Website Homepage Content 101
Wondering what to include in your website homepage content? We like to think of the content for website homepages like a menu that serves up the top selling points of your brand. You want to give a well-rounded impression of your business and intuitively guide visitors to the areas most suited to them. When someone lands on your website, they should immediately know who you are, what makes you special, and how to get started with your business. It can be hard to know where to begin, so we've compiled this in-depth guide on what to put on the homepage of a website, filled with inspiration and advice from our luxury website design agency.
Amy Stuttle Consulting website design by Crème Brands
How to brainstorm website homepage ideas
There's nothing worse than staring at a blank white page! Let's take a step away from your website editor and first decide what to include on your website homepage. We recommend breaking the page down into sections. Each section will cover a different topic, with the option to link to another page on your site.
When outlining your website homepage content, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Make a list of potential sections to include. Here are three places to pull ideas from:
Sections sharing highlights from landing pages, such as "Services" or "Portfolio."
Section ideas from our inspiration list below.
Sections from our free download, The Five Homepage Sections That Sell. The guide walks you through ten of our favorite sections to include on website homepages.
With just these three sources of inspiration, you have over ten sections to pull from. That's more than enough to get started! Use these topics to compile a list of the most compelling sections for your business, and order them into an intuitive flow that shares your story from multiple angles.
Simple Luxe website template by Crème Brands
Inspiration for your website homepage content
To help build out your list of homepage sections to include, here are five of our favorite sections you can steal for your website homepage content.
1. A powerful intro section that prioritizes SEO
Your first homepage section should introduce visitors to the basics of who you are. Pair a large-scale photo with short, powerful copy that includes your top SEO keyword to target. This helps orient visitors who might have little to no knowledge of who you are or what you offer. You may be tempted to use the creative language you've been perfecting, but placing a top keyword in a heading right at the top of your website homepage content does give an SEO boost. You'll absolutely have the time and space to include all your most beautifully crafted language throughout the rest of the homepage and website.
Looking for more SEO Guidance?
Download our free Squarespace SEO Checklist to get started with the basics of developing an SEO strategy and implementing it on Squarespace.
City Step Podiatry website design by Crème Brands
Case study: City Step Podiatry
As part of our branding process for City Step Podiatry, we developed a tagline we fell in love with: "Step into your strongest self." It would've been super tempting to use this as the first headline on the website, but doing so would've done nothing to help orient visitors or improve the website's search ranking. Visitors might land on the site and wonder what City Step is—a running store, a primary care doctor, a gym? The final wording, "Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Care in Chicago," keeps it clear and gives the site an SEO boost for key search terms.
2. An interactive element that allows visitors to explore
Adding an interactive element to your website homepage content will bring in a sense of exploration and discovery to keep things interesting. This could be a slider that features your top portfolio items or bestsellers, or a choose-your-own-adventure layout that directs visitors to different sides of your website. Going beyond static images and text will keep visitors engaged while guiding them to relevant content.
Souriana Floral House website design by Crème Brands
Case study: Souriana Floral House
When we worked with Souriana Floral House, they were just launching their business and looking for a super streamlined site to get things off the ground. We added a services slider to their homepage that features photography of their floral designs, while giving an overview of the services they offer. They didn't need a super in-depth menu at this stage of their business, just a beautiful, engaging way to explore their services.
3. An engaging statistic
It's important to build credibility from multiple perspectives. Your website homepage content should go beyond telling visitors why you're so great to showing them by sharing compelling tidbits of information. Statistics are a great way to do this, such as your number of projects completed or average rating. To go above and beyond, share a statistic that relates to your potential client or customer's results after engaging with your business.
Family Makers website design by Crème Brands
Case study: Family Makers Surrogacy
Family Makers Surrogacy is a great example of a client-centered statistic. When we designed the Family Makers Surrogacy site, we knew that sharing a statistic could help build credibility AND warmth. The statistic we included, “97% of our surrogates still report a positive, lasting relationship with their Intended Parents," allowed Family Makers to speak to their values. This statistic is extra powerful because it's from the perspective of the surrogate, not the agency. As a bonus, we animated the "97%" to generate more engagement and interest.
4. An about section that speaks to your ethos
Once visitors have started to get acquainted with your business, bring depth to the picture by sharing your ethos. You can pull from your mission statement, values, or philosophy to share about your business in a way that connects to visitors. Make it extra powerful by building credibility, for example by including your years in business or award-winning status. This section pairs beautifully with a photo of your product or team in action, and should link to your About page.
