5 Easy SEO Tips To Improve Your Homepage
Doing SEO Doesn’t Have To Be Hard Or Overwhelming.
Today we look at 5 website homepages and I tell you what I love and give you some red hot SEO tips.
You definitely need to keep working on your website, avoiding it is bad. One of google’s favourite things is discovering when businesses update their website - SHE LOVES THAT!
SEO - It’s not one thing, it’s many things. And today we are looking at a homepage.
My homepage is not perfect, but I am working on it. As soon as I finish this blog post, I am going back to the drawing board and pencilling out a new website layout!
The top 1/3 of it actually.
A few weeks ago I was in a webinar with Megan Winter and she reminded me how important first impressions are on our homepage.
If I had a few brief moments to look at your website homepage, what would the top 1/3 of the screen say?
Here are some questions to get you thinking and designing your best homepage:
1. Is your business name clear?
2. What do you do, sell or provide?
3. Where are you?
4. What is the best way to contact you?
5. What do you want your new potential customer to click on next?
6. What is your H1, the main heading on this page saying to your potential clients and google?
7. Is your logo hogging the spotlight? I hate to break it to you but people don't go to your website to look at your logo. Make it visible but out of the way.
Okay, let’s just dive in here and look at a few homepages…
Jumbled - Online Shop based in Orange NSW
What I love
The logo is small and to the left. It’s quite small and honestly, it’s just big enough for me to be sure I am with the right brand/company;
Navigation is detailed with a lot of shortcuts. For people like me, I don’t sit and browse the entire website, I saw something on Instagram or FB and wanted to buy it. This menu helps me get straight to it! I need some more wooden spoons for my kitchen. (yes I have a billion spoons).
The hero image is three images in one and gives me a clue on their style and what they are highlighting - this collection is what they want me to shop. And honestly, I was tempted to click on it even though I only wanted spoons.
The layout of the page screams to me that they are shop and they sell almost all in store things online.
Nice homepage and if you are partial to homewares, art and fashion, and love supporting small Australian businesses, then Jumbled is going to be right up your alley
Stacey Morris Celebrant
What I love
Logo and business name says who and what; (probs would be good to see some sort of location hint);
Stacey has FAQ’s, google loves this kind of heading and content;
Stacey has a blog, again, Google is going to love this new content;
The hero image says to me that Stacey does indeed do weddings and perhaps she is earthy and loves nature as much as I do! ; and
Clean and enough whitespace to feel like I can breathe.
Code Black Cafe
I love Code Black Cafe and this was the first time I clicked on their website and I hate to say it, but I don’t love this top 1/3 of their homepage.
I knew what this business does and when I hit this page, it wasn’t clear to me that I was on the right page. No cafe image and honestly this red image was screaming at me and I was confused… maybe too artsy and not enough captain obvious here.
No real confirmation that this is the cafe I visited and that I am in the right place, so no real immediate confirmation;
The main title says “New Autumn Seasonal Blend”… what? They are missing a very crucial word or two words here. COFFEE or COFFEE BEANS. You gotta be captain obvious. If not for your customers, then do it for Google and her spiders and robots that crawl your website.
They do have a title in the top 1/3 of the page which is very good, they just didn’t apply SEO smarts to it.
In the navigation, I would love to see “shop coffee beans”, “shop coffee cups” or other things that you would expect to buy from a cafe/coffee bean roaster. They have an opportunity to really highlight or focus on some of their hero products here
No bestsellers link. Consumers are lazy and we are sheep and love to be taken to the things that everyone else loves. When I had a retail shop, I got told some really good advise. You only need 1-5 best sellers and you sell the shit out of them, over and over! Don’t try to make new bestsellers, just keep selling your most popular things over and over again!
The announcement bar deals with a fairly common customer objection, shipping costs. I love that they have that addressed at the top!
They need a button like this …. it’s very clear to humans and Google about what this page is about.
The Velo Project
If you know me at all, you know I love this place and is one of my favourite cafes EVER. I eat there often and I can honestly say in the 10 years I have been visiting their cafe, I have never been to their website. What I found made me love them a little more! :)
Logo is small and confirms I am in the right place;
They have a link to their menu in their navigation; (any food businesses, this is super important for customers);
They tell me that they do catering, it’s in the navigation;
They have their contact details in the announcement bar and their HOURS of business - brilliant
They have their address in the top 1/3 of the homepage;
The photo confirms they serve food;
The image is crisp, clear and professionally done;
They have a suburb in the homepage title - Mooloolaba;
They have a nice balance of whitespace, text and imagery;
They have so much information at first glance, I probably don’t even need to ring them to get anything else! I can self serve!
They have absolutely removed a whole heap of phone calls asking, where are you, when are you open, what’s on the menu etc etc… The website has all the answers for Google and the customers! 10/10
These guys just went up another notch in my book. They serve the best coffee, friendly service and absolutely delicious food. They have a really simple but effective homepage/website.
We could all take a leaf out of their book and apply it to our own business website. (Including me!!)
Terri Hanlon Photographer
What I love
The logo is small and recognisable in the left corner;
For locals, you can see very easily that these are the Glass House Mountains - location hint;
This hero photo is stunning, jaw-dropping, and makes me want to get married on a mountain and kiss the love of my life on a hilltop;
Her title, H1 says what she does and where - Sunshine Coast Wedding Photographer! Brilliant, she definitely tells us effortlessly what she can do for me;
If you are price shopping she very openly and quickly deals with prices - place front and centre in the main navigation. Get the money objections out of the way, no point in having a client that wants to pay $500 for a wedding photographer on this website. I didn’t click on prices, but I can tell this gal is not an entry-level photographer… I could be wrong but I doubt it. This chick looks talented.
Font’s are a beautiful size, make sure you have the menu and any font bigger than 16px. Google hates small fonts;
The testimonials page is brilliant - it says to me that this person has raving clients and experience. Trust is already building just by seeing this in the main navigation;
Contact us in the most predictable and easy spot in the main navigation. We love this, it’s captain obvious and smart. Make it super easy for people to contact you.
Okay, well that’s it from me! I hope you can take some inspiration from these amazing business owners and their websites.
Let me know which one you love the most! Comment below!
Author - Tanya Northey, Sunshine Coast SEO Coach
