There are so many different things you can put on your homepage, it can be hard to know where to start. On this page you’ll find a library of different content elements to use for inspiration and a method to help you choose the right ones for your needs.
Content element library
Take a look at the content element library to familiarise yourself with the possibilities before you start to choose which ones you want to use. I’ve broken the library up into different themes of content – you can ignore any that aren’t relevant to your organisation.
A quick note: not all the examples in the library follow all the best practices or avoid the mistakes. The screenshots are intended to illustrate the element. They are not intended as something for you to copy exactly.
How to choose
To start the process of deciding which elements to use, you’ll need to answer four questions about each one:
- Do we have this kind of content already? Or could we create it? Here you’re thinking about whether you have the content, AND whether this content element is relevant to your brand. For example, if you don’t run campaigns, you don’t need campaign elements. Or if you don’t have case studies now, maybe you could create them in the future if you think they might be useful.
- Does this reflect a user need/top task? Does the element reflect something users want from you and might look for on the homepage? For example, if you have a helpline that’s well used, having information about it on the homepage would be important.
- Does this connect to a strategic priority? Would having this content element on the homepage help with a strategic priority? For example, if your strategy is focused on encouraging users to find answers to questions on the website, you might want to link to info/help/advice content as well as your helpline.
You can also add new elements to the list if there’s something you want that isn’t covered, and/or add notes on how you would specifically execute any of the elements on the list for clarity. For example, which services you’d link to or which campaign you might mention.
The Homepage Content Worksheets will help you to complete this task.
Before you move on...
Complete the ‘3. Potential content elements’ worksheet in the Homepage Content Workbook spreadsheet to get an idea of the different elements you could use on your homepage and how important they might be.