THE HOMEPAGE
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Figure 5-1. These two homepages are targeting two distinct markets.
Despite the endless variety of business models, market positions, and selling techniques,
successful homepages share a few common threads. They not only reveal the scope of the
site, but provide ample opportunities for visitors to click deeper to learn more. In addition,
they describe the company??™s products and services as well as relay a sense of brand and
market position.
These characteristics are especially applicable to corporate websites. Users should never
have to think too hard about finding what they need, because nine times out of ten, a visitor
cruises a business website with business goals in mind and very little interest in (or
time for) casual exploration. Let??™s discuss the primary functions of the homepage in more
depth.
Scope of the site
The bigger the website, the harder it is to rein in all the pages under a single navigation
structure. Inevitably, as a visitor travels deeper, the big picture of the site loses focus; the
menus become more contextual and the content topically limited. The free-for-all nature
of the Web encourages deep linking??”that is, linking to a page deep within a site, sometimes
many steps removed from the homepage.
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