Hoyt Homes website design by Crème Brands
Case study: Hoyt Homes
When we developed the Hoyt Homes website design, we knew it was important to weave their company history and ethos throughout. As part of our website design process, we provide copywriting prompts for every piece of content on the website. We included an "about" section on the homepage, instructing the Hoyt Homes team to discuss their values and incorporate their founded year. They did a beautiful job with the final wording:
"Creating Legacies: Founded as a family business in 1992, Hoyt Homes has always believed a home is more than a place to live — it’s where legacies are built. With a focus on communication, craftsmanship, and integrity, our team is dedicated to guiding you every step of the way and creating a home that reflects your vision and values."
5. A powerful call to action at the end of the page
When visitors reach the end of your homepage, don't leave them hanging out at a dead end. Guide them to exactly where you want them to go—your website's main CTA (call to action). This is the main action you want site visitors to take, for example to schedule a free consultation. This is a place to use short, powerful copy and make things extra eye-catching. You can use an accent color or different color application, such as a dark background if the rest of the site is light—anything to make this section stand out.
Gather & Glow Event Rentals website design by Crème Brands
Case study: Gather & Glow
As part of the Gather & Glow website design process, we included CTA sections at the bottom of each page to warmly invite visitors to get started planning their event with Gather & Glow. The CTA section layout is the only section style where text is overlaid on an image. The language used, "We'd love to be a part of your story / Let's begin" is short, powerful, and inviting. The result is a visitor who feels warmly guided to take the next step.
Looking for more website homepage content ideas?
Download our free guide, The Five Homepage Sections That Sell.
Pair our free guide with the inspiration from this article and you'll have more than enough content to finish your website homepage! Plus, the guide includes our copywriting cheat sheet and easy fillable website planner to create your sitemap.
How to design a homepage
Once you have your website homepage content outline, you can move into design.
There are several options for building a new website. You can opt for a premade template, a custom build, or the best of both worlds, our signature Launch-Ready Website process.
We always kick off website projects with a strategy deep dive, so we can understand your unique goals, positioning, and differentiators. We synthesize this all into an intuitive website flow that shares your story and prioritizes an easy-to-navigate user experience. Then, we send you wireframes with copywriting prompts for every single piece of text on your site so you know exactly what to say. We use one of our website design templates as a framework to expedite the process, then customize every detail to your branding. The end result is all the benefits of a website designed by a boutique agency, but on a much more efficient timeline.
Roberts CPA website design by Crème Brands
If you're looking to refresh your existing website, here are a few design tips for your website homepage design:
Use rhythm
Decide which sections can smoothly flow into one another and which need to stand out. You can achieve this by either matching or contrasting section background colors, and reserving certain accent colors for when you really want to pack a punch.
For example, a section with your portfolio slider can beautifully flow into a section about your design ethos. You might want a testimonial in the middle of the page with a different background color to keep things interesting. And the CTA at the end of the page can use your boldest section style to have the most impact.
Use layouts with smaller amounts of text
People have very short attention spans and are often scanning the pages for key takeaways, so you'll want to keep things short, sweet, and powerful. Stick to one topic per section and trim text down into a manageable length that visitors will actually read. Use layouts that have lots of images incorporated instead of just walls of text.
Sejour Events website design by Crème Brands
Strategically design your navigation bar
Your main landing pages should be included in your navigation bar, but you don't need to include every single page on your site. Some things can go in the footer or get linked to from elsewhere in the site. Maybe your blog isn't one of the first pages you'll want visitors to visit, and that's ok. Simply add it to your footer and keep your navigation bar streamlined.
The primary CTA for your site, such as "Schedule a consultation," "Contact us," or "Shop all" should be prominently displayed in your navigation bar. We like to use a button style for this that's unique from the rest of the navigation items.
Website homepage content FAQs
Now that you're equipped with tools for what to put on the homepage of a website, let's go over some frequently asked questions.
How do you write content for website homepages?
First create an outline of your site so you know what each section is about and the order of how the sections flow into one another. Then you can start writing. Here are our top three tips for writing content for website homepages:
1. Use short line lengths.
People have very short attention spans and are often skimming pages for the more important pieces of information. Make sure it's easily digestible and presented in a well-balanced layout of text and images.
2. Stick to one topic per section.
This will allow you to capture one powerful theme versus muddying the waters by trying to cover too many selling points at once. Your business is multi-faceted, and you have the entire website to tell the story. If you try to cram everything into all the sections, you'll find that you keep repeating yourself. By driving home one point at a time, your website becomes more compelling and memorable.
3. Speak directly to your site visitors versus speaking from your perspective as the business owner.
Here's where editing comes into play. You can brainstorm your message, such as, "We pride ourselves on being the best skincare destination," and then edit down to something much more powerful, and from the visitor's perspective, not the business’, like "Your skincare destination."
