Why are we still fixated on the website home page?

In every website project, stakeholders place enormous emphasis on what the homepage will look like.

That’s appropriate—at a certain level. Your website is the face of your organization. The assumption is that the homepage is where visitors get their first—maybe only—impression of your brand, your offerings, and the value they’ll get from you.

Because stakeholders across the organization attach so much importance to that presumed entry point, the homepage can be a hotly contested property. Everyone wants to be represented, so they jockey for position and prominence, assuming that a strong homepage position translates into improved outcomes for their particular objectives.

However, in complex B2B organizations—and particularly in member-based associations—you’re speaking to multiple, often wildly diverse, audiences. And when your homepage tries to connect with all of them, you’re likely to fail to connect to any of them.

How do you present a homepage that communicates value—without mixing your messages?

The answer may be simpler than you think: Stop thinking of the homepage as the single point of entry into your site.

This Isn’t the Homepage You’re Looking For

According to a survey from research firm Ascend2, the top 3 most important things your website can provide are:

• Answers to questions

• Easy navigation

• Expert advice or insights

We agree. In our experience, people are searching for solutions—and they are doing most of their research online. If they don’t find answers quickly, they’ll head for a different site.

But that’s where a lot of complex organizations run into trouble.

Often, member-based organizations and associations fall into the trap of creating a website structure that mirrors their organizational structure. The website ends up being hierarchical, forcing visitors to drill down…and down…through layers of bulky content before they finally reach the information that matters to them.

Although this approach can make internal stakeholders feel represented, it often frustrates customers, prospects, and the public as they attempt to understand the value of your brand, transact business with you, or seek the specific resources they need.

How to improve website user experience? Create multiple homepage experiences.

While a home page is an important high-level page to guide people into your website, it cannot be all things to all audiences. And in fact, analytics data often demonstrates that a site may have multiple powerful secondary pages where searchers enter the site—based on their search terms and your site links. For those visitors, these secondary pages are, in effect, your site homepages. And it’s there they will get their first experience of your brand, messages, and navigation.

What do we do when we create more than one homepage?

How do you know which pages will be your secondary homepages?

You don’t—until you take a step back and do some analysis.

At Refactored, we understand that no two organizations are exactly the same. The clients we serve all have complex organizational structures, and they all provide myriad benefits and value to a diverse audience.

But the ways people find them, navigate their sites, and interact with them varies. A lot.

For example, for Investments & Wealth Institute, the premier certifying organization for financial advisors, searchers come looking for specific information on certifications and education opportunities. Their organic search results invite visitors into multiple entry points on their site.