Shopfront

Homepage Design

You have 5 seconds!

Stopwatch

Good Design is Catchy

If a visitor is intrigued, excited, or curious about your site within the first five seconds, they will probably stick around to check out some more of your site.

Otherwise, they will probably leave without seeing anything but the top of your home page. This is called a bounce.

Shopfront
Shopfront

The home page is your storefront

It needs to:

  • show the visitor what you offer
  • gain their trust
  • motivate them to enter and explore
  • minimize barriers to entry
newspaper
newspaper

Content is King

Place your most important content Above The Fold

Categorize and Prioritize your content, e.g.:

  1. Gospel Videos
  2. Audio Bible
  3. Bible text

Place your top 3 "above the fold"

Bible on table
Bible on table

Add a Hero Section

Impress the visitor from the first glance, and make them an offer.

 A Hero Section:

  • is at the top of your page
  • has a large, high quality image
  • has a headline
  • has a sub-headline
  • and a Call To Action button.

Add a Call to Action (CTA)

  • A Call to Action is a button, supported by a Hero image, or text, that is an invitation to the visitor to view your most important content
  • What is the main thing you want a visitor to see or do?
  • Too many choices can lead to decision paralysis. Have a through-line that a visitor can follow that brings them to all the content you would like them to engage with.
  • One main Call To Action button per page, that stands out visually.
  • Motivate the visitor to engage with this Call To Action with well-chosen images and well-written text.
  • The CTA button can be repeated on a long page, once at the top, and again at the bottom. A very long page could even have a third one in the middle.
Caravan in the Desert
Caravan in the Desert

Guide your visitors to your content

We want visitors to engage with the message, but how can they hear the message, if they can't find the content?

Show example content on Homepage

For example:

  • Verse of the Day
  • One video
  • One audio chapter / song

Give links to a page with more content

Verse of the day

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Isaiah 55:3
John 1:1-34
  • John 1:1-34
  • John 1:35-51
  • John 2:1-12
  • John 2:13-25
  • John 3:1-21
  • John 3:22-36
  • John 4:1-26
  • John 4:27-54
  • John 5:1-18
  • John 5:19-47
  • John 6:1-24
  • John 6:25-51
  • John 6:52-71
  • John 7:1-24
  • John 7:25-53
  • John 8:1-20
  • John 8:21-36
  • John 9:1-12
  • John 9:13-41
  • John 10:1-21
  • John 10:22-42
  • John 11:1-16
  • John 11:17-57
  • John 12:1-19
  • John 12:20-50
  • John 13:1-17
  • John 13:18-38
  • John 14:1-14
  • John 14:15-31
  • John 15:1-17
  • John 15:18-27
  • John 16:1-15
  • John 16:16-33
  • John 17:1-12
  • John 17:13-26
  • John 18:1-27
  • John 18:28-40
  • John 19:1-18
  • John 19:19-42
  • John 20:1-18
  • John 20:19-31
  • John 21:1-25
  • Credits
Bible and headphones
image
    Terms & Conditions
    Speedometer

    Speed is also King

    Your homepage needs to load fast

    Remember different users have different download speeds

    • no autoplay videos
    • keep large images to a minimum
    • concise writing - visitors won't read long blocks of text
    Handshake
    Handshake

    Build trust

    Your website is an ambassador.
    Building trust is integral to conveying your message. 
    Visitors evaluate your trustworthiness based on first impressions. 
    Is it worth their time to consider your message? 

    Adding social proof can boost user engagement.

    Trustworthiness

    • consistency
    • high quality images
    • engaging writing

    Social proof

    • testimonials
    • real images
    Filing cabinet
    Filing cabinet

    Remember:

    • you have 5 seconds!
    • the home page is your storefront
    • content is king
    • add a Hero section
    • guide your visitors to your content
    • speed is also king
    • build trust

    Your encouragement is valuable to us

    Your stories help make websites like this possible.