Homepage Hero Mistakes to Avoid

Everyone knows that the website homepage is the first page people see when they visit your site. The homepage hero header area is the name sometimes given to the top most part of the homepage that people see when they first visit without scrolling.

Studies suggest that 55% of people visiting websites spend an average of less than 15 seconds before clicking away. In reality I think it’s less than that. More like 3 seconds. So the homepage hero header is vitally important to get right to make sure the right people (your ideal customers) do spend more time looking and scrolling through your site.

I’ve compiled a list of 5 homepage hero mistakes that particularly annoy me.

• Logo takes up too much vertical space – This is a common mistake I see on a lot of beginner websites. Clearly the business owner has spent a lot of money on their logo and obviously very proud of it, so they make the mistake of making it huge and occupy and dominate as soon as you arrive. But the truth is no-one except you (and perhaps your logo designer) care about your logo, especially if it doesn’t convey in a split second what you do and who you help. The area that visitors see first (the hero header) should scream out your dominating statement. Which brings me on to the next point…
• Dominating fluffy mission statements that don’t say what you do – I’m talking about meaningless statements like ‘leaders in our field’ or ‘the best in our industry’ or ‘award winning services’. It may be true, but it is too general and could apply to just about any business and doesn’t convey what you actually do. Your dominating statement is what hits your visitor first so make sure your dominating statement can be read and understood in less than 3 seconds to convince your visitor that they’re in the right place to read on. And that brings me nicely on to point 3.
• Is it immediately clear, in your hero header who you serve and the problem they have that you solve without scrolling down. Would someone who has never met you understand what pain or problem you solve? Make sure the words you use are succinct and to the point. You could also incorporate images to help convey that message. Which brings me on to point 4.
• Irrelevant mages that don’t add value like stock pictures of statues, stones and landscapes. The best pictures are ones of happy people who had their problem resolved by your service, or pictures of you, in your environment, doing your thing. And one last point, don’t do this…
• Using stock pictures anywhere on your site of people who aren’t your client types. So, if you best serve woman over 40, then don’t use images of young women in the twenties and vice versa. If your ideal clients are female, then pictures of hands on keyboards need to be female hands not hairy male hands.

So there you have 5 homepage hero header mistakes that you can avoid.

Let me know in the comments below about any homepage hero header mistakes you’ve come across.