Your homepage is often the first page people see when they’re deciding whether to trust your business. Whether they’ve typed in your name, clicked an ad, or followed a link from a colleague, it’s where they decide whether to explore further or head back to the search results.
Designing a good homepage is about much more than making it look professional. A homepage has a job to do: explain what you offer, show people you’re credible, and guide each type of visitor towards the next step. Good website design is what makes that happen.
Whether you’re planning a new website or about to redesign your current one, it can be hard to know what to include, what to leave out, and what order to put it in, especially when everyone in the business wants their section near the top.
In this blog, we’ll explore what homepage design involves, why it matters, our six homepage design best practices, and a simple top-to-bottom homepage layout you can use as a starting point.
What is homepage design?
Homepage design is the process of planning, structuring, and designing the main landing page of your website. It covers more than the visuals. A well-designed homepage brings together your:
- Key messaging – what you do, who it’s for, and why someone should choose you
- Core layout – the order of sections and how much space each one gets
- Navigation – how people get from the homepage to the page they need
- Visual design – your brand, imagery, typography, and colour
- Calls to action – the next step you want each visitor to take
Unlike most pages, your homepage has to serve several audiences at once, from new prospects to returning customers. That’s what makes it one of the hardest pages on a site to get right.
Why is your homepage design important?
Your homepage is rarely the page with the most traffic from search, but it’s often the most important page for building trust. Here’s why an effective homepage matters:
It shapes first impressions
People decide quickly whether a page is worth their time. Nielsen Norman Group’s research found that users often leave web pages within 10 to 20 seconds, unless the page gives them a clear reason to stay. That’s why it’s vital that your homepage should:
- Make it obvious what you do within the first few seconds
- Reflect your brand and the quality of your work
- Reassure people they’re in the right place
If it does, visitors keep reading. If it doesn’t, the rest of your site doesn’t get a chance.
It directs people to the right place
Your homepage acts as a hub for the rest of the site. A clear homepage structure helps visitors find the service, product, or information they came for, understand the breadth of what you offer, and take the next step without having to hunt for it.
This matters even more for organisations with several audiences, where each group needs its own clear route.
It supports your SEO
Your homepage usually has the most backlinks on your site and ranks for your brand name.
It also passes authority to your key pages through internal links, helps search engines understand what your business does, and often appears as the main result, with sitelinks, for branded searches
A well-structured homepage gives both people and search engines a clear picture of your business.
6 homepage design best practices
Whether you’re designing from scratch or looking for practical homepage design tips to improve the one you have, here are six design best practices to keep in mind:
1. Make it clear what you do from the very start
The top of your homepage, the area people see before they scroll, is the most valuable space on your site. Visitors should understand what your business does and who it’s for without reading a paragraph. Your first screen should include:
- A short, specific headline that says what you do (not a slogan that could belong to anyone)
- A supporting line that explains who it’s for or what makes you different
- One primary call to action, and possibly a secondary one
- Imagery that shows your real products, people, or work, rather than generic stock photos
This is where your brand and value proposition do the heavy lifting. If a visitor can’t explain what you do after five seconds on the page, the headline needs more work.
2. Plan your layout around your users’ main journeys
A good homepage layout starts with your users, not your organisation chart. Look at your GA4 data and Search Console queries to see who visits your homepage and where they go next. Then plan the layout to:
- Give the most space to the journeys that matter most to the business
- Group related services or products, so people can scan rather than read
- Mirror the main navigation, so the homepage and menu tell the same story
- Keep secondary content, such as news or careers, lower down the page
When we restructured BMet’s navigation, for example, the aim was to make the route to applications clearer. The same principle works for most homepages: make the most important journey the easiest one to find.
3. Build trust with proof
People look for reassurance before they get in touch or buy. Your homepage is the place to show you’re credible, without making visitors dig for it. Strong trust signals include:
- Client logos or the sectors you work in
- Short testimonials or star ratings, with names and roles where you have permission
- Awards, accreditations, and partner badges that matter to your audience
- Links to case studies with real outcomes
Keep proof specific and honest. One detailed testimonial is worth more than a carousel of vague quotes.
