5 Ways You Can Ensure Your Website’s Homepage Provides A Great First Impression

When someone lands on a business’ website, they tend to come across the homepage first. This means that you need to figure out what to put on your homepage to make a great first impression.

To get people’s attention, earn their trust, and ultimately make more sales, you need to ensure that your website’s homepage is top-notch. In this article, we’re going to outline how you can get the most out of your website’s homepage.

Let’s get started.

Highlight what makes you stand out from the competition

One of the main reasons you want to give off a positive first impression is to get your website visitors to shop with you instead of your competitors. So, on your homepage, focus on highlighting what helps you to stand out from the crowd!

You can make yourself stand out by showing off what’s unique about your business, highlighting results you’ve gotten for past customers, or putting a spotlight on a new promo you’re running. These are all great elements to include on your homepage to help you stand out from the competition. Stay on top of industry trends, as well — this can help show that you’re an industry leader.

To provide you with inspiration, let’s look at a few examples of businesses that show how they stand out from the competition on their homepage.

Reid Supply, an industrial component manufacturer, shows how they stand out from the competition in several ways. To start, they offer a bit of backstory about their company, noting that they began as a small business that has grown to serve brands across the United States. Additionally, they note that they have hassle-free customer service, can provide quotes in 4 hours or less, and offer same-day shipping on stock items. 

The backstory provides a great first impression. Many people like to know the people behind the business they are planning to spend money with. Additionally, the three icons give concrete reasons why website visitors should shop with Reid Supply. On your website, consider how you can humanize your business with a short story or a bit of history. Furthermore, using icons to highlight specific unique features is an easy way to show why prospective customers should choose your business over your competitors.

OptinMonster, an email marketing company, does something similar on their homepage. 

They have a series of icons all under a single header, which states “Minimal Setup, Impressive Results”. So, any website visitor can see why they should choose OptinMonster over a competitor — they offer lead capture forms, page level targeting, A/B testing, and more. Furthermore, they boast that they are the #1 most powerful conversion optimization toolkit in the world. 

On your website, don’t be afraid to be proud of the unique features your business offers. Shout about it!

Showcase your qualifications and accolades

If your business has received certain qualifications or awards that prove you’re good at what you do, show them off on your homepage! These can act as concrete proof that you’re skilled and get results. They’re great for earning your target audience’s trust and making more sales. 

Be sure that any qualifications you highlight are relevant to your business right off the bat. You don’t want to have to do too much explaining on your homepage in terms of what your award or accolades are.

Let’s look at a few examples of businesses that highlight accolades on their homepage well.

My Visa Source, an immigration law firm in Toronto, showcases their accolades at the bottom of their homepage. As you can see, they have several! 

People looking to get a Canadian visa know that it can be a complex and difficult process. By outlining the different types of awards they have received in the past, they show website visitors that they are experts in immigration law. 

Think about what kinds of awards you’ve received that are relevant to your work, and that will help to put customers’ minds at ease. Then make a song and dance about them. 

Purple, an online mattress retailer, does something similar on their website. 

They highlight an award they received with Mattresses Online by J.D. Power. For two years in a row, they have received the #1 spot in customer satisfaction. Purple knows that “customer satisfaction” can mean a lot of things — to prove the award’s worth to the customer, they outline some of the details. Specifically, Purple ranked highly in support, comfort, price value, and more. If you have an award like this, where it isn’t initially clear to the reader what it means, consider giving more details on the scoring as Purple has.

Show off any positive reviews you’ve received from past customers

Similarly, if you’ve received positive reviews or testimonials from your past customers, highlight them on your homepage. They will serve as additional proof that your past customers and clients think you’re great at what you do.

Product-based businesses might wish to stick to star ratings — this can help make it easier for customers to compare similar products. Service-based businesses, however, tend to be better off using longer testimonials that provide more context.

You can collect reviews from your customers with follow-up emails after they’ve made a purchase. Simply ask for a review or a survey completion — it could be worth it to offer a small discount as an incentive. For longer testimonials, consider conducting interviews with past clients.

Let’s break down a few examples of businesses that include positive reviews on their homepages to provide you with inspiration for your own site.

Pedrick Law Group, a divorce attorney and family law firm, highlights reviews from past clients on their homepage. 

Long-form testimonials like this are very important for sensitive fields like law. The company works with very sensitive family issues and complex financial matters and, by including reviews, they can show that they are a caring, knowledgeable, and professional business. 

This humanizes the law firm and puts website visitors’ minds at ease. If you run a business that often handles difficult subject matters like finance, law, or healthcare, use testimonials to show that you are excellent at what you do.

Jambys, on the other hand, uses short-form reviews to show them in a positive light. Jambys is a seller of sweats and loungewear, so it’s important for their customers to know that their products are comfortable! 

By showing off some of their reviews in a series of chat bubbles, Jambys makes an excellent first impression. On your own website, consider whether it’s practical for you to show off a bunch of reviews in a similar manner. This can build trust with your target audience!

Add imagery that shows your business in the best light

Imagery is a very effective tool that can help your target audience feel more connected to your business. The right imagery can get people excited about your products and tempted to make a purchase. On your homepage, be sure to use effective imagery that shows your business in the best light. 

There are a lot of different ways you can incorporate high-quality imagery into the design of your website. You can use images or videos that show how your products work, introduce your staff to humanize your business, create illustrations or diagrams that help customers better understand what you do, or show off photography of people who represent your ideal customers.

Generally speaking, you should try to create your own imagery rather than sticking to only stock photos. Stock photos can work as effective header images but aren’t very helpful when it comes to boosting your SEO on Google Image Search. So, create your own images wherever you can!

Take a look at Brand Glow Up’s article for more tips on creating visual content.

Make it incredibly easy for people to take the next step

After grabbing people’s attention with your homepage, you then want to move them on to checking out your products or services to get them even closer to making a purchase. Be sure that it’s clear and easy for your website visitors to take the next step with your business! This is part of providing a positive user experience, and showing that you respect your customers’ time and want to make the sales process as convenient for them as possible.

Here are a few different ways that you can make it easy for your customers to take the next step with your business.

• With a special search tool that can take them to the exact products they need
• By making multiple contact options apparent throughout your homepage, so visitors can easily get in touch
• With a simple and streamlined navigation menu that helps people find what they need
• With clear and defined calls to action that tell the reader exactly what to do next

If you don’t make it clear to the customer how they can take the next step with your business, they might leave before making a purchase. Be sure that you steer them in the right direction.

Summary

Think of your website’s homepage as your virtual storefront. It has to make a good first impression if you want to make more sales! In this article, we outlined how you can do that through client testimonials, accolades and awards, great imagery, and more. Take a look at your homepage and see what needs to be done!

Need more help designing a top-notch website? Brand Glow Up can help. They offer a variety of digital marketing services, including web design, branding, and more.

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Author bio & headshot:

Adam Steele is the COO at Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner for agencies and marketers. We build easy-to-use SEO services that help businesses scale. If you liked this article, please check out our SEO guides and templates on the Loganix blog.