Things To Consider When Designing A Winning WordPress Homepage
Modern web design can appear complicated and difficult, especially if you don’t have a lot of technological experience. However, the ease of new website building platforms like WordPress means that anyone with a bit of time and the willingness to learn can create their own site with minimal costs.
If you are considering going down this road and building your own website without a lot of training, developing experience or coding knowledge, then you need to do some research to learn a few tricks of the trade. One of the most important parts of any website is the homepage, as this is the thing that many people see first. Making a good first impression is very important, and some of the most important things to consider when building a winning homepage include:
Use Smaller Image Files Where Possible:
Of course, you want to make your homepage look as good as you can. However, high resolution images can come at a cost. They are usually large, and therefore take a long time to load, slowing your page load speeds. Research by Google shows that at over 50% of website visitors will leave your site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, meaning that they are most likely visiting your competitor’s sites. Try and compress your images where possible, and limit image use on your homepage.
Give Your Homepage Simple Content That Can Be Scanned:
A lot of people who visit your website might not know if you actually offer the information or products that they are after. Make sure that your homepage contains this sort of information, and make sure that it is easy to draw out. If it isn’t, you will find that you have a higher than average bounce rate – nothing is surer. One of the best ways to make sure that your content is simple and scannable is to use headings and subheadings followed by short, informative paragraphs.
Make Your Navigation Menu Obvious:
Although many modern WordPress web developers choose to hide their navigation menu behind a drop down menu – especially on mobile sites – this isn’t always the best thing to do. If you do this, visitors will be less likely to be drawn in, and will be less likely to explore past your homepage. Make your navigation items prominent and style them to draw people in, and you should see your visitor engagement increase.
Final Word:
Before you start building your new WordPress website, do some research. Discover the current best practices for web design and development, especially when it comes to homepage design. Doing so will help you build a winning homepage.
If you are stuck, then take a few hours to check out the range of WordPress tutorials on the internet. Find ones which are relevant to your questions, and don’t be scared to play around with your design when you are creating your site.