4. Keep it clean, fast, and accessible
It’s easy for a homepage to become cluttered as every team asks for a slot. Too many sliders, pop-ups, and competing sections make it harder for people to find what they came for. A clean homepage design should support:
- Plenty of white space and a clear visual hierarchy
- A consistent colour palette and readable fonts that match the rest of your site
- Accessibility to WCAG 2.2 AA, including colour contrast, alt text, and keyboard navigation
- Good Core Web Vitals scores, with compressed images and no heavy auto-playing video
A homepage that loads quickly and works for everyone gives a better user experience, which is why UX design should shape the page from the start, not be added at the end.
5. Don’t forget SEO
SEO on a homepage is often overlooked in a redesign. As part of the build, check that your homepage has a descriptive title tag and meta description that include what you do, along with one H1 that describes your business, not just your logo.
Your text should also be crawlable, not baked into images or sliders, and it goes without saying that you should be including internal links to your most important service or category pages.
You should also consider adding organisation schema markup with your name, logo, and contact details all included.
6. Use clear, prioritised calls to action
Calls to action (CTAs) guide people towards the next step, but more isn’t always better. When every section has three buttons, nothing stands out. Effective homepage CTAs should be:
- Prioritised, with one primary action that looks different from everything else
- Specific about what happens next (“Book a free consultation” rather than “Submit”)
- Placed where a visitor is ready to act, such as after proof or a service summary
- Repeated at the bottom of the page for people who scroll all the way down
Homepage layout best practices: Your checklist
Every homepage is different, but this top-to-bottom homepage layout is a reliable starting point for most service businesses. You can use it as a checklist, then adapt it to your own users and data:
- Header and navigation – this should include your logo, a clear main menu, and a visible contact or primary CTA button.
- Hero section – this wants to encompass a specific headline, a supporting line, one primary CTA, and real imagery.
- Proof or trust signal bar – that includes client logos, ratings, or key accreditations that are kept short.
- Services or products – your main offering, grouped and linked to their own pages.
- ‘Why choose us’ – list three or four specific reasons, backed by evidence why people should choose you
- Featured work or case studies – include one to three examples with positive outcomes.
- Testimonials – feature one or two strong quotes with client names and roles.
- Fresh content – showcase recent blogs, news, or resources, where they’re useful to your audience.
- Final CTA – this should be a clear closing prompt for visitors who reach the bottom.
- Footer – include key contact details, links, policies, and your social links.
Before signing off a new layout, test it with real users. Even five people trying to complete a task on a prototype site will show you where the layout is working and where it isn’t.
How to design a website homepage
If you’re about to start designing a website homepage or you’re planning a redesign, here are some top tips to getting started with your design:
- Start with your data – check where your homepage visitors are coming from and see where they go next in GA4.
- Define your audiences – make a list of who visits the homepage and what each group needs.
- Write the message first – be sure to agree your headline and value proposition before anyone opens a design tool.
- Wireframe the layout – plan your order of sections with small amounts of detail, so it’s quick to change if needed.
- Design and build – apply your branding to your design, but be sure to keep speed and accessibility in mind.
- Test and refine – run user testing before you launch and keep checking the data after launch. This allows you to make data-driven decisions.
When we rebuilt The Richmond Group of Charities’ outdated website, the work started with understanding its users, not with the visual design. That order is the same for any homepage project.
Need help with making the right first impression?
The best homepages are built around the people who use them. While a striking web design helps, a homepage also has to explain what you do, earn trust quickly, and guide each visitor to the right next step.
With a well-designed homepage, businesses can create websites that make a strong first impression, keep visitors exploring, and turn more of them into high-quality leads. If you’re looking for professional insight for your homepage design, we can help you.
Combining user research, proven UX design, and professional website development, our experts here at Fifteen can create, not just flawless homepages, but beautifully crafted websites that work for your users and your business.
Get in touch with us today to discuss how we can help you design a homepage that works as hard as you do.