Generally speaking, the homepage is seen as the portal through which you attract website traffic and funnel readers through other pages. However, successful companies find that homepages are also good for directly generating leads. Is your homepage optimized in a manner that allows it to produce leads?
5 Ways to Optimize Your Homepage Lead Generation
Your homepage should be more than a placeholder or facilitator. In other words, it should do more than just drive visitors to product pages, blog posts, and opt-in forms. In order to be truly effective, it needs to generate leads.
Here are some specific suggestions:
1. Add Contact Information
For service businesses, in particular, there need to be clear contact details on the homepage. Your goal is to encourage visitors to reach out to you, so don’t be shy about how you present this information.
You obviously need a contact tab in the navigation menu, but it’s also helpful to include it in the header, footer, and throughout the homepage. It may also be a smart idea to include a live chat feature (if you can reasonably support it). This allows you to engage people who are on-the-go (such as riding the train to work) or in situations where they can’t talk on the phone (such as at work or in the library).
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2. Keep it Simple
Many business owners are under the impression that they need to throw as much information at customers as possible when the reality is that simplicity sells.
Simple web design – such as this iPhone X homepage – does a far better job of conveying value and driving visitors to the action than complex sites with tons of different features and lots of textual content. It forces the visitor to focus on the elements that matter, rather than being distracted by excess noise (which typically doesn’t support the underlying call to action).
3. Provide Points of Engagement
High converting homepages all tend to have one thing in common: they’re engaging. While it’s easier said than done, there are some practical things you can do to make your homepage more engaging.
One suggestion is to include some sort of search feature within the homepage. This is especially valuable if you have a broad product offering with lots of options. The Jim Hudson Toyota website is a good example of what this looks like in practice. They have a search bar for users to filter inventory and find exactly what they’re looking for.
If you have a particularly complex product, the video is another way to directly engage visitors. As the web developer, Dave McGowan mentions,
“Internet users expect to get the information they want fast – that’s why explainer videos have emerged as one of the best tools for homepage lead generation, especially when you’re dealing with a product or service that’s abstract or complex.”
4. Establish Trust
Trust is always at the crux of the matter. If you stand any chance of generating leads, your homepage has to be credible, comfortable and consistent. You can do this in a number of ways, but the social proof is the quickest option for reaching your audience.
As you incorporate elements of social proof into your homepage, keep the average visitor in mind. What are their biggest doubts and/or points of friction? Use social proof elements that overwhelm these areas and move visitors to action.
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5. Make an Irresistible Offer
Finally, make an offer that visitors can’t resist. This means being generous in the offer, while also establishing a sense of urgency. Time-bound offers are great for getting people to act quickly and forget about less significant points of friction. You don’t want to pressure visitors into making a purchase they’ll regret, but you do want to nudge them along and ethically remove their inhibitions.
Set Yourself Up for Homepage Lead Generation Success
When a prospective buyer visits an open house for a home they’re interested in buying, first impressions are everything. Good curb appeal goes a long way towards the purchase decision.
In terms of web design and online lead generation, your website’s homepage has a direct impact on your brand’s “curb appeal.” If the homepage is crisp, targeted, and effective, conversions will flow as a natural byproduct.
Optimize with this in mind.
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