4 tips to write a homepage that converts
Your website homepage is the most important page on your website.
People form an opinion of your website in less than one second, and 79% of people who don’t like what they find on one website will leave and search for another one.
These stats are brutal. But it’s not surprising.
Great website design goes beyond the words and the pixels — it’s about deeply empathizing with visitors and being brutally honest with yourself about whether or not they should care.
I’m going to break down my top website homepage copywriting tips to help you skyrocket conversion with sticky customers.
1. Great websites start with organization
Every effective website has at least 11 key elements:
Navigation
Hero (Headline, subheader, CTA)
Value props
What you deliver
Social proof (testimonials)
Social proof (press)
How it works (customer problem → solution)
About
Products & pricing (how to take the next step)
Lead capture or get started
Footer
Your current website may have these elements, and it may not.
Where most website creators go wrong is not organizing their content before diving into design.
11 elements is a lot to juggle, and it can be a challenge to make sure you include them all in a logical and compelling way.
That’s why, especially for websites, copy needs to come before design.
Start with a wireframe. Figure out all the sections, what they’ll contain, and then start the visual thinking.
2. Internalize your visitor’s point of view
We all visit new websites, and it’s easy to forget how we process these events.
Think about the last website you visited. You likely discovered it from an ad, search result, or referral from someone you know. At this point, you knew very little about the company or the problem they solve — you just took a leap of faith based on a brief impression.
Your visitors find your website the exact same way — with hopes that your product will solve their problem but no attachment to your company as their solution.
Now, you were on said website, and nothing was familiar. You took it in for less than a second and decided whether you should stay or go.
In instances where you kept scrolling, think about what prompted you to stay. For me, it boils down to comfort.
You can only get so much copy into a hero (header, subheader, CTA), so the way you make the visitor feel will dictate whether they feel they should invest their time.
Website homepages that convert are products of brutally honest empathy. Question every piece of copy from the viewpoint of a first date — optimistic but aware there’s another option just a swipe away.
3. Be customer-centric, not company-centric
Visitors don’t care about your company. They care about solving their problem.
Because of that, company-centric copy flops.
Take this snippet from Superhuman’s website:
We, we, we.
It’s all about how great Superhuman is and not about the value you’ll receive from using Superhuman over Gmail. They list facts about their product and don’t translate why I should care. Even in the last line, they tell you how you’ll feel, not showing what could make you feel that way.
Don’t boast. Don’t list your company mission. Don’t put in your elevator pitch from your investor deck.
Avoid all of that. Your company is secondary, the visitor comes first.
Prioritize their pains and pleasures. Use “you” and “us” over “we.” Show them how you can help instead of telling them why you’re great.
4. Design for short attention spans
People scan, they don’t read.
Homepage copywriting that converts gets to the point with style and substance, not fluff.
Ruthlessly edit your copy until every line serves a heavy-lifting purpose. Ditch context-setting lines like “in today’s market” — get straight to it.
In addition, every section should be scannable. There’s no room for lengthy paragraphs on your homepage. Again, think back to how you navigate websites. Have you ever actually read a paragraph like Apple has here:
If you’re like me, you read “Physics be damned” and lost interest.
Take a moment this week and evaluate your website homepage as if you were a new visitor. Try auditing your content, see if you’re missing any elements, and reorganize what matters and makes sense.
