Coincidentally two clients have said, in the last few days, that they DON'T want a home page on their site. This is foolish.
An important point to remember about your home page is that it forms a hub, a home in fact, for viewers. Let's not lose sight of why we have home pages and why they are called home.
Let's say a viewer is deep into your site. They have moved from one link to another and are on your subnavigation pages. Some of you might have three, four or even more levels of subnavigation on your website.
A viewer needs a home, somewhere they can return to to reorient themselves. Your most important messages are going to be on your home page, after all, and it's the place you want your visitors to return to. It gives them a base on your website.
Now, let's imagine you're a search engine. Which are the two most important pages on a website? After all, a website may have hundreds of pages. Which ones does the website owner want people to see in the search engine results? Of course, the search engine thinks, it has to be the index page and the home page, doesn't it? You start a book at page one and proceed through it. You don't start at chapter twelve. (At least, most people don't) So the search engine is going to list the 'cover' of the book, the index page, and the table of contents, the home page. Which, it's redundant to say, it can't do if you haven't got one.
Think about it. (You are now a person by the way, and not a search engine). When your site comes up in search engines results, which page (or pages, as often two pages from your site are listed in the results) do you want potential visitors to see?
Your index page of course - that's your storefront, the book cover, the page that establishes the look of your company and invites people to enter. And your home page, naturally. This is the place where you greet your guests, explain about your business - the foyer, if you like. The reception area.
You don't want the first page a viewer sees to be your terms and conditions page, do you? Or some obscure page in your sub-sub-subnavigation?
If you ever think about the progress of a viewer at your website, you think about them going to the index page, then the home page, then proceeding along your top level navigation... you do not think about them landing on your terms and conditions and working it out from there. That's like them coming to your physical premises via the delivery area.
Now, this being said, there WILL be people who find the more obscure pages of your site via a search engine, depending on the search term they have used. "Where am I?' they think "I know, I'll go to the home page and start from the beginning". They can't do that if you haven't got one, can they?
A website is not a linear experience like a book, despite the fact that we refer to pages. You have no idea where a viewer is going to start - or end up. You've seen those you are here maps in malls? It's the same idea.
Comments