How to Create Effective Homepages and Messaging

When it comes to sales, content is key, and in many cases, quality content can even do the work of an actual salesperson, building trust and persuading customers to make purchases. Here Shweiki Media teams up with Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion to present a webinar on how to create effective homepages and homepage messaging that gets results.

What are people most concerned about when they go to a website’s homepage? Is a person more concerned about his or her questions, needs and issues as the buyer or about the company? The answer is that people are more concerned about themselves personally. However, what do most business websites tend to talk about on their homepages? The business. The smartest companies design their homepages from a user experience standpoint. It is important to understand how to create a homepage that is built around the user rather than the business itself.

The “You” Statement

The first main element needed for a great homepage is having a “you” statement. This is the main headline on the page that people first read. “You” statements should be about the consumer and the business. How do you talk about both?

The “you” statement should be directed toward the average person that visits the site.

This is an example of a good headline statement from River Pools. Their “you” statement shows that they created this site for “you.” About 90% of their traffic is from people who are beginning to research inground pools, so their homepage is aligned to that need. Remember, the main point of a good homepage is to get people to page two. You want them to take action so consider that as you design page elements by keeping it simple and clean.

Here are other examples of companies’ “you” statements.

salesforce homepage

 

 

These are four completely different companies and websites but there is a noticeable pattern that each follows.

Call to Actions

Other than the headline statements, what else makes an effective homepage? If somebody visited my site right now, what are the main priorities they would have? What are the main actions they would want to take? It is important to design a homepage with these priorities in mind.

For example, River Pools homepage has the top five consumer priorities or actions they want to take readily available to research.

corebucket river pools

Social Proof

The third element a company needs on their site is the social element. Social proof is very powerful because it allows users to see what other people are saying about the company.

river pools social

If you do these three things on their website on a clear messaging level, then users will have a good experience which will encourage them to choose you in the future.

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Marcus Sheridan

In 2001 and fresh out of college, Marcus Sheridan stumbled across his first business with two friends and began installing swimming pools out of the back of a beat-up pickup truck. 9 years later, and with the help of incredible innovations through inbound and content marketing, Sheridan’s company overcame the collapse of the housing market and became one of the largest pool installers in the US and currently has the most visited swimming pool web site in the world—www.RiverPoolsandSpas.com. With such success, in late 2009, Sheridan started his sales, marketing, and personal development blog—The Sales Lion, and has since grown The Sales Lion brand to be synonymous with inbound and content marketing excellence while being featured in multiple industry publications, including the New York Times where he was referred to as a “web marketing guru.” Today, when Sheridan is not giving riveting and passion-filled keynotes around the globe or consulting with businesses and brands, he generally finds himself on an adventure with his wife and 4 children.

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