I totally agree with you. Interior pages should be the starting point for design. Even better, CONTENT should be the starting point. Once you have that figured out, homepage is just, as you say, an organic extension of it. It´s a shame that many designers start with homepage, and many clients only worry about it.

Good post, by the way.

can you send me more information that you brief in detail? i would aggree on you maybe,

Well said. Early on in my design career I thought home pages more important than they really are, but ultimately their job is to get across quickly what the site is about and then direct people where they really want to be deeper into the site.

Awhile back I started designing interior pages first. The home page (if it will have a unique template) is almost always the last I'll work on.

I couldn't agree with you more.

It's amazing how many clients there are out there that have initially been way too concerned with how their homepage will look, rather than what they should put on it.

I've also found that the lobby analogy can work pretty well in setting them straight. I think you've got to be able to point them in the right direction in under 10 seconds to be truly effective.

I am also focusing on this thing. I love it.

Years ago the Home page was much more important (on average) than it is now. But that was for one simple reason: it was the "landing page" for most sites.

Today that is changed -- more often than before, actual specialized landing pages, blogs, and even galleries are getting lots of hits. It's that "other 75%" you were talking about.

An easy way to look at it is that any page within your website that is the entry point to your site should be considered "important". Whether you are selling something directly (i.e. e-commerce) or ultimately asking the visitor to contact you, you need to draw them in with that entry page.

First page they look at = first impression = very important!

~Graham

I think HP is still very important...
People often chenge site if they don't like the homepage, so it's important to keep them "hot" until they have informations we want to give.

Nicely said. I really don't know it's like that. Great post.

kimberly ventura

So .. everything is important
home page, interior page, links, contents
but I really think content would be slightly above others
and really nice insight though
thank you

I'm working on implementing these ideas into my new site. I really like the way that OpenOffice.org funnels their visitors right off the home page. It's visual, and easy to find what I need (usually the download :)

Just wanted to say I enjoy your website and have added you to my daily reading list.

Thank you for your reflection on homepage. Ralph

Your home page must accomplish 3 things:

1. immediately convey exactly what you do or who you are (can someone accurately guess what you do by looking at your site for less than 5 seconds?)

2. supply a simple/useful navigation to dispatch the visitor to the content that helps them accomplish their task (e.g. finding out more about you, order your hand made wool sweater, etc.)

3. provide calls-to-action (where applicable)

I also tell my clients that having a smiling, pretty face on the home page is incredibly helpful in communicating the "realness" of the site.

I completely agree that the home page is often overemphasized with relation to the content, but it's still unquestionably the most important page, as it is often the one chance you get to gain a customer.

In fact, I don't like the lobby metaphor, because once you're in a lobby, you've probably already booked a room at that hotel. A homepage design is more like your opening line when you meet someone. If it sucks, you're going to have a hard time gaining this someone's interest. If it makes a great impact, you might make a friend for life!

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Viva la home page design (just not at the expense of poor interior/content pages)!

It's all important, but I understand this point of view. Unfortunately, designing from the content out- while logical and smart- almost always never happens. Clients wait on content until designs are approved, and that's a shame, because in the end the content is what matters most.

Well written. I like the comparsion of the homepage with the hotel lobby!

I think often times clients get a little impatient and want to keep changing things.

Excellent article. very practical and easy 2 understand. well the look of the home page should be so vibrant that the visitor should feel like coming back to that page.

I agree with one of the other comments I read. I prefer to start with the inner pages of a site as this, for me at least, is where the ideas come from, new ideas for functionality, layout, consistent themes throughout the site and so on... Once this is under way, the homepage is easier to design and better as a result of it due to a more thorough understanding of the continuing pages.

Great article too.

Content is still King... but design is pretty important too.

I agree. On my web design blog, most of the traffic comes in through my articles and not the homepage. That is why I am focusing on directing traffic from those pages to my main page and to other articles within the blog. Great article.

