Remember Your Audience. Remember Your Purpose.

Former elementary school teacher here. Little rant coming your way quick. Buckle up.

I remember in a professional development we had a trainer come in to teach us about how to increase engagement. Now, at the time, I actually liked the strategies and resources this program offered. But you know what turned me off instantly?

The trainer’s voice. 

I know I wasn’t the only one either. We teachers would all flood out of the gym during a break rolling our eyes and mumbling under our breath about how condescending she was and how we weren’t the elementary kids. 

Her good message was lost in poor communication. 

So before we even jump into how to write a homepage, get your brain in the right place:

• Who’s your audience?
• What is your purpose?

In other words: get into the right frame of voice to start your writing. 

Clarity wins…every time.

And again, before you put pencil to paper – ahem, fingers to keyboard – keep this in mind:

A clear message is a good message.

Seriously. Clarity wins…every time. So before worrying about SEO or beautiful, poetic flow, just say what you’re actually needing to say. Clearly.

Creativity and SEO can come during the revision phase. But when you’re drafting your website’s homepage for the first time, you need to get your words out clearly.

The Basic Structure of Homepage Words

Website needs vary widely. Some are aiming for a large audience. Some are very niched. Others are localized and known mostly through word of mouth. While are trying to reach the world. Maybe you’re selling products. Could be that you’re offering your services. 

Differences aside, there are some basic elements that [almost] every website homepage should have. (And for those of you rulebreakers out there wanting to prove me wrong: ✊. You’re my kind of people.)

HEADING

• Brief, but accurately descriptive of page’s content
• Attention-grabbing
• SEO-friendly

SUBHEADING

• One sentence. Two tops.
• Ultra-clear
• SEO-friendly

INVITATION COPY

• A few sentences – a paragraph
• Let your audience know you get them. They’re in the right place.
• Easy to read or skim
• Maybe one Call to Action (CTA)

WELCOME/INTRODUCTION COPY

• Tell them who you are and/or what your business is
• Supermini credentials/resume
• Why do your readers care? What do you offer them?
• CTA to your About Page

STREET CRED

• Sprinkle some testimonials…make them specific, and attach a name and/or face if you can….
• ….oooooor show a graphic with logos from companies you’ve worked with

BRIEF SERVICE OVERVIEW

• Seriously brief…this section’s only job is to bring them to an actual service page
• Highlight your 3ish main offerings – each one linked to your service page or a page for that specific offer
• Use bullets and/or bold text to make it super non-committing for the skimmer types

BUSINESS MOTTO (OPTIONAL) 

• Straight-up put your mission, vision, and/or purpose statement(s) right there
  • Your audience gets to know you more
  • Break up larger blocks of text 

MORE STREET CRED (OPTIONAL)

• Same as before
• Let them know you’re legit

EXPLORE THE WEBSITE

• Give readers options for where to go next:
  • Blog
  • About 
  • Contact
  • Services 
  • Freebies or the shop
• Direct them through your website…don’t just let them bounce

Write the words.

There’s the structure. Play around with the order and revise, revise, revise. 

If you’re looking to fully avoid staring at the blank page before you (you’re welcome for the early 2000’s jam stuck in your head the rest of the day), grab the free template below. 

It won’t write the words for you, but it’ll give you some good momentum to get you started. 

Now stop reading and get writing!