{"id":3787,"date":"2012-11-26T07:56:29","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T12:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=3787"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:21:56","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:21:56","slug":"planning-for-homepage-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/planning-for-homepage-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning for Homepage Content"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our homepage is our front door. How do we manage it while acknowledging it’s just one part of the house?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If there\u2019s one thing that the infamous XKCD university homepage comic<\/a> reminded us, it\u2019s that we need to strike a better balance between tasks and messaging on our homepages. And if there\u2019s one thing that the commentary stemming from that comic reminded us, it\u2019s that our homepage is one of the most political entities we will ever manage, and the solutions don\u2019t come easy.<\/p>\n

But if you think about, there really is no separate homepage strategy, is there? This is no Jedi mind trick\u2014the homepage should simply be another reflection of your overall communications strategy. This is the Force from which your website\u2019s strength flows, homepage and all. And to that end, as more people come to our site from paths other than our front door, we need to treat every page on our site like a homepage.<\/p>\n

How do we best defend a critical digital asset like our homepage against the slings and arrows of outrageous demands\u2014links, stories, photos, you name it\u2014from constituents across campus? As with anything, it starts and ends with developing (and supporting) a goal-oriented strategy that defines the purpose of the homepage, what efforts support that purpose, and how we measure the effectiveness of those efforts. <\/p>\n

The crux of that strategy needs to be an understanding of your audience. Once you have that, you can build your homepage to support those users, including top tasks and targeted institutional messaging.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s explore some helpful approaches to creating a meaningful, successful homepage.<\/p>\n

What Is The Purpose of Our Homepage?<\/h2>\n

In 2010, Gerry McGovern wrote a great article called \u201cThe decline of the homepage<\/a>,\u201d citing statistics showing that users are heading directly to homepages less and less. \u201cPeople don\u2019t vaguely browse on the Web,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAs Web usage matures, it becomes more specific.\u201d<\/p>\n

This perspective was echoed in an August article on Nieman Lab, citing the growing propensity of website visitors to arrive \u201csideways,\u201d<\/a> via search, social media, or \u201cdark social<\/a>.” Speaking in the context of news, Atlantic Digital editor Bob Cohn told Nieman Lab, \u201cThe old mantra that every page needs to be a homepage has never been more true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, that idea that your homepage is the most important page on your website is more myth than truth<\/a>. So what\u2019s the role of the homepage, then? It\u2019s still our institutional front door. According to Cohn, in a piece he wrote for Folio earlier this year<\/a>, it\u2019s a place to make your \u201cultimate brand statement\u201d:<\/p>\n

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\nThe homepage is the single best way for editors to convey the sensibilities and values of their websites. Everything about the page \u2013 the design; the selection of stories and images; the treatment of features and widgets; the language and cadence of the headlines; the typeface; the frequency with which the page is updated; even the ads \u2013 is a statement about what matters to the publication.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Back in March, mStoner\u2019s Susan T. Evans echoed this in writing about the need to curate content on higher ed homepages<\/a> in a way that serves multiple audiences while still targeting just one or two:<\/p>\n

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News you feature and events you highlight should be based on editorial decisions that are consistent with the messaging platform outlined in your communication strategy. When you choose well, the campus community, parents, legislators, and other ancillary audiences will also be influenced by this content. Your homepage can offer points of pride for many audiences without muddying the focus on prospectives and donors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

She added: \u201cWe want our .edu visitors to find what they are looking for but we also want to subtly get in their way with useful and compelling content that is outside the scope of what they came in to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Useful Homepage<\/h2>\n

However, in his 2010 article, McGovern also made the case for transforming our homepages from \u201ca giant billboard or megaphone\u201d covered with \u201chappy talk and smiling faces\u201d and into something more useful. <\/p>\n

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Your customers don\u2019t want to get to your homepage. At best, the homepage is merely a series of signposts that will help them head in the right direction. Unfortunately, too many marketers and communicators are destroying whatever credibility their homepages have left with customers by filling them with useless graphics and meaningless words.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

In the same vein, I appreciated this analogy shared during Confab in May:<\/p>\n

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User think of your home page as the hotel lobby. What they really want is to get to the bar or their room #confab12<\/a><\/p>\n

— John Mohr (@johntmohr) May 14, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n