Most of the redesign work I do starts at the homepage. And most homepages I take over share the same fault. They say too much and show too little.
This post is a structure guide. What goes on a small business homepage, in what order, and why. Use it to plan your own, or to brief whoever is building it for you. And because I am in the middle of rethinking my own homepage, I will use it as the worked example. Including the bit I have not settled yet.
What visitors decide in the first few seconds
People do not read your homepage. They scan it. Usually on a phone, usually with one thumb, often while doing something else.
In those first few seconds they are asking three questions.
- Does this business do the thing I need?
- Can I trust them?
- What do I do next?
If the top of your page answers all three, you are ahead of most of your competition. If it opens with a slogan and a stock photo of a handshake, you are not.
Your headline should say what you do, not what you are
The big heading at the top of the page has a job. It should say what you do, who you do it for, and where. In words a stranger would type into Google.
Not “Welcome to”. Not a slogan. Not a line about passion or excellence.
Mine says: a freelance website designer for small businesses in Harrogate and North Yorkshire. It is not clever. That is the point. A stranger landing on the page knows within one line whether they are in the right place. The clever stuff can come later, once they have decided to stay.
If your current headline could sit on any business in your industry, or worse, any business at all, that is the first thing to change in a redesign.
The sections that earn their place
Here is the running order I recommend, top to bottom.
- A headline that says what you do, plus one short paragraph backing it up.
- One clear next step. A button. Book a call, get a quote, see prices. Pick one main action and make it obvious.
- Proof. Real work, real reviews, real credentials. In whatever mix fits your business.
- Your services, in plain words. What you actually do, not a list of vague promises.
- Something about price. Even just a starting figure. More on this below.
- A short section about you. A face and a couple of honest lines. Not your life story.
- A final ask. The same next step you offered at the top, repeated for the people who scrolled all the way down.
That is it. Seven jobs. If a section on your homepage is not doing one of them, it is probably in the way.
The sections that do not earn their place
- The mission statement. Nobody outside your business reads it.
- The carousel of rotating banners. People see the first slide and move on. The rest is decoration that slows the page down.
- The news section that was last updated two Christmases ago. An out of date page reads as a closed sign.
- A wall of adjectives. Professional, reliable, passionate, quality. Every one of your competitors uses the same words, which means they cancel out.
If you recognise your own homepage in that list, you are normal. These things pile up over years. A redesign is the chance to clear them out.
The bit I have not settled on my own page
My homepage currently runs: headline, two buttons, trust badges, past work, services, about me, reviews, then a final ask.
The question I keep going back and forth on is whether past work should sit above services or below them.
The case for work first: proof beats promises. Showing a finished site for a local pub or a gigging band does more than a paragraph describing what I offer.
The case for services first: a visitor who does not yet know I do the thing they need has no reason to care about my past work. Tell them what you do, then prove it.
For now, work sits first on my page, because most people who land there already know roughly what a web designer does. If you are a plumber or an accountant, the same logic applies. The less obvious your service is, the earlier it needs explaining.
I might still change my mind. That is allowed. A homepage is not a monument. It is a page you keep adjusting as you learn what visitors respond to.
The one line people actually mention
Now for the part I did not expect. When new enquiries come in, the part of my homepage people bring up most is not a portfolio piece or an award badge. It is one plain sentence near the top: fixed pricing, no surprises.
That taught me something about redesign clients in particular. Most people looking for a new designer have been burned. Costs that crept up. Invoices that made no sense. So a clear line about price does more quiet work on the page than anything I designed.
Two lessons from that.
First, put something about price on your homepage. A starting figure is enough. Hiding your prices does not make you look premium. It makes people assume the worst.
Second, you rarely know in advance which line will do the heavy lifting. Which is exactly why every section has to fight for its spot. The fewer things on the page, the easier it is for the important line to be found.
Say less, show more
The pattern behind almost every homepage I redesign is the same. Too many words making claims, not enough things acting as evidence.
“High quality workmanship” is a claim. A photo of a finished job is evidence. “Trusted by local businesses” is a claim. A named review from a real customer is evidence. “Affordable” is a claim. A price is evidence.
Go through your homepage and sort every element into one of those two piles. Then cut half the claims and add one more piece of evidence. The page will feel emptier to you and clearer to everyone else.
If you are planning a redesign
Before you brief anyone, me included, walk through your current homepage with this list.
- Does the headline say what you do, who for, and where?
- Can a visitor see a next step without scrolling?
- Is there proof near the top?
- Is there anything about price?
- Is anything on the page more than a year out of date?
