Have a small business? Wondering how to reach out to more people? Marketing holds the key. And these days, when you are speaking about marketing your business, there’s no way you can ignore the online world. So, to start with, it is essential for your business to have a website.

When you design a website for your startup, it needs to convey the core message forwarded by your business. Because the website surely is one of the most important marketing tools for your business. And while designing it, you need to focus a lot on the homepage. That’s because most of the visitors are going to spend a good time on the homepage, trying to figure out more about your business.

While designing the homepage for your small business isn’t an easy task. You need to follow a few important steps to achieve that perfectly.

Here’s a quick look at some of those steps, which can help your website homepage to captivate the visitors and spread the word about your offerings in a more effective manner.

Follow the K.I.S.S. Strategy

That’s the very first thing you need to keep in mind if you are looking to create an effective homepage for your small business. Remember, you are yet to become a sensation in the world of business. So, it’s better to keep your website as simple as possible. So, follow the strategy known as ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’ or K.I.S.S.

A perfect example in point is the Sheepshead Design website.

The objective is simple. The page should convey your business message in a way that does not confuse the visitors. It should give them the perfect instruction on the way to navigate the website as well. And following the K.I.S.S. strategy is surely the best way to do it.

Include Relevant Links Prudently

Your website’s homepage needs to simple. But that does not mean that it should not have any link there. In fact, it is important to have tabs that direct the visitors to other parts of the website. These links might include ‘about’, ‘help’, and others. They are likely to play major roles in telling people about your business in detail. Hence, it is extremely important to keep the correct links on the homepage. Besides, you should also consider the links keeping in mind the mobile website as well. And that would influence the selection of the links for your website’s homepage too.

Make the Visitors Notice Your Best Products and Services

Does your business have some special products and services? It is essential that those catch the attention of the potential customers the moment they land on the homepage of your website. So, you need to keep a list of those on the homepage as your featured products or services.

You have done just that. Still you find that the visitors are not focusing on those properly. What can be the reason behind this?

Ask yourself a simple question.

Have you put the featured list below the fold?

Yes?

Then you surely have committed a grave mistake.

Above the fold – that’s the right placement for the featured products and services on your homepage. Even, if possible, you can make some of the most special products and services come out of the level of the page as pop ups. That are surely going to attract the website visitors enough to make them take notice of those.

Have a Small Scroll Bar

This is one of the most important things that you need to do to retain the visitors when they land on the homepage. It’s necessary to keep a short

But how can you do that?

The best way is to create separate channels for everything. Break your homepage down into categories. And that is going to come in extremely handy when you are looking to cut down on the length of the page.

How is this going to help you?

That’s surely the question to ask before you go about dividing your homepage into categories. The answer is quite simple. As the length of the page is reducing significantly, the visitors won’t have to scroll a lot. And that’s an extremely important feature if your consider the fact that number of mobile internet users is fast increasing in comparison to the number of internet users who are surfing from desktop computers.

Use the Homepage for Perfect Branding

Branding! That’s the thing you need to think of. Almost always. More so when you are running a small business or a startup. That’s because in this case, you don’t already have an established brand. You need to build a website that empowers your brand to a great extent. So, use the homepage in line with your brand. Use the brand colors on the page and also don’t forget to include your business logo.

The homepage of the website of your small business has a major role to play if you want to make it popular among more number of people. But for that, it has to be designed perfectly. Including these few components can come in handy. And once it does, you are sure experience more business with your website.

Image Courtesy: thelocalbrand.com