What Makes a Good Homepage?

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Every homepage has a different requirement, and of course yours should reflect the individual nature of your blog. However there are a few simple improvement tips that apply to most sites, so if you’re thinking about a redesign or just a couple of adjustments here are a few pointers on what makes an attractive homepage.

Great Navigation

Homepage navigation is more important than I can express in these few words. A complicated navigation bar with boundless options is not only going to look a bit of a mess, it’s going to stop people getting to where they want to be on your site- ultimately using you return readers. Work out why people are visiting your site, and if you have excessive tabs and options then think about scaling down.

Less is More

A homepage is not an opportunity to bombard your readers with as many different articles as you can possibly fit on one page! It’s a chance to introduce yourself, display a selection of content and lead readers into the rest of your site and onto the pages they need to be. Be selective about what sits on your homepage and don’t overcrowd it with hundreds of articles new and old!

Consider Getting a Logo

They look smart, and that’s pretty much the size of it! A nice looking logo in your header is going to lend a professional feel to your site. You could try making one up yourself, or perhaps tweet out to your followers- someone is bound to know a good designer!

Make your Contact Details Easy to Find

Believe it or not, people can be kind of lazy. If someone wants to contact you make sure they’re able to easily and clearly.

Space is Often as Important as Content

Don’t feel that every last pixel should be filled with a photo, logo or blog post. Let your content do the talking and allow space for your readers to easily pick out what interests them. Not only does plenty of space make a site easy to navigate, white space on a blog just looks good! Not only this, but heavily patterned crowded sites start to look dated fast.

Thinking of revamping your homepage soon? Leave your tips or questions below!

9 Responses to What Makes a Good Homepage?

  1. Charlotte Ridgway April 30, 2014 at 9:47 am #

    Love this blog post!
    Great tip that ill definitely be taking some!

    Charlotte // http://www.charlotteridgway.co.uk

  2. Carmen April 30, 2014 at 1:14 pm #

    Good points! I also like it when the social media buttons are easy to find so that I don’t have to go hunting all over the place when I want to share something.

    • Rebecca Brown April 30, 2014 at 1:28 pm #

      Hey Carmen- that’s actually a very good point! Easy access to social accounts is definitely one to think about!

  3. Georgina April 30, 2014 at 3:52 pm #

    Definitely agree about the social media links! Why are you making it hard for me to share your content?
    Give yourself time to play with a new layout, tweak things and check your page after each change to make sure you like it!

  4. yetunde May 1, 2014 at 5:03 pm #

    lovely post, would make changes on my blog. Thank you

  5. Alice Elliott May 5, 2014 at 12:27 pm #

    Looking at your own homepage, which is very clear and easy to understand, has made me realise I need to not bother with a static page but to revert back to a post listings page again, with much more uncluttered sidebars.

  6. Chelle May 6, 2014 at 8:48 am #

    The less is more point is great! I have all my recent posts on my home page. I’m thinking of changing it to introduce myself/what my blog is all about.

  7. Rebecca Brown May 6, 2014 at 8:51 am #

    I think having recent posts on the homepage is good, because it means there is new content on there all the time!

    • Chelle May 6, 2014 at 9:20 am #

      Thats true. I just thought maybe my readers would want to to know what to expect before sieving through recent posts, although I have navigation too