The Perfect Homepage

The Million Dollar Homepage is a website conceived in 2005 by Alex Tew, a student from Wiltshire, England, to raise money for his university education. The home page consists of a million pixels arranged in a 1000 × 1000 pixel grid; the image-based links on it were sold for $1 per pixel in 10 × 10 blocks. The purchasers of these pixel blocks provided tiny images to be displayed on them, a URL to which the images were linked, and a slogan to be displayed when hovering a cursor over the link. The aim of the website was to sell all of the pixels in the image, thus generating a million dollars of income for the creator.

On 1 January 2006, the final 1,000 pixels were put up for auction on eBay. The auction closed on 11 January with a winning bid of $38,100 that brought the final tally to $1,037,100 in gross. (Wikipedia)

What is the true value of a homepage? For some, it may be much more than a million dollars. Here are some tips on what makes a perfect homepage. 

All Audiences

Before getting into specifics, it is critical to remember that some of your users will be new to the brand, and others will be die-hard customers. You must be sure that all the decisions you make when approaching your homepage are applicable to both. 

Who are you? What do you do? What does the visitor receive?

These are the three questions that you should ask yourself when reviewing your homepage. These three questions sum up everything that should be communicated within the top 30% of your homepage. 

Who are you? - Communicate your brand, your slogan, and how you fit into the marketplace. 

What do you do? - How do you implement the above?

What does the visitor receive? - How can you solve a problem for the visitor? 

Call to Action

Believe it or not, most brands will miss this mark. One of the most important aspects of a homepage is a call to action. 

More specifically, placing a call to action above the fold. Whether on a mobile device or desktop, a user should be presented with some type of call to action without having to scroll. This call to action does not have to focus on purchasing per se, but having the user taking some type of action. 

This can a simple button showcasing:

• Shop Best Sellers 
• Shop All Products
• Learn More (About the Brand, Why We Are Different)
• Sign Up (Newsletter, Discounts, Offers)

Clear Navigation

How hard is it for one of your most loyal customers to go from your homepage to their favorite product and purchase? How complicated is it for a new customer to view your best selling products? Or to learn more about why your brand is different?

Clear navigation can be an oversight for many brands. When developing your navigation, it’s important to get opinions from those outside of your organization to ensure things that may be clear to you (and your colleagues) is also clear to those not familiar with your brand. 

Try and use basic structures that are found on a majority of websites. Don’t overwhelm users with too many drop downs. Be concise. If more space is needed, keep in mind that you can always put additional links in your footer. 

Social Proof

“People like us do things like this.” - Seth Godin

This is one of my favorite marketing principles. Short and straightforward. One of the most important aspects of your homepage is going to be a social proof section. This can come in many different forms, but the whole point of this section is convincing a user that they have found the right place. That people like them, are shopping with you. 

Social proof can be implemented in a number of ways:

Customer Reviews - Showcase a diversity of reviews on why your product is so great. 

As Seen In/On - Have you been mentioned on TV shows? Magazines? Websites?

Available at These Retailers - Show what retailers sell your products. 

Video Reviews - One of the best ways to truly grab a user’s attention. 

Statistics - “Over 1 Million Satisfied Customers!” 

These are just a few of the most important aspects of a homepage. Be sure to utilize the above along with strong branding, great typography, clear statements, and strong visuals. All of these elements will allow you to turn more users into customers. 

Now go and grow.

J