Resources → The Newsletter • 6 min read

🧩 Putting together your pages

Building a website for your publishing business is a puzzle with many pieces and no instructions. If this is your first go at assembling a site, it's hard to know what to include, what makes sense, and how each piece fits together to create a seamless customer experience. This week's newsletter is about what elements make a homepage feel like home, why giving virtual thanks is important, and how to construct an indestructible landing page to increase conversions. Let's go!

In this week's issue 📨

Homepage essentials
Thank-you page best practices
Building a successful landing page

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here!

Home on the range

Just like your real home, the front door of your website should be a warm and inviting place where visitors feel their most comfortable and cozy. Your homepage needs to give just the right amount of information without being overwhelming, guide your guests to the right content, and easily convert them to satisfied subscribers. If you've yet to lay out your publication's welcome mat, it's time.

Phil Vallender, Director at Blend, breaks down some homepage essentials so you can meet the needs of your target audience from the very first knock.

Your messaging

As soon as a site visitor lands on your homepage, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention before they click away. This is why your homepage should always clearly and quickly communicate who you are and what you're here to do, while projecting your brand's unique voice.
Your value proposition is all about confirming that you're here to solve your readers' problems, while showcasing how you're going to do it or how you've already done it. Outline your purpose and show off your best work to remove any doubt from wandering eyes.

Be different

If your value proposition has gotten your site visitors to stick around, grow their curiosity by showing them why you're different than the other blogs out there. What sets you apart from your competitors? You don't have to mention them directly if that's not your style, but it's ok to brag a bit.
If talking yourself up isn't your style, let others do it for you. Use positive customer testimonials, your team, or what you stand for to stick out. No matter which route you take, just be real. In today's world, being an actual human is enough to stand out, create trust, and grow loyalty in the best pay possible.

Calls to action

CTAs can play an important role in nudging site visitors to your ultimate goal. When it comes to your homepage, you always want to insert important links and buttons in places that make sense, like your site's navigation. This is where your site visitors will naturally gravitate to make their next move.
Go a step further and include a contact form in your homepage's footer to gather specific details about your readers or give them a place to submit feedback. Do what you think your audience will gravitate naturally towards, and multiply it by ten. If you're unsure, that's why feedback is important.

Brand consistency

Your homepage should be the most cohesive part of your publication. Your readers want to feel like they're being taken on a natural journey, so if your homepage seems a bit disjointed, it's ok to experiment with different layouts and links. If you need help, consider hiring an expert.
Be mindful of how to incorporate your brand when designing your homepage. You may find a site theme or design you really love, but if it doesn't flow with your brand's vibe, it may not make sense to outside eyes. Your homepage's branding elements should be distinctive, seamless, and satisfying.

Interesting stories & ideas 📚

Gen Z will pay for news – Press Gazette
Content marketing that works – Jay Acunzo
Become an expert at anything – Barking Up the Wrong Tree
A/B tests that feel illegal to know – Marketing Ideas
Track your organic growth – Animalz

Giving thanks

When a guest brings a gift or mysterious food item to your party, you thank them, right? So, what should you do after a site visitor hits your homepage's CTA button to become an official subscriber? You thank them! A thank you (or welcome) page sets the stage for excitement, creates a more personalized experience, and builds long-lasting trust. Who doesn't love a red carpet moment?

Komal Ahuja, freelance writer for Kit, lays out some thank-you page best practices to ensure each new subscriber receives a warm welcome.

#1 If you want readers to get to know you and your content on a more personal level, use your thank-you page to share links to your socials.

#2 Use your thank you page to introduce your publication's best work so your new subscribers can dive into your favorite content right away.

#3 Have an exclusive offer only available to members? Share it on your thank-you page so new signups can take advantage of it instantly.

#4 Encourage your new followers to share your content on their own social media so they can help you reach more people. Word-of-mouth marketing works!

#5 Offer discounts to other services you may provide that only official subscribers can take advantage of, like upcoming webinars.

#6 Want to know more about your new members? Include a link to an audience survey so you can ask for feedback and gather detailed data.

#7 Include positive testimonials from existing members to build confidence in your content and emphasize the value you provide to your readers.

#8 Show off your personality and make your thank-you page fun! Use emojis, GIFs, or exciting graphics to make joining your publication a celebration.

A smooth landing

While your homepage may present multiple layers when showing off different aspects of your business, your landing page has one job: convincing your site visitors to take action. Not only does your landing page have to uplift your quality content in an attractive way, but it has to do it all on its own without the help of a hefty homepage. So, what elements are essential for subscriber success?

The team at Mailchimp provides some crucial landing page guidelines so your conversions stay consistent.

‣ Your landing page represents a trade. "Do this thing in exchange for a special something", and you have to know your audience to determine what that "special something" should be. Are your readers shoppers, solution finders, or social butterflies? What offers would excite them and turn them into advocates?

‣ Use your landing page headline as an opportunity to highlight the benefits of your quality content so your offer makes sense. This is your first opportunity to set expectations, so set them with relevance and excitement while laying down the facts. When your visitors know they're in the right spot, everything will click.

‣ Visitors might land on your site from multiple marketing channels like ads, emails, and social media posts, so optimizing your landing page for search engines (SEO) should be a no-brainer. Start by including smart keyword choices so search engines like Google move your site up the ranks.

Your landing page is an integral part of your **marketing funnel**.

‣ Add a clear call to action to your landing page to present a special offer or a specific objective. Inject your personality into your CTA copy and design so visitors have no choice but to click. Use contrasting colors and replace plain words like "Submit" with something more exciting, like "Let's chat!"

‣ Navigation is essential for a helpful homepage, but navigation isn't necessary for a landing page. Forgoing additional links to other parts of your site will free your visitors of any distractions and help keep them focused on your landing page's ultimate goal: converting them to subscribers.

‣ If you're not seeing immaculate results, keep A/B testing, redesigning, and making any changes that help your conversion rate rise. Nailing your landing page on the first go is rare, so it's ok to experiment with different approaches until you find one that sticks. Start with one element at a time and go from there.