By Carma Spence-Pothitt
http://www.homesweethomepagebook.com

When planning out the look and feel of your website and, most importantly, your home page, you need to have a clear idea of what you want your visitor to do.

Then you need to make sure that this is communicated with certainty to your website visitor.

If you are not clear on the action you want your visitor to take, how will your visitor know what to do. And, if a visitor to your home page becomes confused, this visitor will not take the action you want... they will leave.

Here are some actions you might want a visitor to take:

Do you want your visitor to buy something?
Then your home page needs to be free of clutter. All copy must drive the visitor toward the sale and the only choice of action he or she should have is to buy or leave.

Do you want your visitor to opt-in to your list?
This one can be a little more fuzzy, depending on your strategy.

You can be assertive and direct and make the visitor sign up or leave. This sort of opt-in page has some information explaining the benefits of opting in and an opt-in box.

Or you can be more laid back and just make the opt-in prominent. This might be a good option if another goal of your homepage is to establish expertise or build a relationship. Allowing your visitor to browse a little before opting-in could be a very good strategy.

Do you want your visitor to call you?
Your phone number should be front, center and brightly colored. All copy on the page should extol the virtues and benefits of calling you. Convince your visitor to pick up the phone now.

As you can see from the examples above, your call to action needs to take center stage on your home page. And, in order for it to do that you need to be clear on what that call to action is.

Would you like to learn more about how to create an effective web presence? Pick up a copy of Carma's book, Home Sweet Home Page: The 5 Deadly Mistakes Authors, Speakers and Coaches Make with Their Website's Home Page and How to Fix Them! at http://www.homesweethomepagebook.com.
 Act quickly and grab your copy during the Virtual Housewarming Party, March 15 through April 1, and you'll also get additional valuable goodies.


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