Techy? Sometimes. Funny? Often. Relevant? Always.

This is the first in a series of articles from Chris Rackley regarding better home pages.

Where have all the good home pages gone? No, seriously. Has the age of Adobe Flash and Adword-driven Landing Pages really brought us to this? So many domains you click on now have some of the coolest graphics, animation, and sound around, but the home page and subsequently the whole site, makes no flippin’ sense whatsoever! Others are poorly laid out — a conversion of confusion and convulsion (yes, I said that!). The point is, many businesses today need to rethink their home pages. I contend that it is not an issue of code, art, or site map plan — it goes much deeper than that. It’s a weak philosophy. Never fear, we’re here to get you back on track. But before we explain to you the right way to view your home page, we need to get rid of some wrong views.

Here are a few popular ones that have been going around:

My web site is about me and my company. I don’t blame anyone for feeling this way. Chances are, you’ve invested a good deal of money and time on your Web site — it needs to benefit you. That’s fine. We want the Web sites we build to benefit our clients. But that’s not why you should have a Web site. Your Web site ought to be about your customers. What do they want? What would they like? You may want a beautiful and elaborate 30 second flash intro to your site — it shows that you’re prominent, that you’re somebody. Does your customer really care? I mean, seriously, do they? You may want music on your site — it creates a cool atmosphere. Does your customer want that? Or would they rather listen to their Pandora music while browsing your site?

Here’s something to think about: Look at news sites with user-generated content, like Digg and Yahoo Buzz. Why are more people ditching CNN.com and going to these sites? Because user-generated content sites aren’t interested in selling you merchandise or making half their home page soapbox stories for their leading television personalities. Those sites are where to find the news people actually care about.

Of course, we can carry out this thought all day — from the menu structure to the actual content. It needs to be about the visitor to your site, not about you. I’d love to see someone build a site with the moxie to not have an “About Us” page, but rather an “About You” page. The more I think about it, the more that would totally rawk!

I want to create an atmosphere. Awesome. Good for you. Let me be clear — there is nothing wrong with this idea. But it should never be the backbone philosophy for your Web site. If this is where the philosophy starts, it’s going to end up as a mindless drivel that people don’t care about. Take Brill Publications for example. They’ve just been slapped on the prestigious list of Top Ten Worst Web Sites of 2008 at WebPagesThatSuck.com. I could take the time to explain to you all of the intricate details about why this site is so awfully bad, from their terrible menu (that you can’t even see on the home page!) to its confusing pages — but you should check it out yourself.  Long story short — they wanted “atmosphere.” Well they got it, but I think people would generally rather go up 50 stories in a real elevator than visit or explore that site.

But purely on a small business scale — atmosphere should not be your primary driver. Small businesses are asking more and more to have details like “rotating pictures” and “flash” on their home page. (Flash is in quotes because people tell me they want it all the time, when they don’t even know what it is. *sigh*) Folks, this isn’t good. You shouldn’t want these things for the sake of having them, but only if it truly enhances your site.

Case in point, we worked with a client who demanded their home page consist almost entirely of a single gallery of rotating pictures. We gave it to them. We got an email two weeks later saying that people didn’t even know there was a rotating gallery on the home page. This person was upset because they thought the gallery was too slow. Nope. Not at all. It was because visitors were clicking off of the home page so fast. They didn’t care about the gallery — they wanted information! So don’t get blindsided on this one, people. Atmosphere on your home page is good, but it needs to be your secondary concern.

This post is fairly negative, but it’s necessary before we can discuss good philosophy for your home page. The web is becoming filled with stuff that looks cool and fun, but offers users little in the way of valuable information. You may have read this and thought, “Junk! That’s me!” Don’t worry, there’s hope. And the first step is to think of your clients first. Between now and the next post on this topic, just chew on that for a while.

Your business is special, and you have clients to win. Your home page is the door and your domain is the key. When people walk up to your door, do they want to go in? Or would they rather just walk away?