There’s no doubt about it. The biggest asset your website has is its home page. And by home page, I’m not just talking about the one you’ve designated as the home page, but the one that’s actually called index.html, home.html or default.html. This is the page that the visitor will go to by default when they type in the root URL of your site. It’s important for visitors, and it’s important for search engines. This week, I’ll look at some of the do’s and don’ts of home page construction and maintenance.
Well Linked

First of all, let’s look at some of the reasons why the home page is so important to search engines. Almost every search engine automatically gives a relevancy boost to the home page of your site. You’ve already got a head start in getting those important top rankings.

Another reason search engines like home pages is they tend to be well linked to from outside pages. As link popularity plays a greater part in determining relevancy, these links become solid marketing gold. Usually other sites that will link to yours, including directories like Yahoo and Looksmart, will have a link to your main URL. This boosts the link popularity not only of your entire site, but also your home page, making it more likely to rank well in the engines.

So, now that we know your home page is the number one entry point into your site, it’s important that this page includes links to all the main sections of your site. Make sure your navigation structure from the home page includes links (ideally hypertext links) to all major subpages.

All the Right Words in All the Right Places

Because the home page is so important to search engines, a little search engine optimization can go a long, long ways. First of all, know the major keyword phrases that you want to rank for on the engines (see our article on picking keywords). Then, pick the top two or three phrases and make sure these appear in your title tag. Don’t make the mistake of putting your company name into this all important tag, unless you’re darn sure that a lot of people will be searching for that name on the engines. In other words, if you’re Microsoft or Ford, go ahead, otherwise, save it for the words people will be searching for.

Other places those words should appear include meta tags, sub headings, body text and in the links to appropriate sections of your site. Don’t repeat them too often, but make sure they appear at least 2 or 3 times in one of these places.

To Splash or Not to Splash?

As a designer, I like splash pages (a page with a graphic but no or very little text), but as a marketer or a search engine optimizer, I’m not their biggest fan. As we’ve said, the home page is prime online real estate. Putting a splash page on it is like taking the most expensive commercial real estate in town and choosing to put a billboard on it rather than your actual store. There’s a number of reasons why I’d steer away from splash pages.

First of all, splash pages, by their nature, have little or no content. You’re taking the first page a search engine spider will visit and you’re not giving the spider anything to get its teeth into. Imagine a customer who asks for more information about your business or product and you just hold up a picture of your business without saying a word. Your customer will walk away, shaking their head and muttering uncomplimentary things under their breath. So might a spider.

Another thing I dislike about splash pages it that they usually only have one link into the site. You’re only providing one path for a spider or a visitor to follow, usually to the real home page, one level down. In most cases, a splash page just introduces an extra step that a visitor will have to take before they get to what they really want to see.

A variation on a static splash page is the Flash intro that many sites are putting on the front end of their sites. Personally, I love Macromedia Flash. It can be used to give a very dynamic and high impact introduction to your site. But unless the index page holding the Flash file tags has been expertly optimized, you could be throwing up a road block to any visiting search engines.

Not Dynamic, Just Friendly

In last week’s NetProfit, we talked about the Invisible Web and why it remains hidden from most search engines. The Invisible Web consists of database driven sites that dynamically produce page content. If possible, avoid dynamic content on your home page. The more content you have in straight HTML, the more there is for a search engine spider to crawl through.

Here’s spider blocking tactic I’ve seen in the past that you should avoid at all costs. Sometimes people use their home page to redirect to a dynamically generated welcome page. If your site does this, and redirects to a page that has the troublemaking “?” character somewhere in it’s address, you’ve just effectively blocked a spider from ever entering your site.

Avoid Code Bloat

The next point is a tough one in many cases to implement. I’d put this one in the guideline category rather than a hard and fast rule.

Many home pages, in their attempt to be user friendly and give visual impact, use tons of javascript and other code in the HTML document. The biggest culprits in this regard are usually mouse over buttons, popup sub menus, scrolling banners or marquees or image preload script. One mouse over navigation bar with sub menus and an image preload script could increase the size of your HTML file by a factor of 10.

