Put that at the top of your home page and I’ll send my copywriting heavies to have you horsewhipped.
A headline on a home page is an opportunity. What is it? Yes, that’s right. All together now, it’s an opportunity. So…use it, dopey!
Your headline says hello to all the nice people who’ve come to see you. And it says ‘stay here nice people, cos I’ve got something that I think you’ll want.’
Because of your headline, all the nice people will stay to read what you’ve got to say next. So make it sing to them, sexily, like their favourite X-Factor finalist.
(Otherwise you’ll have Gary Barlow dissing you: “Look, it’s obvious you’re passionate about your bespoke business solutions. But…you just can’t sing!”)
When you’re writing the body copy of your site, keep the ‘call to action’ firmly in mind. This is not necessarily a ‘buy this now’ command. That’s your ultimate aim, but the call to action here is more likely about which bit of the site you want them to head to next.
If you then bog visitors down in words, the only place they’ll head is off. So no big blocks of text. No excruciatingly difficult-to-understand sentences. You’re not writing a novel here, you’re selling.
More on the body copy later. For now just work on your headline.
Does your home page have a good one? Or have you seen some you like on other business sites? If yes, please share them with us here.
Right, now where did I put that horsewhip?
Horsewhipping. I haven’t tried that on my clients yet. Perhaps I’m not thinking sufficiently outside the box…
A more aggressive approach may be called for, Adrian. See me for my comprehensive range of bespoke client-whippings solutions.
I put Miss Whiplash on my homepage after reading this!
Is it web site or website? Is it home page or homepage?
Those are the questions.
Hmmm.
For ages, being a dig-my-heels-in-and-resist type of person, I doggedly stuck to “web site” maintaining (rather primly, I have to admit) that “There is no such word as website”.
When, rather like Canute, I realised I was battling insurmountable odds, I adopted “website”.
Having said that, there is no such word as homepage.
I’m sure I would never write homepage on purpose