You’ve looked at your homepage so many times that you genuinely can’t tell anymore if it’s good or not.
You’ve tweaked the headline. Changed the font. Moved the button. Googled “what should be on a homepage” at 11pm and ended up seventeen tabs deep in a Reddit thread that made things worse.
Here’s the thing: most homepage problems aren’t design problems. They’re structure problems. And structure problems look like design problems because the website looks fine – it just doesn’t do anything.
I’ve built 80+ websites for coaches, photographers, consultants, wine farms, and service providers of every variety. I have a Psychology Honours degree and a Master’s in Programme Evaluation, which is fundamentally the study of whether something is achieving its goals. So when I look at a homepage, I’m not asking “does this look good?” I’m asking “does this work?”
Here’s what works — and what doesn’t.
1. A hero section that answers three questions before anyone scrolls
Your hero section is the area visible above the fold — the part someone sees before they do anything. It has five seconds, maybe less, to answer three questions your visitor is already silently asking.
Is this for me? What do I get? What do I click?
That’s it. That’s the entire job.
Most homepages answer none of these. They open with a quote. Or a two-sentence bio. Or — my personal nemesis — a full-width video of someone walking slowly through a field while ambient music plays. Beautiful. Completely useless.
Your headline should lead with the outcome your client gets, not the service you provide.
Bad: “Strategic brand photography for creative entrepreneurs.”
Better: “Brand photos that make your ideal client stop scrolling and actually book.”
See the difference? One describes what you do. The other describes what they get. The second version makes someone lean in. The first makes them nod politely and leave.
Your subheadline names the person or the problem. Your button has one job and says what happens when you click it — not “learn more” (learn more what, exactly?) but something specific: “Book your shoot,” “Apply for a spot,” “Get the template.”
One button. Not three. Your visitor cannot commit to something they haven’t decided to want yet.
2. A problem section — the one most people skip
Before you tell someone what you offer, you need to make them feel understood.
This is the section where you describe the situation your client is in right now, before they found you. Not in a dramatic, over-the-top way. Just accurately.
People don’t trust solutions from people who haven’t demonstrated they understand the problem. It’s the same reason you trust a doctor more when they describe your symptoms correctly before recommending a treatment. Recognition builds trust faster than almost anything else on a page.
What this looks like in practice:
For a web designer (hi), it might read:
“You’ve been meaning to fix your website for six months. You know it doesn’t reflect where your business actually is — the prices are from a year ago, the photos are from a shoot that feels like a different era, and you wince a little every time you send someone the link. Every time you sit down to fix it, you don’t know where to start, so you close the laptop and tell yourself you’ll sort it next week.”
If your client reads that and thinks “how does she know” — you’ve done it. They’ll read everything after with their full attention, because you’ve already demonstrated you understand their situation.
3. A “why you” section — the short version
Not your full about page. One paragraph. Two at a push.
This is the bit that answers the question your visitor is already asking: why this person, not someone else?
The mistake most service providers make here is writing about their passion or their journey. That’s for the about page. On the homepage, you need the version that directly connects your background to what they get.
Instead of: “I’ve been passionate about design since I was twelve.”
Try: “I’m a web designer with a Psychology Honours degree and a Master’s in Programme Evaluation — which means I don’t just build websites that look good, I build them to actually convert. Every section is mapped to the way your client makes decisions, not just to what looks nice on a screen.”
The second version gives someone a reason to choose you specifically. That’s what this section is for — not to tell your story, but to answer the question “why her?”
4. Your offer — clear, scannable, one CTA each
Here is where most service business homepages go completely off the rails.
The homepage is not where you list every deliverable, every add-on, every format and option and FAQ. That’s for your service page. The homepage just needs to be clear enough that the right person thinks that sounds like what I need and clicks through to find out more.
One card per offer. Each card has: what it’s called, what they get at the end, who it’s for, and what to do next.
What this looks like:
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Done. That’s the whole card. No four-paragraph explanation of the process. No list of seventeen deliverables. Just the thing, the outcome, the person, and the next step.
If you have multiple offers, same principle. Scannable. One CTA each. No walls of text before someone even knows if they want to keep reading.
5. Social proof — but the right kind
Testimonials on a homepage are not optional. But most service businesses use them wrong.
“Working with [name] was such an incredible experience. She’s so talented and really understood my vision.”
This tells me how the experience felt. It says nothing about what happened as a result.
“I sent the link to three potential clients the week my site went live. Two of them booked within 48 hours.”
This tells me what’s possible. It makes the outcome feel real and achievable. That’s the testimonial that converts — not the nicest one, the most specific one.
When you ask clients for testimonials, ask them: what was the situation before? What changed after? What specifically happened? The answers to those questions are your social proof. “She was great” is not social proof. “I raised my prices the month after my site launched because I finally looked like what I was worth” is social proof.
Place them strategically, too — not in one block at the bottom of the page, but near the moments of highest doubt. Right before your CTA. Right after your price.
6. A repeated CTA — because people move at different speeds
Your CTA should appear more than once on the homepage. Not aggressively. But your visitor’s journey through the page is not linear — some people will be ready to click after the hero. Others need to read everything before they commit. If your button only lives at the very bottom, you’re losing the people who were already convinced in the first sixty seconds.
Rule of thumb: hero section, after your offers, end of page. Same copy, same button. Three placements, not fifteen.
The one thing nobody tells you to remove
A quick word on what not to put on your homepage, because this is where things quietly go wrong:
The embedded Instagram feed. Every click on it sends your visitor off your website and onto social media. Most won’t come back. You’ve built an exit door into the page you most need people to stay on.
The seven-item navigation. Every link is a decision your visitor has to make before they’ve made the main one. Four or five items, maximum. And make your CTA a button — visually distinct, impossible to miss.
The essay in the hero section. Your visitor doesn’t know you yet. They can’t receive your full story before they’ve decided if your offer is relevant to them. Give them the headline. Let the rest of the page earn the longer version.
The three different opt-ins. Pick one. A confused visitor doesn’t subscribe — they leave.
The checklist (save this)
Open your homepage right now and ask:
- Does my headline describe what my client gets, not what I do?
- Would a stranger know who this is for within five seconds?
- Is there one clear CTA visible without scrolling?
- Have I named the problem before I’ve described the solution?
- Do my testimonials describe outcomes, or just feelings?
- Is there anything on this page that sends people away before they’ve taken the main action?
If the answer to any of those is no or “I’m not sure” — that’s where the work is.
The faster way to get this right
If reading this made you realise your homepage needs a rebuild rather than another round of tweaks — Chilli was built for exactly this situation.
Every section in the Chilli Showit template is already mapped and sequenced: hero first, problem second, why you third, offers fourth, proof fifth, CTA throughout. The strategic logic is already there. All you’re adding is what’s uniquely yours.
And because every text box has a copy prompt built in — not placeholder text, but an actual strategic question that tells you what to write and why — you’re not staring at a blank box at midnight trying to remember what your headline is supposed to do.
The structure is done. The thinking is done. You just have to fill in what’s yours.
Get the Chilli Showit template →
$397. Five pages, a fully built sales page, the Sell It Like It’s Hot strategy vault, and copy prompts for every single section.
Would rather have someone do it for you? Website in a Day starts at $2,700 — I build it, you go live. See how it works →
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