A simple post, Action on Your Home Page, turned into a three part post about getting action out of your home page. This is part three, and I will be using A Service Master Company site again, American Home Shield, as the third example.
Layout is Old
The first two examples, Terminix and TruGreen, were great example on how to build a successful home page. They quickly catch your attention, create interest, desire, and action. When I took a look at A Service Masters Company’s third site, American Home Shield, I knew it was it was a little more dated than the others. Besides looking at the copyright in the footer, here is what tipped me off.
What’s Wrong
Looking at the home page, I didn’t see the winning layout I had seen in the previous sites. It looked nice, it had a large action item, but there was nothing compelling about it at all.
The main content was just some basic information about getting a home warranty, boring. Next box, action, already? Third bit of content, here is our phone number, call of for service…NOT. Well, maybe if I was a customer already. Fourth major content, explanation and reasoning for a home warranty. Simply put, the home page didn’t sell. There was no attention grabbers, interest, and at that point, action.
Clear Purpose
The other failing point of the home page here is the fact that it didn’t have a clear purpose. Is the page designed to get prospects to fill in the quote information, or is it to help current customers by offering customer service information? The purpose has not been clearly defined, and it will fail to convert (whatever the primary goal is) like its sister sites. They did have a few pages that were a little more goal oriented though, and I am wondering if they were what lead to the new designs with the other sites, see Home Warranty Inspection for an example.
Having A Plan
Having a plan is often the hardest part of web design. There is so much we can do, so much we want to do, and thanks to the internet, so much we can do. Stopping to think about what exactly a page is for can be the hardest part. Hopefully your site has a plan, it’s pages are well planned, and that you have understood what I have been talking about over the past three posts.
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