A website’s homepage greets online visitors like a home’s entryway welcomes guests. The experience might impress them, make them feel welcome, or even overwhelm them. Thoughtful, functional homepage designs can do wonders to set the tone for online interactions and improve long-term user satisfaction.

Decades of human memory research have shown that people tend to remember the first and last parts of an encounter better than anything from the middle. Known as the Serial Position Effect, its principle of primacy suggests that website viewers generally have a better recollection of the homepage than any other part of the website, except perhaps the last page they viewed.

It’s worth the time to craft the homepage carefully. Studies indicate that design choices significantly affect a user’s initial impression of a web page. One series of studies suggests people form an opinion about a website’s visual appeal in as little as 50 milliseconds. This first impression will likely persist thanks to the primacy effect!

Welcome Your Visitors In

The homepage can set the mood for the viewer’s entire journey through the website. A good design team can create the right aesthetic that fits the business’s brand identity and invites visitors to stay and explore. Including images and media from across the marketing campaign can emphasize the benefits future customers can expect to enjoy from placing an order.

Open the Doors to Everyone

Accessibility

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that all public spaces in the USA, including websites, provide accommodation for people who live with disabilities. Seasoned pro web designers understand how to comply with the ADA. Assistive online solutions to include:  

• Large or bold text
• Screen zoom
• Non-color-dependent visual cues
• Keyboard navigation

Mobile Platforms

Mobile devices accounted for 58% of global website traffic in the second quarter of 2022. A homepage that displays poorly on phones and tablets locks out over half of the people who want to come in and shop. Good web professionals can ensure a site meets mobile technical requirements. A clean, focused homepage aesthetic can do a lot to help mobile performance, too.

Top-Level View of Products and Services

Prospective customers and clients may find their way to the website through search engines, social media, advertisements, or listings on other sites. Still, the homepage is the first authoritative statement of the business’s full scope of offerings.

Lead Shoppers to the Answers They Want

A homepage with too much detail about the company’s business, or product options risks overloading the user with too much information. A more imaginative design can guide visitors with a more general, digestible roadmap that links to specific product pages. Intuitive site navigation starts with the homepage and can make it easy for users to move around the site as they shop.

When you find your Blue Zone, you’ll have everything from reputation management strategies to time-saving brand management tools. For top-notch service and creative solutions, get in touch with Blue Zone Marketing today!

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