www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Conversion
Rate Checklist Report:
Home Page Optimization
7 Ways...
To Optimize the
Performance of
Your Home Page.
By Nick Usborne
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Introduction
Home pages can be tricky, simply because they not only have their
own job to do, but also have to support a group of key interior
pages.
In other words, while your home page has several tasks it has to
achieve in terms of presenting your company or organization to the
public, it also has to serve as an index for other important areas of
your site.
- A home page is where you need to present your unique value
proposition, with total clarity.
- It is where you have to both excite and reassure your readers, both
at the same time.
- It has to be clear and simple...but also direct readers forward to the
interior pages they are looking for.
In this short guide you will see the checklist I use when writing
home pages... whether a site has a total of ten pages or a thousand
pages.
Nick Usborne
ExcessVoice.com
October 2008
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
2
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
#1: Is the principal home page headline
clearly communicating your site’s
underlying value proposition?
This is job one. When first-time visitors arrive at your site, they have
a purpose in mind. They are looking for something.
The job of your principal headline is to communicate quickly and
clearly the primary value proposition of your site.
That is to say, you need to let people know what your site is about,
and why it is better than all the competing sites that offer similar
products or services.
This is a tough job at the best of times. But it gets harder when you
burden your headline with extra duties.
So stay focused. Understand what your visitor is looking for.
Communicate your promise and value quickly and clearly.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
3
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Example: Hansen’s Clothing
Free Shipping
Save Up to 50%
Largest Selection
Custom Tailoring
Hand Picking
Duane Hansen
Hansen’s is one of hundreds, if not thousands of sites which sells
clothes.
However, Hansen’s does a great job of communication their value
proposition.
In fact, just within the headline space they pack in a huge number of
points of difference and interest.
One bonus is the fact that the owner is a third-generation owner,
and is still active within the company. This kind of gem can make a
huge difference in making your audience feel your company is both
different and trustworthy.
Is there some unique aspect to your own company you could use as
a point of differentiation?
TASK #1: Reassess your home page headline and make
sure it clearly communicates your unique value
proposition and separates your site from its competitors.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
4
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
#2: Are you using short introductory text to
clarify and expand on the main headline?
Not every value proposition can be communicated completely in ten
words or less.
You may be able to get close. But if you have a business that offers a
number of different product or service categories, you are better off
keeping your headline simple, and then using some short
introductory text to expand on your message and clarify.
Place this text directly beneath your headline, so there is a natural
flow from one to the other. Don’t make your readers have to search
for this clarifying copy.
In other words, be aware of the eye-path of your readers. If you
want someone to read a block of text immediately after reading your
headline, place it within the same column, with the same margins,
one following directly after the other.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
5
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Example: 37 Signals
This text beneath the headline
helps clarify what the company
offers and how it is different.
In addition, within the first
screen, they also name and
describe their four software
products.
This home page, which takes up just one screen on your monitor, is
remarkably simple and clean.
Imagine how they could have built the page, with a large image of
someone working at his or her computer, and then areas devoted to
product descriptions, with additional photos, plus sections about
their company and so on.
Instead, they keep it clean and say just enough about who they are
and what their products achieve.
TASK #2: Take a look at the first blocks of introductory
text on your home page, and make sure that the they
explain the value and contents of your site with crystal
clarity.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
6
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
#3: Is it easy for visitors to find what they
are looking for?
Unless you have a single product or single service, you are going to
have to help people find the second-level page that best matches
their immediate interest.
If 80% of your visitors end up going to just three or four of your
second level pages first, make links to these pages easy to find on
your home page.
This sounds obvious, but home pages are often cluttered with too
many featured links.
Use your navigation links to provide access to all areas of your site.
But make a feature of the links that best serve the needs of the
majority of your visitors.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
7
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Example: My Wedding Favors
The top “money”
links are given a
primary position on
the first screen.
Other second-level
links are listed within
themed groups, to
make it easier to find
what visitors are
looking for.
When you have a site with hundreds or even thousands of products,
it’s important to help people find what they are looking for.
First, if there are four or five products or categories that a large
percentage of readers visit, give those links special prominence on
the first screen.
