How Should We Treat Our Homepages?

[Ryuzaki]

The past few days were me with my head completely wrapped up in finalizing a homepage design. Finally when I finished I began page speed optimization, which made me question the usefulness of every feature.

This question led me to ponder about monetization of the homepage, which I ultimately removed. That led me to question the purpose of a homepage altogether.

I've not given it a lot of thought because I realized it could make for solid discussion here.

What are homepages for? How should we treat them? What function should they serve?

This answer will be different for Magazine sites, versus eCommerce sites, versus hard-sell Landers.

___________



In my mind, I was thinking about authority magazine style sites. I figured any kind of CPC advertising was just cheap in value and image. That probably hurts the image of the brand to have ads on the homepage of all places. I felt it should funnel new visitors to the best content and return visitors to the newest content. Same goes for page rank juice and whatever other metrics flow like that. I figure if monetization is going to happen there, it has to be very premium ad space sold to select and specific buyers, not filled by some random network.

What do these questions mean to you, and what answers would you provide?

 

[contract]

1. Tell the user what the site/service/product is about. (Fast and easy)

2. Convey a reason/entice the user to take another possible action. (Article, shop deeper, opt-in, etc.)

3. Social proof, validation. (Photo of celebrity using product, 1 million readers, etc.)

A landing page is no different. It's just stripped down to force the user into taking a specific action. Opt-in/CTA button placement and copy/highlights.

 

[lion1978]

Imo the homepage should give your visitor/audience a clear vision as to what your site is about and why they should listen/read what you have to say or offer in a authorative way that at the same time lets the user knows that this page is made for them and to serve your ego basically turning every I on the page into a YOU and ofcourse have a cta.

I figure if monetization is going to happen there, it has to be very premium ad space sold to select and specific buyers, not filled by some random network.

I agree with you on this point and I really do wish more people either did, or just took two minutes out of there time and think about HOW the term banner blindness came about, could it be becouse we are canstantly bombarded with ads everywhere. Unfortunatly for most media and one man army media the solution to a drop in ad revenue is to throw more ads on the page instead of removing ads and charging more per ad unit.

 

[Ryuzaki]

3. Social proof, validation.

I was thinking about having a spot on my homepage for "As seen in..." and then show the logo's for all of the big sites I end up getting mentions and links with, whether they are the gigantic generalized sites or the big dogs in my vertical. I think that's more powerful than showing the # of FB fans and Twitter followers, etc., since everyone knows how easy that is to fake these days.

Unfortunatly for most media and one man army media the solution to a drop in ad revenue is to throw more ads on the page instead of removing ads and charging more per ad unit.

I was thinking a lot about native advertising. Having companies submit content or I/my team writes it, but it gets pinned/stickied to the homepage for a certain amount of time. It wouldn't be about selling links, although I'd allow them to be there.. it'd be about funneling traffic from the homepage into that article and promoting it socially as a large PR package. Like you said, it'd be the type of ad package where one sale would allow me to not have a ton of crappy ads all over the site for months (especially the homepage).

In the same vein, I have a blog section that's for quick-fix low-brow entertainment where I do traffic leaks. That section has Adsense in optimized places, and I'll likely add some CPM style ads too. Cuz it's a quick win with cheap traffic. But the serious, intellectual sections don't have all that. They have slick affiliate links where you can purchase the items we're talking about.

So yeah, things have their place... but what has a place on the homepage? I'm consolidating some of the answers here...

• Explain site/service/product/concept
• Push/Allow for next action
• Social/Authority proofs
• If monetization, it needs to be high value / minimum quantity

Lots of good things to think about here.

 

[Calamari]

since everyone knows how easy that is to fake these days

The average web surfer has no clue how easy it is to fake that stuff. It's mostly people like us that do.

Hardly anyone lands on my homepage. The people that click the home button after they are done with the page that they landed on are looking for another interesting article. So in most cases I simply showcase my best content without cluttering the landscape with ads.

I might have some sitewide CPM ads below the fold but that's about the extent of it.

 

[lion1978]

I was thinking about having a spot on my homepage for "As seen in..." and then show the logo's for all of the big sites I end up getting mentions and links with, whether they are the gigantic generalized sites or the big dogs in my vertical. I think that's more powerful than showing the # of FB fans and Twitter followers, etc., since everyone knows how easy that is to fake these days.

that is an exelent idea, but consider showcasing it in the header just with logos, then also make a section on the site for it preferably with links and cal it "in the press" or something along the lines of "press room"

I was thinking a lot about native advertising. Having companies submit content or I/my team writes it, but it gets pinned/stickied to the homepage for a certain amount of time. It wouldn't be about selling links, although I'd allow them to be there.. it'd be about funneling traffic from the homepage into that article and promoting it socially as a large PR package. Like you said, it'd be the type of ad package where one sale would allow me to not have a ton of crappy ads all over the site for months (especially the homepage).

exelent idea if I may say so.

The average web surfer has no clue how easy it is to fake that stuff. It's mostly people like us that do.

yeah it is kinda scarry how little people know, most people dont even know that they are leaving a shit ton of personal information about them selfs when they log in to firefox, and that all the information can be found by a simple google search, eeven their login details