The most important, yet most often neglected element of a B-to-B web site’s home page is its main “billboard” messaging. A user will decide whether to stay on a site or leave within 5 seconds.

While a typical site will serve multiple objectives (e-commerce, marketing, customer service, employee optimisation/intranet, public relations, investor relations, channel partner relations), in most cases, the focus is on NEW LEADS AND PROSPECTS.

This being the case, we can never ASSUME a visitor knows exactly what it is the company offers, and why it’s beneficial for him or her to go deeper into the site.  A common argument (we don’t know why any marketer would argue proper site messaging) we hear is:   “Nobody who hits our site is going to need to be told what we do.  They wouldn’t be there if they didn’t know.  And if they DON’T know, they’re not our prospects anyway”.  Even if a user has sought you out in a search engine, or visited your site as a result of a marketing promotion, they STILL need a reminder UPON IMPACT that they have arrived at a site that might solve their business problem.

The prime real estate for site messaging is the centre/left of the page. Users tend to scan a page from upper-left to lower-right in a split second and then fixate on the centre real estate. This is the region where you want to concisely convey your value proposition. This can be achieved through a combination of imagery and words.

Typically, a company will neglect to put the thought and energy into the RIGHT messaging for their home page, and just make their tagline larger.  A tagline is not always descriptive and therefore, in most cases, is not sufficient. Again, even if they know what you do, there is no penalty for reminding, reassuring and telling them on impact what you do – no matter how targeted your audience.

Ideally, the home page will consist of at least 2 of the 3 potential tiers of messaging.  They are as follows:

• Tier-One
  Tagline … memorable, catchy message. This won’t typically tell a user much, but can be helpful in setting a “tone” for your site. A common mistake is using this brief catchy type of message alone.
• Tier-Two
  Descriptive/Value Proposition. This is your condensed elevator pitch. In one concise sentence, here’s your chance to assure your visitor he/she has arrived at an appropriate location. This can be the most difficult sentence to write on your entire web site, but also the most important, hands-down.
• Tier-Three
  Specific Solutions. A third level of messaging (again, still on the home page) might include a bulleted list of solutions, customer pain points, or even vertical markets served. If done effectively, this is where EACH of your prospect types can quickly identify their problem or their industry. If so, this will almost assure you a visitor will visit additional pages on your site.

Take a look at your home page. Does it convey the proper message and tone? Is there a bold/prominent presence of clear messaging? Remember, you can’t rely on a paragraph of HTML text on a home page to deliver the message. Although search engines will like this type of messaging, prospects tend to SCAN home pages without reading them.