Clicks 'n Conversions Blog

This article was first published May 13, 2008 on the Tatum Marketing blog

This may come as a surprise to you – especially if you don’t spend half your day thinking about your website – but nearly all technology websites have more than one home page.

How can that be?

We tend to think of the home page as the entry point for a website, and most sites are designed somewhat like a company org chart with the home page in the CEO position. The “CEO” gets most of the attention.

But in reality visitors enter your site on different pages.

Some do start on your “home page”. Some enter on landing pages. Others start on internal pages that rank high on non-paid search engine lists. Still others enter on internal pages linked to by other websites.

Every entry page serves the role of a home page for that visitor, and every entry page should be tested and tweaked to perform best for you.

Here’s how to do that:

Step one: Identify your top entry pages.

Any web analytics program should show you where people are entering your site. In Google Analytics, it’s in the Content section on a page called “Top Landing Pages”.

Step Two: Check the bounce rate.

The same page on Google Analytics will show you what percentage of visitors to each entry page bailed immediately. Remember, if it’s anything other than a pay-per-click landing page, you want your bounce rate to be under 50%.

Step Three: Pick the pages with the highest bounce rates and test some changes.

Presumably you’re already testing to improve landing pages for your pay-per-click advertising campaigns. If not, read 5 Tests to Increase Conversion Rates on Landing Pages.

What about the other pages?

The same factors that affect your official home page and your PPC landing pages can be used to improve performance on all of your entry pages. These include:

• Simplicity of the page.
• Readability of the text.
• Use of graphics.
• Good-to-great copywriting.
• Calls to action.

You can get more details about improving effectiveness of these pages by reading What Technology Buyers Don’t Want to See on Your Website.

Don’t know where to start?

This blog is full of articles about optimizing effectiveness of homepages and landing pages. Take the time to read them and you’ll have a great sense of where to start.