Then, if you have a large number of categories, group them by
product type or theme, so people will be able to scan the list
headings and zero in on their area of interest quickly.
TASK #3: Look carefully at your subheads and links, and
make sure you are making it as simple as possible for
first-time visitors to find what they are looking for.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
8
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
#4: Are you actively telling people what to
do?
Some web site homepages offer a variety of options and links, but
do little help the reader forward.
In other words, the reader is left on his or her own, to decide which
of the various links to follow.
Passive links are sometimes appropriate, usually on sites which are
essentially product catalogs . But in most cases this passive approach
will reduce your conversion, simply because you are failing to create
forward momentum.
Forward momentum is critical to conversion.
Identify your key second level pages and then create prominent
links on the home page that drive people forward.
Give these links prominence, and include an active verb as the first
word.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
9
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Example: Google Adsense
Active verb
Active verb
Active verb
Again, this page is very simple. But the use of active verbs at the
beginning of headlines, subheads and directions creates a sense of
movement.
Wherever you look on the page, you are being directed to do
something, to move forward, achieve the next step.
Telling people what to do is the first step in creating momentum and
converting visitors to buyers.
TASK #4: If you have one or more second level “money
pages”, be sure that you use active verbs in your links to
these pages, and give these links prominence on your
home page.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
10
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
#5: Are you capturing visitors’ email
addresses?
Most visitors who arrive at your site for the first time will not
purchase your product or service during their first visit.
And most will never return to your site again.
So whenever possible, and if appropriate, encourage them to sign up
for a newsletter, a free download, an email sequence...or something
else.
This can apply to every site that delivers content in the form of
articles or reviews. It applies to every site for consultants or other
service providers. And it can also apply to many sites that sell
products.
When you invite someone to sign up, offer them something free as a
reward. In other words, give them more than you are asking from
them.
This gift could be an ebook, a white paper, a case study, a guide. The
list is endless.
Offer something of real value to your audience and you will increase
the number of new subscribers.
And once you have someone on your list, you will be in a position to
keep in touch with him or her for months and years to come.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
11
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Example: debbieweil.com
This consultant is
collecting contact
information from
prospective clients
and customers.
Whether you are selling products or services, it is often going to
make sense to collect contact information from as many site visitors
as possible.
Email address collection may not always be a priority for your home
page, but it often is.
And if you want to collect as many email addresses as possible, be
sure to place your sign-up form in a prominent position, and offer
something free in return for the email address.
TASK #5: Place sign up forms in a prominent position on
your home page, and offer something of value, for free, in
return for someone sharing their email address.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
12
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
#6: Are you making your first-time visitors
feel comfortable and confident?
When visitors come to your site for the first time, they will feel
unsure about you – unless you are a nationally recognized brand.
They will need reassurance. They need to know they can trust you.
And they want to know that you really can give them what they are
looking for.
There are numerous ways to build trust, including the use of thirdparty seals from organizations like the Better Business Bureau
Online.
But a major factor in building trust is demonstrating that you’re
“there”. In other words, give people plenty of ways in which they
can contact you.
Your home page is rarely a sales page. The selling will take place on
the second or third levels.
So on your homepage, avoid hype. Write simply, clearly and
honestly. Make your page and your text useful and helpful.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
13
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Example: MyWeddingFavors, again. But just the top
part.
Third-party seal
Live chat
Third party endorsement
Toll-free phone number
Within just the header space, this page takes various important steps
to make a first-time visitor feel at ease.
The visitor may have never been here before, and may never have
heard of the company.
But within a few moments he or she will feel at ease, simply because
the site has been endorsed by outside parties, and because there is
both a toll-free phone number and live chat available.
It doesn’t matter whether or not a visitor actually uses the phone
number or chat function. What is important is that they are
available.
TASK #6: Reduce anxiety to a minimum by using third
party seals and endorsements, and easy ways to contact
your company, high up on the page.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
14
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
#7: Are you fighting company stakeholders
who insist on complicating the page?
This isn’t a problem for small companies. But as soon as a company
has more than one department or division, the heads of these
departments will start fighting for their own block of “real estate” on
the company’s home page.
