Elements of good home page design
Home pages are often the point of entry to websites by first-time visitors. It is therefore important that your home page's design attracts the attention of visitors, retains their interest and then easily lets them access the section of your website that they require.
Popular home page designs
There are two popular ways to design a home page. The first method is to use the same design and navigational structure (links people use to move around your site) as other webpages on your site. The second method involves creating a new webpage design that differs to, yet also compliments, the rest of the site.
Creating a home page that uses the same design as other pages on your site ensures that your site's navigational structure is accessible to visitors from the beginning, and therefore makes it easy for them to quickly access the information they are looking for. Return visitors in particular will appreciate this type of home page design because they will already be familiar with the navigational structure.
Using this design method also maximises the versatility of your home page. Because the navigational structure will already be integrated into the home page, the page's remaining space can be used to promote individual sections of your site and this information can be changed on a regular basis to keep repeat visitors interested and make it clear that your website's content is updated on a regular basis.
This differs to the second home page design method where a new webpage design is used and the existing navigational structure is therefore not in place. In this instance, the majority of the home page's content will need to focus on informing visitors about each section of your site rather than promoting selected sections in greater detail.
The home page design method you choose for your own site will ultimately depend on your personal preference as well as the size of your site. Larger sites are often better suited to the first design method, which gives a better hierarchical overview of each section and sub-section for navigation purposes. Smaller sites on the other hand tend to benefit from the second home page design method which allows more detailed content to be displayed, therefore helping to increase the retention rate of people visiting your site for the first time.
Optimising home pages for search engines
Search engines often use the text contained on a home page to determine your site's relevance to certain keywords. The text is also used to describe your site in search results.
It is therefore recommended that a good descriptive sentence about your site is placed towards the top of your home page. This should occur even if your home page has been designed to act as an "entrance" page that contains only a welcome graphic and an "Enter Here" link.
Home pages and site navigation
It is considered good Web design practice to let visitors easily return to a site's home page by clicking only a single hyperlink from any webpage throughout your site.
A link to your site's home page should therefore form part of each webpage's navigational structure. In addition, if your website has a logo at the top of each page, the logo should act as a hyperlink that when clicked, returns the website visitor back to the home page.