I completely agree. If you have as lower bounce rate as that, i would recommend not to change. I would concentrate on improving the other pages, or adding more pages on more defined services/subjects. There is absolutely no point in changing something that is working, until you have perfected everything else. Yes it is good to change content, but add to the site rather than swap around and change definately.

Very nice read. Thank you for the information. Will apply this information and wait to see the results.

Not knowing everything about the web does become annoying.
When we help you out at Web design you can see a huge difference.
Focus on the whole site its all very important .

It depends on the customer and business you are designing for, and what they want to get out of a website. But i think the home page is a key starting point, creating a first impression. Also once the homepage is designed the inner pages flow and follow suit, you don't have to stick exactly to the rigid design structure, but its good basis.

That's an interesting point of view.

I quite like the way of explaining it as a hotel.

However, I still believe that the homepage is the most important page of the site as this is what grabs the user and asks them to explore the rest. All too often I look at a site and find the homepage a bit boring and I then get the impression that the rest of the site will follow in that style.

I like your hotel analogy, however I don't think it's spot on. See, when I go into a hotel lobby I usually intend to stay there before I walk in the door. Even if the lobby is cheap and grubby, I usually stay anyway because I don't want to go back out, get in my car, and try to find another hotel. However, if I went into a hotel lobby and found in unpleasing and all I had to do was snap my fingers to be in a different place, I would sure take on that ability. Web users have that ability in their back button. So, while I agree that the inner pages are extremely important, a first impression is just as important when the visitor has the power of the back button at their disposal.

I am in the process of a re-design for the secondary pages or Creare Design. I plan to essentially make each product page i.e. web design look like an individual homepage, rather than a template page.

What are your thoughts on this? i mean to you think that the bounce rate will be effected in a negative way?

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you. The first page is after all the first thing somebody will see when they visit your site and they base their decision of whether they are going to immediately close out of your site or keep browsing by what they see on that first page... First impressions are everything! This is just my opinion though.

Great information! But I tend to agree with Trendy Pixels to a degree, first impressions last which is why you should use a decent template or design however I dont think the homepage should be overloaded with info, give the user an idea of what your site is about which will encourage them to explore your site.

I guess i can see both sides. You want your home page to be an indication of what the site has to offer, so it has to be good. On the other hand, if the rest of the site doesnt have the information you want, then you wont stay on it.

A site has to be good across the board.

Very nice read. I will deffinetly aplly.

Full Acknowledge. Nice article.

Ver interesting read. I liked the comparison, several well made points :o)

I completely agree with the fact that your homepage is not the most important aspect of your website. It doesn't have the meat of your message. I always like to direct prospective clients to my samples page because I believe that says more about my company than my homepage. Focusing on interior pages to express the message of your business is extremely important and shouldn't be overlooked.

The home page should actually represent the entirety of your site.. pretty much sum it all up into one page.. but never should you over-do it.

Thanks for this insightfull post.
I too have a customer that is always wanting to redesign the home page thinking that, what they want to accomplish is more refinement on the home page. They don't understand that a lot of there most targeted traffic doesn't even come through the home page but straight into the product they are interested in. Designing from the content / product out as you pointed out is the best way, convinceing the customer to listen to the experiance and skills of the person they hired is the hard part. Thanks for the great post.

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Web Design London

I've seen people talk about this on a couple of blogs recently, and I reckon it's a great idea.

I'm only 15 and have only been working in the web business for about 2-3 years now, so I'm fairly new, and when I heard about this on another blog ( can't remember which one now ), I tried designing for the deeper pages first like it was talking about.

I found that the rest of the website came naturally after that, I mean it's not that amazing because I'm more a Developer than a Designer, but it definitely is one of my best sites so far.

Think I've found a new blog to follow,
Thanks for the great article.

Its definitely a different approach and one I hadn't really thought about before. I suppose doing things this way could work quite well and will at least make you think out the box. Nice article, thanks.

You raise an interesting point here and it's important to not focus too much on one area and overlook another.

Thanks for the great article.

Very good point, another thing is that the most important part of most sites from a clients perspective is the shopping cart or call to action page, eg contact page, signup, etc.
This page is what makes an effective online business.