The Perfect Home Page - Your Shop Window!

Long before the internet ever existed, and we were all shop-keepers, there was just one way to make your business stand out from other shops on the high street – a fantastic window display and signage! These stunning displays grabbed your attention, drew you in (as a passer-by) to approach the window, admire the display and enter the shop. They also signalled, if you were not a local, what the store was selling.

You are left in now doubt, with this shop window, what this shop specialises in!

This stunning window display - for a florist in Great Barr – is going to attract you to the shop – making a great impression that you’ll recall when ordering from them later in the year.

Your Home Page

When you develop your on line store your home page needs to perform exactly what the shop front window did. It has to attract, inspire and intrigue your customers (making them stay and browse), and inform them in a very short period what your offer is.

Take a guess at what this store sells?

Its’ navigation header reads “Salt and Pepper” “Herbs, Spices, Oil and Vinegar” “Accessories”? I would guess different types of spices, oils & condiments – wouldn’t you? In fact it’s a very well established British company that’s been making and selling salt and pepper grinders/mills for over 100 years! It was only in 2015 that Cole and Mason expanded their product range to include oil pourers, spice racks and pestle & mortars, but these are not their main products.

It’s not until you scroll below the fold (Below the fold refers to the section of a web page that is only visible after scrolling down - conventional wisdom is that above the fold content gets more attention, and is therefore more valuable than below the fold content) - that you see their best sellers!

The Perfect Home Page

If you are about to launch a new website or refresh your current offering what makes the perfect home page? It should unambiguously tell a browser what your business does or is selling. Importantly, it should have clearly signalled CTA’s (Call to Actions) that your customers might take to explore your site more fully and engage with your offering.

The Floret website, a US based seed specialist, has a fantastic home page. It has a clear and concise menu, great colourful images, intriguing and informative strap-lines and gives four CTA’s, above the fold, for its customers to explore its’ website – Winter Mini Course, Pre-Order Discovering Dahlias, Watch Growing Floret Premium and then the standard Visit Our Shop – the perfect home page!