A ways back when we refreshed our own brand, I outlined the who, what, why and how in a blog at the time (What the Brand? Reflecting on a Brand Refresh). The results of our brand refresh and subsequent new website have been amazing, with many new clients reaching out to talk business simply because the new look and site impressed them that much.
But it’s been a moment, and as I mentioned in that article, a brand is always a work in progress - in some form or another. So it made total sense for us to look at ourselves in the mirror once again and think about what we could do to iterate on our brand website experience to make it more fun and even more effective. Our solution involved several tweaks and enhancements like shifting the order of our main nav topics, adding a couple new case studies and generally tidying up here and there to improve SEO relevance and overall performance. The main effort however was reimagining our homepage. Here’s the who, what, why and how of that.
As many websites adapt to audiences’ increasingly limited time and attention spans, it’s understandable they try to cram everything you might want to know, or everything they think you want to know, in a massive single scroll content dump. Thankfully, telling your story isn’t limited to the above the fold phenomenon anymore, as mobile has trained us well to go for a scroll. However with more scrolling comes more responsibility. We agreed across all our expertise that we should make the scroll more business focused and functionally relevant - but still entertaining.
The whos wanted the whats to to jump from the safety of the navigation bar into the scroll so visitors could better explore and find content. This meant the about, work, services, processes, blog and connect pages needed some homepage curb appeal. Why is fairly straightforward - beyond the more obvious navigation benefits, we felt it was worthwhile to emphatically declare why these fundamental sections were worth visiting. Obviously we believe in the value of the essential content found within, but how can we inspire visitors to believe the same?
It starts with a sketch on a whiteboard of course. We want to tell a story right? That’s where I always begin. Within that super scroll moment we want to identify what our potential clients might be thinking right then and there because chances are they have arrived for a reason. Then, if they have a problem or challenge, they need to know they can get results with us. We will then tell them we have the means to be solution providers, and finally the processes to ensure it all goes according to plans. We offer them a few articles to read in support of our claims and then raise a toast to working together soon. Common sense yes? But you'd be surprised (or not) at the many brands who can’t get their story straight in time for it to matter.
Having the gist of our narrative prioritized, it was crucial our brand have some worthy words to read and vibrant visuals to come alive, making each spot during the scroll memorable. We did this with language that was catchy yet compelling, colorful but direct. It was important that each area incorporate phrasing that resonated with the potential client audience by identifying growth problems they may be facing or the money they might be losing on their current marketing. It was equally important to remind our visitors that we can solve it with them, and for them. That we had handy tools, expertise and a comfy manner to see them through any challenge they’re facing.
As the words started to come together, so did the visuals. Using our dynamic color palette and signature graphic style, we once again used the inherent strengths of webflow to animate the page assets - in ways some less subtle than others - but varied so each element kind of did its own thing. Each visual impression was to uniquely react, and address its cause and benefit.
The response to this home page refresh has been positive, and we’ve had fun undertaking this necessary task. Whether your site is business or pleasure, my key homepage refresh takeaways are as follows:
- Make time to consider your own brand presence like you do for your clients
- In the fight for a visitors precious scroll time keep it short but sweet so it’s worthwhile
- Tell a story to make a connection and invigorate the scroll
- Prioritize your content by sticking to what’s most relevant
- Don’t overwhelm your homepage or your audience by trying to say everything for everyone
- Have fun being thoughtful and creative with language and visuals where appropriate
Thanks for reading, and if you’re a client who’s looking to evolve your homepage or website in general to be more rewarding for yourself and your audience, reach out and let’s go for a scroll together.
