How to craft a compelling homepage: the movie trailer of the website world
One of the single most important pages of your website is the homepage. It is the most visited page of a website and can make or break a client’s first impression of your business. According to a recent study, you only have 50ms to make an impression at all! So yes - the homepage’s contents are worth some careful consideration!
We want to suggest that your homepage is a little bit like the movie trailer for your website. A trailer is not the entire film. Your homepage should be an overview, not your entire business. The purpose of a trailer is to lure cinema goers into buying a ticket. A homepage then should persuade visitors to click and check out more of your website. Let’s dive in behind the scenes and discuss the 5 Cs of crafting a compelling homepage.
Concise Catchy Copy
With a film trailer, you instantly know the genre: rom com, action, fantasy or thriller. You also get a preview into the plot; a montage of key, headline moments in the story, telling viewers what lies in store. You don’t get told the extraneous detail such as Beggar Woman 4 groans at reluctant Prince (dressed in disguise). He is moved, pushing him a step closer to challenging his treacherous Uncle and ending his oppressive rule. It's too much!
The same principles apply when it comes to the words on your homepage. You do not want to overwhelm visitors with a thesis. With time being of the essence (50ms guys), it is important that your website’s visitors quickly know they are in the right place. Distil and communicate what you do and your key messages. Make it easy for them to find the answers they seek.
When you are privy to all the intricate details of your business, it can be quite hard to decipher what information is important to feature on your homepage. Naturally, all the details have significance and importance to you. However, this is when you need to take a step back and into your customers’ shoes.
The copy on your homepage should answer the following questions. Who are you? What do you offer? Why should they pick you? The latter is articulating your unique selling point (USP).Try to identify your ideal customer’s pain points and make it abundantly clear you have THE solution.
Once you have defined your key points, you then need to communicate them in an engaging way. Reeling off a list of facts can be rather boring. What if a trailer voiceover read like this? ‘There was a boy and a girl, who annoyed each other. Circumstances forced them to spend time together. They realised they had more in common than they thought. Start to like each other. Fall in love. The end.’ Doesn’t exactly capture the imagination, does it?
When drafting copy, here are some widely accepted tips you can implement to make it more engaging:
Write as you would say it - when you opt for a conversational tone, you naturally avoid lengthy, complex sentences. You also connect more with your reader.
Get rid of jargon - what may seem obvious to you may mean nothing to your reader. It is the curse of knowledge. Jargon can be alienating to prospective customers.
Tell stories and harness emotions - stories and emotions stick. They are memorable and motivate us to act.
Break up copy into small manageable chunks - easier to read and makes it more accessible.
Vary sentence length and structure - if you don’t, it is the written equivalent of a monotonous speech. Give your copy colour!
If you feel like words are just not your thing, you could consider hiring a copywriter. These wordsmiths know how to communicate the key messages of your business to customers in an engaging way. They will ensure you have all the relevant keywords featured on your website - so you can climb the rankings - whilst packaging them in a way that doesn’t sound like a buzzword soup and more like a human conversation.
Confirmation of Credibility
When a film comes out, many will want to know whether it is worthwhile watching. To ascertain this, some will want to find out who is starring in it? Which actors and actresses are willing to attach their name to a project? As fans of their previous work, they are interested to see future performances. Or, perhaps they scour the news and media outlets for reviews. Is it living up to the hype? Is it credible?
People want to know whether it will be worthwhile reaching into their pockets and parting with their hard earned cash. According to a survey conducted by Power Reviews in 2021, ’98% of consumers feel that reviews are an essential resource when making purchase decisions.‘ It is essential then to establish trust with prospective clients. So why beat around the bush? Prove it, front and centre on your homepage.
Include testimonials from clients in the form of carousels, pull quotes - the ones that pop on the page - or by embedding a third party review app. If you have worked with big names, say so. Get in contact and ask permission to feature their logo on your homepage. To a prospective customer, if a reputable company trusts you with their business, then your services are good enough for them.
Captivating Cinematography
In the edit of a movie trailer, you will see a montage of all the impressive shots: the epic car explosion, the sweeping panoramic views, the devastatingly emotional close up of the performance penned for Best Actor/Actress at the Oscars. A movie trailer’s purpose is to grab attention with visual appeal.
It is vital that your website’s homepage does the same. We have already discussed our thoughts on using high quality professional images in our blog entitled Does my Squarespace website need professional photography? The short answer to that question is yes.
Humans process visual data 60,000 times faster than text. So if you have only 50ms to make an impression, using images is a no brainer! As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. That said, it is a powerful tool that can go one of two ways.
When you invest in high quality images, you send the message that you care and strive for the best; a customer will more readily believe that you can do the same for them. If image quality is poor, it is a red flag and has the opposite effect. So long, farewell custom! It is worthwhile then investing in a curated selection of photos that truly showcase your services and products and make your visitors go wow!
Another form of content to consider is video. According to a study carried out by Wyzowl ‘89% of people say watching a video has convinced them to buy a product or service.’ It is a persuasive tool! A video could be a showreel of your best work, testimonial videos from previous clients or an introductory video for your prospective customers to get to know your team.
Clear Call to Action (CTA)
Almost all movie trailers end with that famous line ‘coming soon to a cinema near you,’ or, nowadays, available on such and such streaming platforms. Although it isn’t an outright call to action, it provides interested parties with clear instructions on when and how they can see the film.
Same goes for your homepage. You may have won them over with stunning visuals, impressive reviews and catchy copy (words), but what is the point if they don’t know where and how to ‘buy a ticket’. Point them in the direction of your services and products.
Ensure your call to actions are clear and concise. Use active verbs such as ‘download’, ‘get’ or ‘by’. You can still add personality. For example, rather than use ‘subscribe’ you could use ‘I’m in’ or ‘Sign me up.’ Just avoid the ambiguous or abstract!
Make the CTA buttons stand out by using contrasting colours. Also think about placement within the page. If positioned higher up the page and above the fold (the part of the page you can see without scrolling) it creates a sense of urgency. Great for limited time offers and actions that are free. If the service you provide requires a bigger investment, it is better to feature it at the bottom of your homepage. It is the visual equivalent of giving a prospective client time to mull over the information before making a commitment.
Cut Above Technical Performance
Finally, the unsung heroes! They get featured in the credits at the end of a film, but they are not mentioned in the trailer. Without their expertise though, the trailer would not look or sound as good as it is. We are talking about the production team - the gaffers, the sound mixers, the colour graders and camera operators (to name but a few). All of these elements of production create a foundation for and enhance the action that takes place.
In website terms, we are talking about technical performance. If a landing page takes forever and age to load, it can be really off-putting to visitors. In this fast paced, instant world, slow loading speeds are a waste of people’s precious time. They will go elsewhere. This can negatively affect your bounce rate and in turn, your search engine rankings.
There are a number of things you can do to improve loading speeds. You can reduce the size of image and logo files or streamline the number of assets (audio, video) on a page. There are tools that can help you achieve this such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights and SEOSpace.
How to craft a compelling homepage: and that’s a wrap!
There you have it, the 5Cs involved in creating a compelling homepage. A quick recap. Like a movie trailer, your homepage needs to: have concise yet catchy copy; confirm your credibility; captivate with stunning visuals (be it images and video); contain a clear call to action; and an optimised technical performance that boosts your rankings, making you a cut above the rest.
If your current homepage has a high bounce rate, takes forever to load or needs the ‘Hollywood’ makeover, our team at Made By Dave would love to hear from you! Together, let’s create a homepage that leads to more conversions than ever before and smashes box office records!