5 Things You Should Include on Your Website Home Page

5 things you should include on your website home page.

Previous research has told us that you have less than 30 seconds to convince a visitor to stay on your website. Today, due to the growth in activity on the web and the amount of information that is actually thrown at us when browsing the internet, recent research says you have less than 10 seconds to impress your visitor or they are off!

So how do we get visitors to interact with our website or actually do what most of us want, which is for them to make an enquiry? Well, within the aesthetic business it is predominantly about gaining the visitors trust and giving them enough information visually and textually, so that they feel they can make an enquiry. Here are my 5 things you should include on your home page:

1. Have case studies: This is imperative for any clinic wanting to use their website as means to getting enquiries. Do not bombard your home page with before and after pictures, but pick maybe one or two case studies that you can show case on the home page. Then provide the visitors with a ‘See More’ option, which takes them to a dedicated page for the rest of your before and after pictures. However, do not just have pictures, have the client’s testimonial next to it too AND if you can have a picture with the client too, do so. It shows real trust and rapport between you and the client.

2. Your telephone number: I know this sounds silly doesn’t it? But you will be surprised on how many websites my team and I come across each day where the website has not emphasised the telephone number. You may as well say “bye bye, go call my competitor for a consultation” if this simple element is not in place. Put the number in the top right corner and do not supply a 0800 or 0845 number. Everyone uses their mobile phones today and those 08 numbers can be costly to call from a mobile. Sounds silly? Believe me, I have tested it. It hardly converts visitors into callers.

3. News, blog, events: Having information and news on your website is a great way to keep you visitors informed and let them know your website is up to date. However, make sure you are not leaving items from 2003 on there under “Recent News”. A blog is the best way to do this, so if you haven’t got one ask you web developer to add one and also add a recent blog feed on your home page showing users snippets of the most recent three news items.

4. Lead generation form: This is so important! Do not let anyone leave your website without the opportunity to leave their details. The most effective way to do this is offer them something in return for their information. Please do not just have ‘Enquiry Form’ and expect people to leave you their details. Most clinics today offer a ‘Free Consultation’. Just offering this isn’t enough today. Everyone from your neighbour is offering this. Be creative, give them more... I have found some sort of advice literature works like ‘The guide to Botox... what to look out for and when to say no’. This has the visitor intrigued and has them wanting to know what you have to say. The great thing is they will pass this to friends, colleagues, family. You just make sure you have branded that literature with your contact details on every page!

5. Be visual and textual: This one is fairly important. Most websites I come across in the clinic world will have either too many sliding images so you just do not get all the information you want quick enough OR they will have scrolls of text talking about how long they have been established and what university the surgeon studied at etc. It is important to have some small area dedicated to an introduction about you, but do not have it as more than a couple of sentences, leave that to the 'About Us' page. Have images in a banner slider with text and strap lines in them, but do not have more than 2-3 maximum. No one is going to wait 20 seconds for your images to finish fading in and out. They will be gone by the time the third one is there.

Although I have focused on improving your website home page here, take some of these tips and apply them to your entire website. The more you can engage your website visitors and give them what they want within seconds the more you will increase your enquiries, which in turn will increase your ROI.