The problem with all this code is that it’s irrelevant to a search engine. The relevant keyword the spider is looking for in that text tag is buried under mountains of programming code. The keyword density of your page will suffer greatly if your page contains line after line of javascript coding.

One word of advice here. Javascript doesn’t have to be embedded in the HTML code of your pages. You can strip out all the coding, put it in a .js file, and then simply call this codebase from a tag in your file. You retain all the functionality and your HTML pages retain their lean and mean keyword density and frequency.

First Impressions Do Count

Your home page is the first impression of your site. Bear this in mind when you’re designing it. Ask your visitors or potential visitors what they want to see. Do they want a highly dynamic but content light Flash intro, or do they simply want an overall view of your site and what’s new? There’s a reason why content rich sites tend to have busier home pages. It provides the visitor with several deep links into the site, letting them get directly to what they’re looking for. For the same reason, a home page for a high end website design boutique will probably have all the bells and whistles, with rich graphics and breathtaking use of Flash and animation. Know thy customer, and make sure your home page delivers what they want on a silver platter.

Another point to consider, and yes, my background in graphic design does bias my opinion here. Spend the money to have your site professionally designed. If you’re not a graphic artist, don’t try to do it yourself. I’ve seen professional firms who will spend 50 or 60 thousand dollars to create a stunning reception foyer for their office and not bat an eye. Yet, the same firm balks at forking out a thousand or two to give their website a professional look. Their reception area may see anywhere from 20 to 200 visitors a day, yet their website might be attracting 500 or a thousand visitors during that same time. And many of those visitors are becoming aware of that firm for the first time. The only factor they have to base their decision to do business with the firm on is the professionalism of their website. Suddenly, doesn’t that thousand dollars seem like a wise investment?

Show Em What Ya Got, Mildred

A home page should serve the same purpose for your website that a cover does for a magazine. Next time you walk past a newsstand, take a few moments to scan the racks. Every magazine cover is the same. They have an eye-catching photograph and several text teasers about what's inside the magazine. In an instant you know what that magazine is about and whether it holds anything of interest for you.

A website home page should do the same. It should be eye-catching, yet it should provide a good overview of what’s inside the site. Hypertext teasers should provide direct links to relevant content. If it’s an e-commerce site, popular items and special offers should be prominently featured.

Always New, Always Fresh

Keep the content on your home page fresh and up to date. Websites should be constantly evolving, ever changing communication platforms. Your business is always changing and your website should reflect that. New articles posted should be featured on the front page. New product lines should be given their own corner. Having a big special? Let customers read all about it on your home page. New media releases and business developments could be highlighted with a scrolling headline applet. Make sure your home page is the most frequently changed page on your site.

Show Your Credentials

Increasingly, doing business on the Internet is a matter of trust. Make visitors feel more secure about you and your business by showing your merit badges right up front. If you’re part of the Better Business Bureau Online or Trust-e, make sure you display their logos. If you’ve snagged a legitimate award that means something to the visitor (not one of the zillion bogus awards that are handed out by sites just to build their link popularity) put it on your home page.

Know Thy Visitor, Track Thy Visitor

Finally, make sure you have a way to capture visitor information right on your home page. Provide a small form to allow them to enter a draw, request a free information package or report, subscribe to a newsletter or join a mailing list. Make sure you provide a link to your privacy policy as part of this form. Your home page will be the most popular page on your site. Building a contact list from people visiting your site should be your number one online marketing priority. Don’t miss the chance to gather this contact information right from your home page. If you don’t want to put a form, at least put a button with some enticing message that will open this form.

And one last word. Please don’t use a visible visitor counter. People are used to the stories about sites that attract millions of visitors a day. Anything less than that will make you seem bush league, no matter how impressive the numbers are to you. Take your cue from the big guys. Even the biggest players that do attract millions of visitors daily don’t advertise the fact on their home page… so why should you?