What should my homepage include?

Short answer: Your homepage should tell a visitor who you are, what you do, who it is for and what to do next, in that order and within seconds. Everything else is supporting detail. Get those four things right and the rest of the site does its job.

Lead with clarity, not cleverness

The top of your homepage, the part people see before scrolling, has one job: confirm they are in the right place. That means a plain headline saying what you do and where you do it, a short line of supporting text, and a button pointing to the next step. A landscaper in Leeds should say so. A clever slogan with no context makes people leave.

Below that, walk through the questions a real customer asks. What do you offer? Why should I trust you? What does it cost, roughly? How do I get started? You do not need every answer on the homepage, but you need enough to move someone toward a phone call, a form or a purchase.

Avoid stock phrases like "welcome to our website" and "we pride ourselves on quality". They fill space without saying anything. Write the way you would explain your business to someone at the counter.

The sections most homepages need

Most effective small-business homepages share a similar backbone. You do not need all of these, but they are a sensible starting list:

• A clear headline and subheadline at the top
• A short summary of your main services or products, each linking to more detail
• Proof you can be trusted, such as reviews, logos of clients, or a few real photos of your work
• A quick "about" line so people know there is a person behind it
• A prominent call to action repeated near the bottom
• Your contact details and service area

If you sell online, add a few featured products or categories near the top. If you are a trade or local service, put your service area and a "get a quote" button front and centre. Our work page shows how this plays out across different businesses.

Design and hierarchy

Layout matters as much as words. A homepage that lists everything at the same size gives the eye nowhere to land. Use headings, spacing and one or two accent colours to guide people down the page in the order you want them to read.

Keep the number of choices low. A homepage crammed with ten equally loud buttons converts worse than one with a single obvious action. Decide what you most want a visitor to do, whether that is book, buy or call, and make that the loudest thing on the page.

Photos pull their weight here. A few real images of your team, premises or finished work build more trust than any amount of copy. If you do not have good photos yet, our note on do I need professional photos for my website covers the options. Strong branding ties it together, which is where our branding service comes in.

One clear next step

Every homepage should end with an obvious action. Do not leave people at the bottom of the page with nowhere to go. Repeat your main call to action, show your phone number and email, and make the contact form easy to reach.

If you are planning a new site and want to see what a sensible homepage costs, our packages start at £300 as a one-off with no subscription, and you can get a clear price in a couple of minutes. You own the finished site outright. For more on the wider build, see what makes a good business website.

Want a homepage that actually turns visitors into enquiries? Get a clear price and we will build it.