Creative Web Design Solutions That Work For Creating Your Homepages

Your website rises or falls with your homepage, so make it good. You don't get a second chance to make a first impression. If visitors are leaving in droves, your site isn't going to make any money, and visitors may tell their friends about that horrible Geocities-like site they visited. Even worse, the site may get a poor ranking and not be noticed by sites that could provide back links.

You can increase the odds of success by watching out for a few simple pitfalls.

Pitfalls to Avoid When Designing a Homepage

The first place to look when assessing problems is the design of the landing page. It's easy to set these things right:

* Long blocks of text that seem to never end! (This is especially true with very small font.) When paragraphs are broken down into smaller segments with more sub headings, it is easier to read.
* Confusing page layout
* An overabundance of applications and graphics on the page
* Problematic to navigate
* Errors of various kinds
* Outlandish colors
* Cheap graphics
* Spammy look
* Pages take too long to load
* Non-contextual or poor images
* Programs that unexpectedly play music
* Pop up ads
* Strange graphics
* Some browsers cannot view the entire page
* The landing page includes old or outdated information.

Improving the Website Image

The problems listed below require more in-depth review and feedback from other sources.

* The site doesn't really say what it's selling
* The webmaster doesn't know who he's selling to
* The landing page causes visitors to scratch their heads in confusion
* The landing page promises a ho-hum site experience

Successful Website Ecommerce

That last point is incredibly important. Your home page is your storefront. The webmaster has to know how to think like a visitor when designing the homepage for a small business website. Serve up unique, quality content, and perhaps some free offers, to keep visitors coming back. One way to keep visitors coming back is to have a subscription box that allows customers to leave their email addresses in order to be notified of updates to the site.

Remedies for a Great Landing Page

The best way to figure out what users want to see on a landing page is to simply ask them. If you want brutally honest feedback about the quality of your landing page, think about giving an anonymous survey to trusted clients.

How to Fix Your Home Page

It is absolutely necessary to have an attractive, inviting homepage if you want a successful website. Very basic things like the way the images and text look can make a big difference in the performance level of a website. It is essential to keep everything basic. While you're thinking about what to include, also think about what to leave out. A survey may help you figure out why people aren't clicking past the homepage.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. InfoServe Media is a web site designer and web hosting company. If you would rather make a Do-It-Yourself website, InfoServe Media also offers a way to create a site yourself with a very powerful and easy to use site builder. They also provide domain registration, search engine optimization (SEO) and more.