As soon as this is allowed to happen...as soon as you start carving
up the home page in order to find space for the company’s
stakeholders...bad things start to happen.
First of all, instead of your home page being visitor-centric, it
becomes company-centric.
Designers and writers will find themselves forced to create the page
in order to please their company, instead of pleasing their visitors.
And before you know it, you have one of those dead, corporate blah
blah home pages.
If and when you see the first signs of “stakeholder pressure”, it’s
time to start fighting.
Everything on your home page should be visitor-centric. Every
word and design element should work to attract, engage and hold
onto each visitor.
Any other approach will have a disastrous effect on your conversion
rates.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
15
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Example: Apple
The product is
positioned as the
hero, not the
company.
Apple is a huge corporation, selling computers, iPods, software and
a variety of services. They also have shareholders, company stories
to tell and a whole lot more.
However, they do not burden their home page, or their visitors, with
all these different stories.
Instead, rather than trying to make their company the hero of the
home page, they focus attention on their products. After all, it’s the
products they are trying to sell.
It takes a great deal of internal discipline to take this approach. This
page could be enormously complex, with multiple elements fighting
for the reader’s attention.
They have done a good job in keeping it uncluttered and focused on
what most site visitors want to see.
TASK #7: Look at every element on your home page and
ask, “Does this move the visitor forward to making a
purchase or completing a registration?” If it doesn’t, fight
hard to have it removed.
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
16
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Conclusion
Print out this final page and make sure you give a copy to everyone
within your company or organization who is responsible for your
web site home page.
Following this simple checklist every time a change is made to your
home page can have a dramatic impact on your conversion rates and
revenues.
#1: Is the principal home page headline clearly communicating
your site’s underlying value proposition?
#2: Are you using short introductory text to clarify and expand
on the main headline?
#3: Is it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for?
#4: Are you actively telling people what to do?
#5: Are you capturing visitors’ email addresses?
#6: Are you making your first-time visitors feel comfortable
and confident?
#7: Are you fighting company stakeholders who insist on
complicating the page?
Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com
17
www.getwsodownload.com
www.getwsodownload.com
Top Web-Copy
Consultant to Yahoo, Microsoft,
and Disney Shows You How to Write and Implement
Blockbuster Web Copy in Record Time …
… Techniques That Are Proven to Increase Online Sales
By 100% … 250% … Even 800% Or More!
Writing copy for the web is NOT the same as writing offline copy.
There are key techniques that can spell the difference between success and disaster.
For the first time in his career, online copywriting expert Nick Usborne has finally agreed
to reveal all of his secrets in the most comprehensive program for writing top-notch,
blockbuster web copy in record time – regardless of your experience.
To ensure your success, it’s been organized in a very easy-to-follow, logical way that anyone can understand, in four easy-to-digest sections:
Section 1: The Nuts and Bolts Behind Good Web Copy
You’ll find out why the web is such a different marketing medium,
and the steps and processes you need to go through in order to write
online copy that converts.
Section 2: Proven Strategies to Create Web Pages That Sell
You’ll learn how to write the many different types of pages on a website, including home pages, sales pages, subscription pages, landing
pages and more, while discovering dozens of simple, proven approaches that dramatically increase results.
Section 3: Writing Emails, E-Newsletters, and Blogs
You’ll learn how to write promotional emails, customer service emails, e-newsletters
and other communication vehicles.
Section 4: Nick’s “Million-Dollar” Tips for Blockbuster Web Copy
Once you have learned the most effective approaches for copywriting across all online
channels, you’ll get detailed insights into what works best, and what doesn’t work at all.
So whether you’re looking for a new freelance business opportunity, looking to work from
home, looking to increase sales for your own business, or want to earn more money, Nick
Usborne’s Million-Dollar Secrets to Online Copywritingcan be your ticket to success!
For more information call Barb, Pat or Debbie at 1-866-879-2924 today or go to:
www.awaionline.com/we/writefortheweb/
American Writers & Artists Inc.
245 NE 4th Avenue ● Suite 102 ● Delray Beach, FL 33483
www. awaionline.com