Your Homepage Shouldn’t Read Like A Business Card
Here are the signs that your home page isn’t selling your product or service.
There are two types of website homepages: ones that act as a business card, and ones that sell.
Business card homepages describe the who, what, and how of a brand.
Sales-focused home pages highlight the us and you between a brand and their customers. One style is all about the brand, and the other is all about the customer.
Unfortunately, the majority of the startups I come across have a business card home page when they really should have a sales-focused home page. This leads to sales that never close and ideal customers who drop off because they’ve missed the pitch.
Curious if your home page is reading as a business card? Here’s what the distinction is like, and how to convert a business card into a more sales-focused home page.
Description vs. Connection
When you land on your website, does it feel like a description of what you do? Or like you’re having a conversation about your customer’s biggest pain point?
It may feel counterintuitive to deprioritize a full page of describing what you do on your home page, but if you think about what a new shopper is looking for when they browse, it makes sense.
A new shopper is looking for confirmation that 1) you sell what they’re looking for, and 2) you understand them, the problem they’re seeking answers for, and that you’re apt to provide the perfect solution.
They are looking for that bridge between what they currently want and what you currently can give. They are looking for connection, and if your description of what you do is removed of making a connection to their experience, your words won’t be as meaningful.
To flip your home page, make sure that its content answers these questions continuously throughout the page:
What does my customer struggle with?
What would relieve their pain? Why?
Why does my solution/product offer transformational relief?
What can I show to prove this?
Summaries vs. Curated Journeys
Another important distinction between business card vs. sales-focused home pages is the choice to guide your shopper through a curated journey or to just hit them with summaries of your business’ work on your home page.
Decision fatigue is very real and many of us don’t want to receive a platter of information pools to swim in when being introduced to a new brand. This is how a lot of homepages organize their information — they provide snippets of all different parts of their website on their homepage without expression of intentionality behind that presentation.
It’s much more impactful to offer a short, curated tour of what’s amazing about you while saying and showing your best for a first impression, rather than letting shoppers DIY that experience for themselves.
To change this on your home page, think through the journey a shopper has to go through in order to convert from a shopper to a customer.
What is the end action you want your customer to take after meeting you for the first time? To engage further with you by subscribing to your email list? Follow you on Instagram? Read one of your blog posts?
What is the curated experience you need to create on your website to help your customer reach that goal?
I write thoughtful, personal Friday morning emails called The Crux to help entrepreneurs turn their startup chase into a victory lap. Join here to get my best musings in your inbox.
