Website homepage design: My favorite 32 examples to inspire you Homepage design shapes the first impression potential customers have of your business, yet many companies underestimate its impact on conversions and credibility. When I first meet with a potential client, I'll often hear: "The website is fine, it just needs to be optimized for visibility." Then I visit the site and, as soon as the homepage loads, I see that’s not quite the case. Unclear messaging, messy layouts, poor design choices … I've seen it all. What you might not realize is the bottom-line impact your homepage design can have, good and bad. The homepage is usually where leads and customers get their first look and impression of your business. It's a digital representative, acting on behalf of your business to introduce your brand, products, and services.  In this guide, I’ll share best practices for homepage design along with brilliant homepage design examples that have implemented them. Table of Contents Homepage Design Best Practices Brilliant Homepage Examples To Inspire You Homepage Design Best Practices Through trial and error (and a whole lot of website analytics ), I’ve developed a set of homepage design best practices that consistently deliver results. The goal is to capture attention at the first page load, while also leaving a lasting impression that encourages visitors to return and take action. 1. First impressions and next steps happen in the hero section. The most important part of your homepage lies...

18 Best B2B Website Examples & How to Design a Great B2B Website The right B2B website makes all the difference when it comes to converting visitors into buyers. In this post, we’ll share the best B2B website examples we’ve ever seen, then dive into three tips for building your site. By the end, you’ll be able to create a site that drives conversions and keeps buyers coming back. Let’s get started. With a host of great B2B website examples out there, we’ve curated a list of sites that stand out. 1. Blake Envelopes Are envelopes exciting? Not really, but you wouldn’t know it from the Blake Envelope website. The colors are vibrant, the envelopes are everywhere, and the site manages to convey a sense of movement that makes you want to click through and see exactly what they have to offer. That’s exactly what you want from a B2B website. 2. Pixelgrade Pixelgrade makes it clear up front what they’re about: Offering simple WordPress themes to help anyone get their website up and running quickly. There’s no extraneous information here — they state their value proposition and offer a direct link to browse the themes they offer. 3. Reputation Squad Reputation management is key to online success for organizations. If companies can’t see what customers are saying about them, they could miss critical opportunities to improve. Reputation Squad helps companies track their reputation online...

11 of the Best Microsite Examples We've Ever Seen They say the best things often come in small packages. Think about it: jewelry, books, the keys to a new car ... all of these things support this notion. And with our attention spans shrinking below that of a goldfish, it should come as no surprise that we crave more focused content at a smaller scale, too. Here’s where microsites come into play. Unlike regular websites, microsites tend to be simplistic and easier to navigate. This isn't to say they won't make you want to poke around for a while, though. In fact, the really great ones do just that. In this post, we’ll show you some great design examples of microsites in action. What is a microsite? A microsite is a web page or small website made to promote a company’s product, service, campaign, or event. Microsites typically use a different domain or subdomain from the main company website and include links back to the main website, but act as a separate entity for the brand. Microsites can help brands achieve a number of things. As HubSpot Product Manager Alex Girard puts it, “You can use a website to create a digital experience for a number of different moments in the buyer’s journey. It doesn’t have to be just a corporate ‘.com’ website for converting visitors to leads. You can build digital experiences that span the entire customer journey.” For example, many companies use them to highlight a...

10 Digital Style Guide Examples from Famous Companies such as Apple, Google & Starbucks If you've ever wondered how designers at Apple defined every little element in iOS as they were building it, then you're in the right place. As technology is constantly evolving, web design continues to become more formalized. Web designers and developers need to create code that can translate seamlessly from PC to mobile devices, make easy to understand site navigation, and innovate other site capabilities — these are all elements that companies standardize in digital style guides. Digital style guides have become more useful to a brand’s overall image and memorability on the web because they set the expectations and standards for company web display. They're especially important for websites and products that need to produce top-notch user experiences. In this post, we’ll dive into what digital style guides are in detail and show you some impressive examples from famous companies that have done them well. This type of style guide is to be treated as a manual that sets design standards for a company's digital presence. Its key purpose is to create a universal design style for the brand and ensure consistency across all channels and mediums, where you establish your logo, color palette, typography, imagery guidelines, and so on. Unlike brand style guides that encapsulate a company’s logo, mission statement, buyer personas and tone of voice, web design style guides are centered on digital presentation like UX/UI. But, as a UX designer...

