|
You only get one chance to make a first impression. Especially on
the Internet, where your competitors are just a click away, that
first impression can be crucial. For a lot of people, your homepage
is the first point of contact with your web site or even your
company. The importance f this page cannot be overestimated. Users
expect a homepage to tell them what a company does and what kind of
information, products or services they can find on the web site.
Accessible
A web site can only be successful when everybody has
easy access to it. That goes for the web site as a whole, but for
the homepage that goes double. When a surfer types in a web site's
url in the browser's address bar, he expects the site's homepage to
appear. Don't block the access to the homepage with obstacles like
Flash intros or forever returning language choice pages, like
Reynaers Aluminium does. Those things are
extremely annoying, especially for loyal visitors of your site. If
your site is available in several languages make sure your language
choice page only appears once so users have immediate access to the
homepage in their language of choice.
Logo and tag line
Put your company's logo in the top left corner
of the page, together with a tag line that says what you do and what
makes you different from your competitors. Don't be vague like Bayer, whose "Expertise with Responsibility" doesn't say
anything about the line of business Bayer is in. Janssen
Pharmaceutica's "Working together on health" is a lot more
informative and at least indicates the company is involved in the
health industry.
What's on the site?
Generally speaking, your logo and tag line
should be enough to make clear who you are and what you do. The rest
of the homepage can be used to draw attention to the information
that's most interesting for your visitors. The average user wants to
see at a glance what your company and site have to offer him. Don't
just sum up what you have but give examples, like the
Belgian Post does. One short product
description is a lot more effective than a long list of vague
product categories. Don't be tempted to use flashy buttons or
slogans to advertise your own products. Most users don't like flashy
ads and they won't click them. A good picture with an informative
teaser works a lot better.
Above the page fold
Users have the tendency to scroll only when
they think there's something interesting below the page fold. Always
put the most important things above the
page fold in a resolution of 800x600. If you have so much
interesting information that you have to put some of it underneath
the page fold, make it clear to users that scrolling is going to be
worth their while. Try to limit the length of your homepage to two
scrolls. Users don't mind scrolling, as long as it's not too much.
Having said that, users don't like near empty homepages either.
Don't be like political party Agalev, whose homepage is only half
full in a resolution of 1024x768. An information overload isn't a
good idea but there's no need to starve your users either.
Els Aerts & Karl Gilis
|
