6 min read
Designing a homepage that answers three questions
What do you do, who is it for, what happens next. The rest is decoration.
Most homepages I am asked to fix are not ugly. They are busy. Every team member has added one more section, one more slider, one more line about values, and the page has slowly stopped doing its one job.
That job is simple. A visitor lands, gives you a few seconds, and quietly asks three questions. If the page answers them in order, they keep reading. If it does not, they leave, and no amount of animation brings them back.
1. What do you do?
The headline should say what you do in plain words, not what you believe in. “Brand and web design for new businesses” beats “Crafting meaningful experiences” every time, because a visitor can repeat it to someone else.
I test every headline with one question: could a competitor use the same sentence? If the answer is yes, it is too vague.
2. Who is it for?
The second line narrows the audience. Founders launching their first product, clinics opening a second location, studios ready to stop looking like freelancers. When people recognise themselves, they relax and keep scrolling.
A homepage that speaks to everyone convinces no one.
3. What happens next?
Every homepage needs one clear next step, repeated at the top and at the bottom. Book a call, see the work, start a project. One primary action, one quiet alternative, never five buttons fighting for attention.
What I put under the hero
Proof: two or three results with real numbers
Work: a few projects, not the whole archive
Process: how a project runs, in four steps or fewer
Next step: the same call to action as the hero
Cut before you add
Before adding a section, I ask which of the three questions it answers. If it answers none, it goes. Most homepages get better by losing a third of their content, and the ones that convert best are often the shortest.
Write the three answers first, then design around them. The layout becomes easy once the page knows what it is trying to say.