12 Best Pricing Page Examples To Inspire Your Own Design Your pricing page is a prime opportunity to take control of the price conversation and make it even easier for people to buy. Searching for a product’s price is a natural part of a customer's buying decision. The majority of people who have made it down the funnel far enough to consider buying from you will likely look at your pricing page. What does a great pricing page look like? To inspire you, we break down the must-haves of a good pricing page and share the best examples of pricing page design. Check them out below. What makes a great pricing page? If your pricing page isn't well-designed and user-friendly, you risk losing people before they click the “Buy Now” button. You'll notice the best pricing pages have clean layouts, use simple language that speaks to the customer, and aim to inspire trust between the business and the user. Let’s take a look at the must-have features of a high-performing pricing page. User-Friendly Layout The best pricing pages are easy for users to navigate. This doesn’t mean you need to design your pricing page in the same way you would a landing page, which are often pared down for the purpose of getting a form submission. You can still include plenty of information in your pricing page, but the fonts, colors, links, and buttons must be easy to follow with the eye. Even if you have multiple products...

25 Best About Us & About Me Page Examples + 5 Templates Building a website is an exercise of willpower. The bells and whistles of the design process are tempting to focus on, but compelling content is what makes a website work for your business. There are few pieces of content on your website that are more compelling than your mission, vision, values, and team. And all of these elements are typically found on the About page of your website. By the end of this post, you'll have the latest best practices on crafting a stellar About Me and About Us page on your website that shares where you've been and where you're headed. Use these links to jump ahead to each section: What makes a good About page? How to write an About page The Best About Us Page Templates and Examples The Best About Me Page Templates and Examples Featured Resource: Our 29 Favorite 'About Us' Pages Download the guide to review what we love about these amazing 'About Us' page examples, plus a few tips about how to make one of your own. What makes a good About Us or About Me page? A remarkable About page is genuine, approachable, and distinguished. It should give the visitor a glimpse into what working with you and your business might be like. You can include personal interests, stories, and photos that convey the unique story of your business. ...

16 Cheerful Examples of Holiday Homepage Designs According to the National Retail Federation, eCommerce accounted for 20.9% of total holiday sales in 2019, and that number seems to increase every year. As a result, you have the opportunity to position your online shop in front of a huge base of consumers who are actively browsing the web with intent to purchase goods. The smartest marketers prepare for website traffic increases not only by prepping their website for higher-than-normal traffic and optimizing it for mobile devices, but also by giving their website design a dose of holiday cheer. It all starts with the homepage: The first page many people will see when they come to your website. Holiday Homepage Designs to Get You in the Spirit How have other companies redesigned their homepages for the holidays? Let's take a look. Note: Businesses change their homepages on a regular basis. The examples below may not be current. 1. Free People When your business has a loud personality like American bohemian retail company Free People does, making a big first impression on your homepage can be a great thing. Free People's redesign is all-encompassing, starting with a large banner promising free express shipping, which appeals to any buyers concerned about delivery times when doing their last-minute shopping. Underneath the main banner are four navigational calls-to-action emphasizing gifts and festive products. This directs holiday shoppers to the pages of their site they'll find most useful. 2. PayPal Who ever said online...

17 of the Best Examples of Beautiful Blog Design According to a recent survey, blogs have ranked as the third most trustworthy source of information, following only friends and family. That's right — bloggers are trusted more than celebrities, journalists, brands, and politicians. But how do you get people to fall in love with your blog in the first place? (Aside from remarkable content, of course.) Well, just as your website homepage is like the front door to your business, your blog's design — much like a welcome mat — is the front door to your business blog. If you're not attracting people visually, how will you get them to take the next steps to actually read (and, hopefully, subscribe to) your content?Once you're done creating the quality content, you still have the challenge of presenting it in a way that clearly dictates what your blog is about. Images, text, and links need to be shown off just right — otherwise, readers might abandon your content, if it's not showcased in a way that's appealing, easy to follow, and generates more interest. That's why we've compiled some examples of blog homepages to get you on the right track to designing the perfect blog for your readers. Check 'em out, below. 17 Inspiring Examples of Beautiful Blog Homepage Design 1. Help Scout Sometimes, the best blog designs are also the simplest. Help Scout, makers of customer service software, uses a unique but minimalist design on its blog that we...

32 of the Best Website Designs to Inspire You in 2020 Every once in a while, I'll come across a website that really draws me in. So, I found 32 of them to show you. These sites push the boundaries of what is known to be possible on the web. Whether it's the design aesthetic, usability, interactivity, sound design, or value that the site provides, each one is a masterpiece in its respective industry, and something to be inspired by. Not surprisingly, many organizations exist to highlight these sites and the contributions they make to the web. To help surface some of the most inspirational designs, I gathered 32 award-winners that have made their way through several key awards organizations — including Awwwards, UX Awards, The Webby Awards, SiteInspire, Best Website Gallery, and FWA. Click the links below to jump to a group of website designs that crushed it in the last several years: Best Website Designs from 2014 – 2015 Best Website Designs from 2016 Best Website Designs from 2017 Best Website Designs from 2018 Best Website Designs from 2019 Other Cool Website Designs  Website Design Ideas Below this list, I also found six more websites whose homepage designs are just plain cool and worth learning from. As you browse through the list, know that each site excels in its own way and seeks to serve a unique purpose. While one site may be an excellent example of visual design, another may...