4. Prioritize SEO.
You don't need to throw everything at the wall here, but you do need to make it a priority. Before you start writing, you'll want to have an SEO strategy in place, even if it's basic. For more guidance on how to create and implement an SEO strategy, download our free SEO Checklist.
For your main landing pages, just focus on your website's top keywords to target. These should be incorporated into headings, and ideally right at the top of your pages. It may be less creative, but it will really help. You'll have plenty of space for your carefully crafted taglines and messaging throughout the rest of your page sections.
What are some personal website homepage ideas?
All of the information covered in this article also applies to personal websites. However, we can share some quick tips that are extra relevant:
Plan a brand photoshoot to get a variety of images. Incorporate brand colors into your outfits, props, and backgrounds to keep the final site looking polished and cohesive.
Include a homepage section that features your social media, podcast, or press/speaking appearances.
Don't be afraid to use "I" instead of "we" in your website copy! It keeps things personal.
Weave your story and ethos into multiple sections throughout your site.
Beauty in Science Medspa website design by Crème Brands
What's your best advice on how to design a homepage for a website?
If you sit down at your computer, then expect to build your homepage as the first step in your website process, you're not setting yourself up for success. First, you need to zoom out. Think about the most important information you need visitors to know. If you were having a conversation with a lead or potential customer, what would you discuss?
Here are some prompts to get you started:
What's the #1 thing you want potential clients to know about you?
What are their main concerns?
Why should they trust you?
What are your biggest accomplishments?
You can then plan your homepage design and overall site structure around your answers. They will guide you to the topics to cover.
Free Resource
Download our free guide, The Five Homepage Sections That Sell, to access five more section ideas for your website homepage content.
Steal the very favorite sections we use all the time at our luxury website design agency. Plus, the guide includes data-backed copywriting guidance with sample calls to action and an easy fillable website planner worksheet to help you get started with the rest of your site.
How about website homepage content ideas for photos?
Website photography is an incredibly powerful tool to communicate your brand experience. Taking the time to curate a selection of compelling photos for your website homepage content can mean the difference between a polished, powerful site and a scattered, outdated, or ordinary one. Here are some of our best tips for website photo selection.
Use variety
You'll need a mix of photos to keep things interesting and work with a variety of layouts and aspect ratios. Take a look at your photos and see if there are any holes in your variety:
Zoomed in/out
In use/static
People/details
In process/final result
Straight on/angled
Landscape/portrait
Signature Suite website template by Crème Brands
Plan a brand photoshoot
If it's feasible, a brand photoshoot will really up the quality of your final website design. Does the idea of planning one sound daunting? Here are four quick tips:
Work with a photographer who has branding images in their portfolio. You want to ideally see examples of behind-the-scenes, process, and details shots in the mix.
Pick a location that fits the main keyword descriptors for your brand. For example, you might want to prioritize lots of light, a studio shot against blank walls, or bold solid colors.
We love using clothing rental services for branding shoots, such as Nuuly or Rent the Runway. Search for pieces that incorporate your brand colors. You don’t need an exact match, but keeping it close will help you make things cohesive.
Compile a list of the “scenes” and stories you want your images to tell. Your photographer may ask for a more detailed shot list or inspiration board, but follow their lead and let them guide you in this.
Fill in the gaps
If a brand photoshoot isn't feasible or you're looking to fill in gaps, Unsplash is a great resource. Stick to photos that use your brand color palette to harmonize with your site design. This will also help them look less like cobbled together stock photos and more like an intentionally curated set.
What are best practices for using videos in your website homepage content?
Videos can take your website to the next level, especially when used thoughtfully in your website homepage content. We love to use immersive videos that transport your visitors right into your brand experience. Since you can't use sound and automatically play videos on a site, we recommend using a soundless, looping video. Keep the length short to balance website performance with user experience. As for placement, videos work great as full-width sections, either right at the top of your homepage or in the middle to break up content and keep visitors engaged.
Sweet Fém website template by Crème Brands
In conclusion
Your website homepage content is an incredibly powerful lever for your sales. It can be intimidating to know where to start, but you don’t have to start from a blank white page. By applying our best practices, your website homepage can come together with strategy and finesse.
Now, can you confidently say you know what to put on the homepage of a website? We hope this guide has provided actionable tips, prompts, and the "whys" behind our recommendations. By planning your website homepage content strategically and sticking to best practices for design, your website can become a powerful tool that works FOR your business, while you're busy doing what you do best.
Book a free consultation
Wondering how effectively your website homepage shows off your business? Book a free website review with our Creative Director, Kathryn Joachim, to strategize. We'll audit your website homepage and discuss next steps for bringing your visuals into alignment with your goals.
