve the user experience on your website. There is surely a purpose behind a consumer visiting your website. Now this purpose could check out of your blog posts, or find out if you sell a particular type of products or simply to place an order as the customer already knows about your operations and fields of service.
(ii) In the end, even you are aware that the customer won’t stay on the homepage all the time and you have to direct the user to a different appropriate page. Your homepage design of the website should aim at facilitating this transition. Proper attention should be given at providing intuitive navigation and a sense of how your website actually flows.
(iii) Ensuring more conversions has to be the next important goal for a website. If you don’t give the visitor proper space and incentive you won’t be able to realize the aim of converting the visitors. You can surely experiment uptick in conversions if your homepage design or even the website as a whole display the information easily.
If the visitor likes the experience and his stay on your website, you are surely going to earn loyalty from that customer going ahead. This again can be completed only if you have a compelling and engaging homepage design in place.
There is obviously a chance that you won’t be able to make a sale or conversion right then but surely you will succeed at concerning the leads in the future.
Read on to know about some of the best homepage designs as surely nothing is better than having good examples at your disposal-
Best Homepage Design Examples
1. Dropbox
Dropbox surely is one of the best homepage examples you could ever come across. You can find two CTAs that are a part of the homepage design.
As one of the features is of a paid version, it is portrayed with a dark background and it surely doesn’t fail to attract the attention of the user. Dropbox surely knows its audience that needs to be targeted and capitalize by drilling down the points that effects them. It even strips down the navigation by providing an option to ”Compare Plans”.
2. Slack
Homepage design of Slack is filled with unique illustrations that don’t fail to attract the user and increase the time they spend on the homepage. They have a lot of options that help the user in clearly finding out what they actually require.
3. Green Mountain Energy
This homepage design is one of the best homepage examples with custom graphics. Contrasting colours have been used in a proficient way to draw the attention of the user.
As the company aims to provide clean energy at affordable prices their homepage design holds two CTAs one for residential customers and one for businesses.
4. CarMax
As the company deals both in buying and selling cars. It had an astonishing task of catering to both the needs at once. Multiple CTAs facilitate the users to find the section they actually want to head to.
CarMax keeps its homepage design clean and simple and surely doesn’t fail to provide a better experience to the user every time they visit their website.
5. StudioPress
StudioPress makes its homepage design shine out as it uses Minimal elements along with flat design illustrations and muted colours. It provides the user with three CTAs to help the user to choose as yo where they wish to proceed.
6. CrazyEgg
The homepage design is such that it forces and induces the visitor to plug in their URL to view a heatmap. The website even provides a 30 day free trial to the user. Below social proof, one can find expandable content. Social proofs are available in the subhead which even outlines how many people trust the website’s tools to the visitors.
7. Trivago
The homepage design of Trivago is as simple as it gets. The homepage design of the website focuses on its part of making the visitor search for a destination. Nothing more or less than that.
8. Century21
The homepage design of the website is such that it attracts and keeps the attention of the user instilled. It focuses on facilitating the searching of the properties immediately and that too straight from the homepage. You even have access to useful navigation directly from the homepage design.
9. Marc Jacobs
The homepage design of the website is sophisticated and minimalist at the same time. The creative copywriting doesn’t fail to capture the attention of the visitors.
10. Laura Worthington Fonts
The homepage design of the website reflects the approach to designing fonts. Having said that the elements don’t feel cluttered at all.
This homepage design example is one of the best homepages that depict that how one can take up the task of using variables in the homepage design and that too without being repetitive or going over the line.
11. Skype
The homepage design of Skype does the task of addressing the audience pretty well. The graphics have been used proficiently to depict that it works on all device types. With a blue background, the Call-To-Action button doesn’t fail to attract the attention of the user.
12. Bookouture
This homepage is yet another example of how even minimalist designs does the task of catching the attention of the users and inducing them to stay with your website. It does a great task at inducing and targeting the authors who might want to take their aid in publishing their work with them.
The homepage just like other effective and efficient homepage provides for a CTA button that facilitates the users to know more about the company. The homepage even provides a link for homepage copy and submissions in the header. All these things make the experience of using the website easy to a great deal.
13. The Motley Fool
The website has a distinguished CTA as a part of its homepage design. It directly takes the user to the page of the company’s paid services.
14. THRED UP
You know the tricky situation going to be discussed if you have an e-commerce shopping website. It can be a daunting task to achieve three goals at a time.
You have with the responsibility to show off the best products, confuse the users with choice and also introduce yourself. The homepage of thredUP surely goes an extra mile in its exemplary effort for a seasonal approach. The navigation even though gets hefty, the creators have done a good job at designing it cleanly.
15. Abacus Plumbing
The website surely takes the rapport and trust building to a whole new level. With the use of bold letters to convey appealing messages, the homepage of the website doesn’t fail to catch the eyes of the user.
Words like “You can count on us” are effective enough to make people think that they’ve actually landed on the right page. They even don’t fail at showcasing their feature of getting information about the plumber. Catchy lines have been again put to use in this case with the use of words like “Know your plumber before they arrive”.
16. Nest
The homepage surely might give out a glimpse of Apple design but it doesn’t fail to feature in the list of one of the best home page designs.
To start with the website offers a “buy now” CTA button that surely guides the user as to what they are supposed to be doing on the website next. Center stage is well carried by the imagery of the website
17. Toastmasters International
The homepage design of this website might come across as little pale but no forcing a are imposed on the user and the reader.
The homepage justifies its task of inducing the businessmen and the business leaders really well. The background colour along with the headline copy surely make the case for this home page even stronger.
18. Ensurem
The big CTA button to start with along with the compelling colour scheme makes most of the home page. Apart from being simple with minimal design, the homepage doesn’t fail at feeling cluttered or fleshed out.
To add to the advantage, the homepage design of this insurance website provided a feeling o refinement to the users and that too just from its design.
After knowing about some of the best homepage examples, designing can easily outline some of the elements that make up for an excellent checklist for the homepage design. Some of the useful and important practices are:
Top Tips To Have Best Homepage Design
(i) Being clear should be a practice that should be followed religiously.
(ii) You should aim at being dynamic. Visitors should be able to engage with different elements on the homepage design
(iii) The website should be able to load faster as impatient leads drop out fast if they have to wait for long.
(iv) It is always advised that the website is mobile friendly as lost of the traffic is now shifting focus to smartphones.
In Conclusion…
You should always pay attention to the beginning with the basics.
Keeping in context the fact that most of the users find the homepage first, you should always strive to have a homepage design that makes a solid first impression. Your homepage design should be such that it depicts the sense of your company’s values, unique selling propositions and purpose.
At the end of the day, it is not rocket science and homepage design doesn’t require you to follow a specific formula. Common sense with innovative ideas is best put to use here.
Most of the homepages have some common elements in between them but still manage to differentiate in their own way. You should make sure that you are presenting yourself in the best way possible using your homepage design.
Once you accomplish this task, you would have a website conversion machine at your disposal.
Joining the Digital Marketing Course will enable you to earn the best Homepage design for your site.
In case of any doubts about the right design for your site? Feel free to ask us in the comments below.
