A lackluster headline on a company’s homepage can create a poor first impression among site visitors, leading them to quickly exit the page without taking action. If the main message users see when they visit your website doesn’t immediately grab their attention and entice them to want more, it’s unlikely they will take the time to click a link, browse your products or services, check out a blog post, fill out a form or make a purchase.
To avoid your bounce rate increasing exponentially, it’s important to have a stellar headline on your company website’s primary landing page beckoning visitors to dig deeper. The members of Forbes Agency Council know how to write a homepage headline that will catch the customer’s eye and make them want to stay on the page longer. Here, they share their best tips for doing so.
Forbes Agency Council members share tips for writing homepage headlines that catch visitors’ eyes.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Tap Into Your Clients’ Aches
What makes a headline effective—whether it is for your site’s homepage, services section or a blog post—is its ability to tap into your clients’ aches. Keep the headlines concise and brief and tell the visitors which of their problems you can solve and how. Avoid metaphors, puns and “beating around the bush,” in general. Use plain, straightforward language that will resonate with your prospects. – Dejan Popovic, PopArt Studio
2. Make It A Clear Call To Action
You need to understand exactly what your audience is looking for and make sure it comes across in the headline of your page with a clear call to action. This is what will get their attention. The headline should be short, sweet and eye-catching, translating exactly what your audience is looking for and getting them to head to where you need them to go. – Lisa Montenegro, Digital Marketing Experts – DMX Marketing
3. Communicate Your Core Values
The headline should contain a value statement to communicate your company’s core values. A memorable statement is one that’s concise and provides your mission at a glance. For example, a print marketing company may emphasize how their work helps small businesses grow. – Hannah Trivette, NUVEW Web Solutions
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4. Incorporate These Three ‘Musts’
Headlines may be the hardest writing exercise around, but I have three “musts” when writing them: First, use your brand voice and tone. If your brand is confident, write that way. Next, write for your primary audience only. We know you have three to five personas, but you have to choose one. Finally, focus on the outcome of doing business. If customers are protected, say that, and say how they will feel. – John Geletka, Geletka+
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5. Use Unique Language And Specifics
A headline should attract attention. You can achieve this by using unique language that conveys either a sense of importance or usefulness and by using specifics—such as appealing data or numbers and so forth. In addition, you can use elements of rationales, such as tips, reasons, facts, ways and so on. – Dmitrii Kustov, Regex SEO
6. Keep An Eye On Word Count
Headlines should be short and succinct, preferably five or six words and no more than ten. And they should be clear and specific about the purpose of the product or service. – James Dressing, KLIK
7. Be Succinct And Clear
Our No. 1 tip is that the messaging must be succinct and clearly communicate what you do above the fold. You don’t have long to communicate what you do, and the top priority should be clarity. Clear is kind. – Kristen Brown, Hoot Design Company
8. Highlight Your Ideal Customer’s Problem
The homepage headline should be the problem that the company solves for the ideal customer it is trying to attract. A/B testing of landing pages allows for data to dictate the best homepage headline and for segmentation of both organic and paid efforts. – Vix Reitano, Agency 6B
9. Clarify Your Differentiating Factors
Unless you’re a well-known company, be clear about your differentiating factors and ask yourself how you’d sell your product or service in one sentence or less. Start with a handful of options and split-test the results via paid ad campaigns. When it comes to visitor behavior, our assumptions can only take us so far—we can use tools such as heatmaps to determine what turns visitors into customers. – Cam Wilkie, func.media
10. Pose A Question To Engage The Audience
Take a chance. Be provocative. Set a tone that’s engaging to the audience. Pose a question that will encourage your traffic to find the answer easily. Inform them once, then continue that course in strategic places throughout the website. Getting a visitor to scroll the homepage is progress; moving them from the homepage to product and service landing pages is the feat. – Dean Trevelino, Trevelino/Keller
11. Choose The Right ‘Flavor’
Writing a great headline for a company’s homepage is a lot like going to Baskin-Robbins—there are a lot of flavors to choose from. They all can be good depending on what a brand wants to accomplish. But writing the headline isn’t the problem; choosing the flavor is. The best headlines will demonstrate a point of difference, be clever or provide some insight that compels the reader to want more. – Roger Hurni, Off Madison Ave
12. Speak Directly To Your Target Audience
Too often, brands and companies try mass-appeal tactics to attract the largest number of potential customers and users. This leads to muffled messaging with an unclear target audience, effectively turning away core groups of customers. Know your targets and speak to them directly, instead of trying to hit everyone. Make your copy clear and convincing, and ensure they can see themselves in the message. – Josh Perlstein, Response Media
13. Drop Overused Words
We often suggest businesses drop overused words such as “quality” and “professional” in favor of statements that answer questions or provide offers. For example, instead of “High Quality Lawn Care” you might instead try something like “Ready to Take Back Your Lawn?” or “Free Lawn Care Assessment” paired with additional information, bullet points and a lead form. – David Wurst, WebCitz, LLC
14. Hit A Customer Pain Point
Be direct and hit a customer pain point in the headline. You must grab the consumer’s attention within the first few seconds, otherwise they will bounce off the page. Often, starting off with a pain point or question that the consumer can relate to will lead to a natural curiosity about how your company can fix this problem, and they will continue to browse to find out more. – Tony Pec, Y Not You Media
15. Use Your USP As A Compass
With only a few seconds to hook the visitors to your company’s homepage, you need to ensure that the headline is succinct yet memorable. It needs to be able to stir positive emotions while crystallizing the value of your company’s offerings. If you’re at a loss as to which particular offerings to focus on, you can never go wrong using your company’s unique selling proposition as a compass. – Lars Voedisch, PRecious Communications
16. Feature ‘Gateway’ Products Or Services
What’s the No. 1 selling point of your elevator pitch? Make sure that those “gateway” products and/or services are the main feature on your page—this includes both imagery and caption messaging. Another important thing to keep in mind is that if you’re using video, make sure that the file size isn’t too large, leading to a delay in page loading. – Spencer Hadelman, Advantage Marketing
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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
