Anatomy of a Homepage

On the blog, we started 2024 with a focus on digital marketing trends. In this two-part series for February, we looked at a variety of trends that we thought were worth highlighting for businesses as we all made and adjusted plans for the year. After focusing so much on marketing and content, we want to switch over to the topic of web design. Of course, there are so many different topics that we could focus on within that large umbrella, but today we want to specifically focus on homepages, their layouts, and some terminology you might hear. 

We’re all familiar with homepages, but there are some key design elements that help organize these pages and lay them out in a way that moves visitors through a potential series of events. 

Now, two terms you’ll hear in regard to web design are “above the fold” and “below the fold.” Yes, these terms are from the days when newspapers were our most prominent form of news, but it’s still a pretty good system to implement. “Above The Fold” involves all the visuals and information available without scrolling. With that knowledge, all the elements “below the fold” would be the elements on the homepage that are visible once visitors do scroll past the initial sight. Visitors typically spend less than a minute on a webpage before deciding whether to stay or leave, so planning both areas carefully is incredibly important. 

Now, for the elements above the fold, you typically have a header, which includes your website logo, a few main navigation tabs, and a hamburger menu or some type of dropdown menu option. These are all intended to give visitors an easy way to navigate your website while keeping the header fairly clean. Underneath the header, you typically have what can be called a hero image. This is essentially the first featured large image (or video depending on the site) that draws the attention of visitors. On this image, we recommend including your business’ tagline and a call to action. Why a call to action? Because some people will never be bothered to scroll past this opening image and offer, so you want to do what you can to increase engagement and form a connection. This call to action can be many different things; it can also be more than one call depending on how many buttons you are utilizing. We typically include a button concerning a free resource of some kind, but this is by no means the only option. 

Everything else pretty much falls under the fold. This is where the body and the footer of your homepage is found. The footer typically includes items like contact information, any copyright information, links to connect to social media accounts, and sometimes quick links or tabs. 

The body of your homepage is determined by what you want to highlight. This is not a layout that you are obliged to follow, but for us, we typically try to keep it simple. We include clickable links for our main services with corresponding images as well as some logos of clients or past clients to help establish some credibility. We like to include positive reviews from clients lower down the fold as well as another call to action of some kind. We also like to feature our blog posts right above the footer to help boost its visibility. 

So, how do you have your homepage laid out? Are there any of these elements that you’ve included? Are there any others that you would recommend? Comment and let us know. 

If you are interested in our web design services, we are still accepting some clients for the 2024-2025 season. You can find out more information here. Stay tuned for later this month as we continue to focus on web design.