The homepage is one of the most important, if not the most important page on your website. It sets the agenda for the rest of the site and should immediately give the user an understanding of what your brand has to offer. Captivating your audience early will lower the bounce rate and increase the likelihood that users will explore the rest of your site and engage with your brand or product.
Whilst the above sounds easy in principle, we understand it can be difficult to strike the right balance when it comes to designing your homepage. Therefore, we have produced this handy guide with our top tips for writing homepage copy!
Avoid welcome statements!
In the first instance, provide the user with engaging copy that helps them to understand what the rest of the site will contain. Avoid statements such as ‘welcome to my website’ at all costs as they are out-dated, do not add any value to the page and are a waste of prime ‘real estate’. Instead, write a concise sentence or paragraph that explains exactly what your business is about and what the user can expect to achieve on the site. This copy should be free from technical jargon and should also avoid cliché marketing terms.
It is also imperative that your copy is tailored around the reader and it should be explicitly stated how your website will help them achieve their own personal aims. Rather than simply stating the services you offer, tell the user how your service can help them. For example, on our own website we have endeavoured to tell readers how Key Digital can help them improve their online presence.

How much copy is too much copy?
This is not a simple question; in fact it is fairly complex and dependent on a number of factors. People will quickly become frustrated if there is too little information on offer; therefore you need to ensure that you are providing enough copy to guide them. On the other hand, if your copy is too long you run the risk of people becoming disengaged and moving on, without understanding your key message. Therefore, it is vital that you strike the right balance. Short and sharp call to actions, such as ‘find out more about our service or ‘sign up today’ can be particularly effective. It can also be beneficial to use ‘accordions’, which display more text when a downward arrow is clicked. An example of this can be seen on the product category pages of New Image Tiles.
Eye tracking studies have shown that users will read copy if it is easy to find and laid out well. Therefore, ensure your copy is placed alongside appropriate and visually interesting imagery and displayed in a logical, easy to follow order.
Copy for SEO purposes
Copy is incredibly important when considering your website’s search engine optimisation (SEO). It helps search engines decide what your site is about and ultimately what search terms it is indexed for. With this in mind, make sure you use relevant key words in your copy. Do not attempt to ‘shoe horn’ these into the text; it is most important that the copy is of a high quality and easy to read. Google is highly sophisticated and can spot search terms when they occur naturally in text.