5 tips to improve homepage usability and click throughs

www.79er.com

One of my clients sent me a wireframe of their new homepage the other day and asked my opinion about it from an seo and usability point of view. While reviewing the page I realised that a lot of small businesses are sometimes not aware of basic usability principles and may be missing out on opportunities on their homepage.

Below are 5 simple usability tips that will help your homepage perform better and enhance user experience.

1 - If they can't see it, they won't do it

While this may sound obvious it is worth checking: if your site visitors can't see your content, then they won't click through. So a very simple rule is to keep your important content above the page fold.  Use google analytics to find out what the most popular resolutions are on your site and test the layout accordingly. You can also use the in-page analytics tool to see where and what visitors click on each page.

2 - Think calls to action 

If you own an ecommerce website, then you will want to get revenue out of it. One of the best ways to increase purchases and conversions is to ensure that you guide your visitors and entice them to purchase. In order to achieve this, you need to have clear calls to action displayed prominently across the site, and particularly the homepage. So first, you need to display your phone number, preferably in the header section. This will not only increase calls but will also reassure customers that you are a "real" business. Secondly, you need to decide on other calls to action, based on your objectives (buy now, get a quote, sign up...)

3 - Stay focused

A lot of business owners are so keen to sell and show their products that they display too much information on their homepage. While it is understandable that you have a lot of products to sell, use the homepage to display key information, links to top categories or featured products. Don't try to put a link to everything single item as it will make the layout heavy and will confuse visitors (as well as search engines)

4 - Don't over optimise

SEO is a crucial element of the marketing/sales strategy of any business, however SEO doesn't generate revenue, customers do. So when you optimise your homepage, don't think only of what search engines robots would like to see, put your visitors first. If your content is keyword rich, nicely laid out and organised (use bullet points, anchor links, H tags, titles, descirptions..) it will make sense to search engines and users alike.


5 - Test, test, test
No matter how good you think your new design is, don't forget to test it before putting it live. There are many different tests you can carry on a website, but for a redesign, I'd strongly recommend a comprehensive usability test with independent testers if possible. Cross browser compatibility is also a must as you don't want your shiny new site to break in any browser. So once again, be thorough and test for the most common browsers (and more if possible): Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari....


By following these 5 simple principles you should be able to increase your homepage performance, but as you already know, this is just the beginning.