What Sections to Feature on Your Website's Home Page as a Small Business
Your website’s home page is often the first impression of potential customers. If it’s not engaging, easy to navigate, accurate, or user-friendly, anyone landing on your website is likely to click away or not visit other pages on your website. We’re not judging… but as an agency that creates custom websites and website templates, we come across websites daily that leave little to be desired. Your website shouldn't just reflect your preferences—it should resonate with your ideal client and address their needs.
While websites vary depending on the industry, all website home pages share standard features, including an engaging hero section, an about section blurb, an overview of services/products, testimonials, and contact information. Your navigation header and footer are prime real estate for things like a newsletter sign-up, search bar, or social media links.
If your website could use an upgrade – or you haven’t created one yet – we’ve got you covered! From fully custom website designs to budget-friendly templates packed with all these essentials (and more!), we’re here to help.
Read on for more information about creating the ideal home page for your small business, and let’s chat if you’re ready to outsource it.
Hero Section
If you only have time to update one thing on your website, it should be the Hero section (aka above-the-fold content) on your home page. This section is what appears on your screen when you type in a URL (no scrolling necessary). Arguably the most important real estate on your website, it’s all about you making your best first impression!
Most businesses feature an attention-grabbing photo with a tagline explaining WHAT you do and WHO you do it for. If people can’t figure out your business from this section, they will likely click out before reading anything else on your website (negatively affecting your bounce rate and losing potential customers!)
Here are some of our favorite Hero sections:
Positioning
Underneath the Hero section is a great opportunity to expand your tagline with a Positioning section! This section should:
Describe your business
Identify the pain points of your ideal customer
Highlight how your business provides the solution to their pain points.
Talk about your expertise, and don’t be afraid to brag! Bring real-life stats and situations instead of relying on buzzwords and fluffy language. Don’t just say what you do – show what you do! Use concrete examples that demonstrate your impact and establish credibility. This is your chance to connect with your audience (and, most importantly, potential customers) by showing you understand their challenges and have a proven track record of success.
Here are some of our favorite Positioning sections:
Overview of Services
People don’t just come to your website to learn what you do – they come to your website to know how you do it! That’s why mentioning your most popular services, packages, or products on your home page is so important. It also helps potential customers understand your business better and how you can concretely solve their problems. And don’t worry, they’ll get more in-depth on your Service page – so keep everything high-level on the home page.
Controversial opinion, but we’re on “Team Prices on Your Website.” This helps for a few reasons:
You won’t get the same emails or questions all the time about pricing
You’re automatically able to filter out individuals who don’t align with your pricepoint
People know what to expect when they reach out to you.
If you’re uncomfortable giving an exact number, you can write something like “Investment starts at $ XXX.”
Here are some of our favorite Overview of Services sections:
About Me
Contrary to what you think, the About Me section isn’t about YOU! Yes, you can still talk about yourself and the evolution of your business (or business journey), but position it in a way that makes it relevant and relatable to potential customers.
You’ll dive into this on your About Me page, so this is just a teaser (make it so they want to click over and learn more about you!). You’re not just selling your services—you’re selling yourself. In such a people-person industry, customers want to feel connected to who they're buying from and their business!
This isn’t the place to introduce your team – save that for the About Me page and focus on giving a high-level overview on the home page.
Here are some of our favorite About Me sections:
Testimonials & Logos
It’s great to talk about what you do, your experience, and what makes you unique, but hearing it from others is even more impactful! Having testimonials on your home page can add credibility and legitimacy to your business and assure customers who are on the fence about purchasing or working with you. You can also include logos of brands you’ve worked with (make sure to ask beforehand!).
When asking for testimonials, ask pointed and specific questions to help guide a review and reflect you and your business best. You’ll want them to reflect your ideal customer, their pain points, and their needs, so let the compliments fly and have past customers sing your praises!
Here are some of our favorite Testimonials sections:
Newsletter Sign-Up / Freebie
If you have a newsletter sign-up or freebie, you’ll want to feature this a few times on your home page in different formats to incentivize anyone who lands on your website to sign up. According to digital marketing KPIs, email marketing provides the most ROI, so you’ll want to nurture and grow your email list!
Some businesses use popups to incentivize people to sign up for their email lists. While these can be very effective, they can alienate potential customers and increase your website’s bounce rate. Do A/B testing and closely monitor your stats to ensure your popup isn’t doing more harm than good!
Here are some of our favorite Newsletter Sign-Up / Freebie sections:
Other Sections to Consider on a Home Page
While the sections above are the bare minimum that every home page should have, here are a few more things to consider when designing or purchasing a template.
Header and Footer
Your header and footer are two of the most valuable sections of your website – and appear on every page (not just your home page!). Your header should link to all your pages, while your footer is a great place to add a link to your services page again, newsletter sign-up, contact form, job opportunities, and legal pages**.
Social Media Links
If you have social media channels connected to your business, you should always link them to either the header, footer, or both! Most potential customers will immediately go to your social media channels after browsing your website, so you’ll want to ensure they’re in tip-top shape (we can also help you with that!).
Instagram Footer
If you’re active on Instagram, adding an Instagram footer to your website can be a visual way to show off your business! We personally love stalking a good Instagram account, and having it in your footer makes it even easier. ;)
Search Bar
A search bar is an easy way to navigate your website if potential customers are looking for something specific. We recommend having one in your header, footer, or both and making it easy to find!
Contact Form
You’ll want to make it AS EASY as possible for people to contact you! Not only do we recommend featuring your contact form on your home page, but we also recommend linking to it from your header, footer, and potentially other pages on your website. If someone can’t figure out how to contact you (or your form is broken), you’re potentially losing out on that person as a customer (and $$$).
** Legal Pages
It is a federal requirement to include a Privacy Policy on your website if you collect customer information - even just their name and email in a contact form. We always suggest opting for a lawyer-drafted Privacy Policy, like this one from Berkley Sweetapple. It’s a one-time purchase that will live on our website forever. Use the code CARLY20 for 20% off - and yes, that is an affiliate code!
White Space
White space on your home page is often overlooked and underrated. White space is the space between text, graphics, images, and blocks. You want your website to be easy to read and navigate with eye-catching photos. If there isn’t enough white space, your website can seem messy and unappealing, leading potential customers to exit before learning more about you and your business!
Squarespace Templates from FlyDog Digital
With our Squarespace templates, we took all the guesswork out of creating your own website. These templates have everything we discussed above. Plus, they are incredible (if we say so ourselves) and easy to use. (win-win!)
When you purchase one of our templates, you’ll get:
The entire 6-page website sent to you within 24 hours
All of our copy prompts for increased conversions
40+ training videos on exactly how to edit the website for your brand - logo, colors, photos, copy, etc.
BONUS trainings on SEO and Google Analytics
We’ve had customers launch their website in as little as 2 HOURS after purchasing.
If you want to level up your online presence and attract more business, look at our Squarespace templates to see which best matches your aesthetic and brand!
