B2B Web Design And Inbound Marketing Blog | Market 8

Homepage Content - A Guide To Web Design For Startups

Written by Eduardo Esparza | May 3, 2013

Every start-up out there is looking to grab as much attention as possible online, and that always starts with a well designed website. However, creating a website can be a hassle if you don't know where to go for the right solutions. For example, you could hire a freelance designer, but expect to pay upward of a thousand or more dollars on top of waiting for months for the final result. Free websites are also a common substitute for web design for startups; these free websites are hosted solutions, but they typically don't do well in search engines and don't have enough features for a start-up. 

Considerations for Homepage Web Design for Startups

Starting with the main page of your website is a good start, especially because it's going to be the face of your business. Sure, leads could stumble across your Facebook or Twitter first, but those channels don't really convey what your start-up is about. No, you need to put a lot of effort into the design of your homepage. So, what should a homepage have? What's the difference between a good homepage and a great homepage?

Intuitive & Clean Design

One of the most high rated deterrents of a homepage happens to be poor design, especially when it's unresponsive. A lead will leave quicker because of poorly crafted design than anything else, so you have to make sure that your website--and homepage--are user friendly. To help understand easy design, let your friends and family move around the website without any instruction on your end, always test and tweak your design, and make everything as front and center as possible.

You don't need an overly complex multimedia homepage, and in fact all of that stuff might just make your website load slower and even more potential customers will be turned off from your website. When it comes to doing a web design for startups, you need to keep it simple, clean, and easy to use right at the get-go.

Information

All pages of the website should have a footer where important information such as address, phone number, email addresses and other means of contact information are placed. Your homepage also needs a footer with vital information so users know how to get in touch with you. Having a form that people can fill out and send in any questions or comments is fine as well, but the information such as address and phone number are also helpful with your SEO and ranking higher on search engines.

Value Proposition - What You're All About

Besides information such as points of contact, you also need to show what you're all about as a start-up right on the homepage. If customers are still confused about what you're offering even when visiting your website, then you need to make things even clearer and very easy to find so users can understand what you're all about.

This is true for start-ups with technical services and products and have a niche industry already, leads and customers need to understand what you do as soon as they land on your homepage. You don't need to be vague in order to draw in leads so they can become potential customers--in fact, that plan will only backfire for your start-up.

Content For Marketing

Finally, but certainly not least important: you need content on your website that helps with your SEO and marketing! About 15% of your total visitors will read through everything you have to say (By the way, this 15% of your total visitors is your target market).  You need to be engaged in the business of providing value to your visitors.  Content is a great way of doing that, specially if this content address specific issues that your buyers are having.  Therefore, consider showing off blog posts, infographics or online videos to help draw in leads, explain in detail the problems you solve, and also make your website rank higher. Content is crucial when doing a web design for startups because they're typically competing with much larger entities that do the same exact thing.

However, all of this can be implemented and included very easily and without a huge price tag. Also, your website can be done using the HubSpot CMS, hassle free, all it takes is taking that first step of making up your mind to making your website a central part of your marketing plan.