Is your homepage starting to feel like a three-ring circus? It’s a common scenario: everyone in your organization vying for the spotlight, shouting “Put up my event!” “Feature my news story!” “Showcase this interview with the Executive Director!”
But the homepage isnāt the right place for everything on your site. It certainly isnāt the right place for everything at once. The homepage has specific jobs to do, and it needs to do them well.
What are those jobs?
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Make it clear what your organization does. Your homepage should succinctly explain your mission, perhaps with a few illustrative stories or impactful photos. It’s often the first stop for users who find one of your interior pages via search and want to know, “Who’s behind this content?” or “Can I trust this organization?” (How do you tell if your homepage is clear?Ā Just a little bit of user testing can be really useful!)
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Provide a roadmap to your website. Your homepage, in conjunction with your navigation, should give visitors a mental map of your site. It should help them understand what content is available and how to find it easily.
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Offer clear, prioritized calls to action (CTA). Every prominent “ask” on your homepageāwhether it’s to register, read more, sign up, or donateāis a call to action. But beware: too many equal-priority CTAs can overwhelm visitors. Stick to a few easy actions that a lot of homepage visitors would do (from the bottom tier of an engagement pyramid or ladder.)
So, the next time someone in your organization pushes for homepage space, ask yourself: Does this content serve one of our homepage’s key jobs? If not, it might be better suited for an interior page where interested visitors can find it through well-structured navigation.
Dive Deeper
9 Key Characteristics of Great Nonprofit Websites | GiveForms
Written by a donation product provider, take this articleās mentions of calls to action with a grain of salt. That said, this is some solid advice about the visitor-first approach we should all be taking to our websitesā¦ homepage first.
Carousels: No one likes you | Joni Halabi
Carousels on homepages: a favorite of nonprofit staff, a headache for visitors. Carousels are a convenient way to avoid tough choices about content prioritization, but visitors rarely click through them, and they’re generally terrible for usability. In almost all cases, itās better to build a homepage that showcases the 2-3 most important things you’re dithering over. It beats a carousel any day.
The Biggest Branding Mistakes Nonprofits Make: 3 Essential Fixes | Nonprofit Tech for Good
Trying to figure out exactly how to make it clear what you do? This article by Lyn Chamberlin has some good considerations to refine how you talk about yourself and your mission.