When someone lands on your homepage, they’re not reading. They’re scanning and making decisions.
TL;DR
The human attention span is less than a goldfish. What determines whether someone stays on or leaves your website?
- What “above the fold” means and why it matters for your website
- What visitors are deciding in the first few seconds after they land
- The four elements the hero section needs
- How to hold attention as visitors scroll deeper
- How to measure whether any of it is working
What “Above the Fold” Means on Your Website
Above the fold is the portion of your webpage a visitor sees before they scroll. The name comes from newspaper publishing. The headlines and images on the top half of a folded front page were the only thing people saw on a newsstand. Those had to grab attention before people would open it.
On your homepage, it’s the top hero section of the page, the header.
If your hero section doesn’t answer the right questions within 3 to 5 seconds, most visitors won’t scroll down to find out more.
What Visitors Are Deciding in the First Few Seconds
Visitors aren’t reading when they land. They’re scanning. And in those first few seconds, three questions are driving that decision:
- What do you do/offer?
- How does it help/benefit me?
- How can I take the next step to learn more?
If you miss these, some people may stay, but more will leave. They’ll click back to search results and try the next option.
This is especially true for service businesses, where the default is to lead with the company name or a tagline. Neither one tells a visitor whether you can actually help them.
1. What You Offer
Your headline is the most important line on your page. It needs to be short (3 to 5 words) and clear.
The right visitor should read it and think: this is for me.
These types of headlines fail: “Empowering your potential.” “Innovative solutions for modern business.” Any headline that sounds polished but doesn’t say who you help or what you do, fails.
Before: “Human Resources Consulting for Organizations of All Sizes”
After: “Strategic HR for Growing Companies”
If you want to go deeper on how to write effective copy, How to Write Website Copy That Sells covers this principle applied to your full page.
2. How Do Your Services Help Me
Add a single short line under the headline. It needs to answer the question “how does this help me?” This should be 10-12 words max.
Before: “A full-service HR firm serving clients across a range of industries.”
After: “We help growing companies build people strategies that scale with the business.”
3. A Call to Action for the Logical Next Step
If you have a single market, then use only 1 button. If you have two clear markets, 2 buttons. This CTA button should be just below the “how you help me” line.
Your visitor just landed. They’re not ready to book a call. They’re still deciding if you’re worth their time. Your CTA should move them forward, not ask them to commit.
Use something like: “See How We Help” or “See Our Services” works.
Why Your Website Buttons Matter goes deeper on placement and wording.
Does Your Homepage Pass the Test?
Here’s a quick way to find out. Open your homepage, within 3-5 seconds (a single glance):
- Do I know what this business does?
- Do I know who it helps?
- Do I know what to do next?
If you have to read too much, or stop and figure out what you just read, roll up your sleeves and do some fine tuning.
A Note on Trust Signals
Social proof has its place. Just not above the fold.
A logo strip or testimonial in your hero section pulls attention away from what actually matters up there: your headline, your supporting line, and your CTA. Once visitors know you’re relevant to them, a testimonial section mid-page works to build trust.
Keep your hero focused. For a closer look at how trust signals work across a full site, our tip Strengthen Your Website’s Credibility with E-E-A-T covers the detail.
How to Hold Attention Once They Scroll
Most websites make the mistake of having the home page full of short blurbs about their services lead with “look at me, I’m great”. I hate to break it to you, but people don’t care about “you”. They have a need, and they want to know if you can take care of them.
For those that don’t click the CTA in your header, they’re looking for more details about how you’re able to fill their need. Don’t make the mistake of launching into your services.
Use the following flow of information to a) build trust & b) provide the detail they need so they will click through to see more about your services. Each of these is a section on your home page below the header.
- What are they looking for? Not the actual, tangible “thing”, but the benefit?
- Lead into your services by highlighting their pain points that they feel. This will set you apart from your competitors. A need has 3 elements to it: the actual need, emotions people feel around filling it, and why it’s important to them.
- Introduce your services as the solution to their need. If you have separate pages for each service, have a CTA button for each intro taking people to that page (don’t forget specific button names). If you have several services on a single page, have a single button below the services leading people to that page.
- Introduce yourself, your company. Share a bit about your experience and why you’re qualified to help solve their need. Include a picture of you and a link to the About page.
- Follow with social proof. Testimonials, a row of logos for companies you work with.
- Last on the page should be a final call to action row with a header, short sentence & a button taking them to your services.
When you use this outline, you’re building trust, but you’ve also made the entire focus of the home page about funneling them to your service page without them feeling lost, or without them having to stop and try to figure out if you can help them.
How to Know If It’s Working
You don’t need sophisticated tools to get useful data.
Scroll Depth
Microsoft Clarity is the easiest place to start. It’s free, and easy to set up. It gives you a visual map of how far visitors actually get on each page, and where they are clicking.
Scroll Events in Google Analytics
If you have enhanced measurement turned on in Google Analytics (GA4), it will show when people scroll. But, the default is at 90% scroll depth. That tells you who made it close to the bottom, not where people left along the way. It’s a useful number, but Microsoft Clarity gives you a clearer picture.
Average Engagement Time
GA4 replaced the old “time on page” with average engagement time, which tracks how long a page is actually active in the browser. Under 30 seconds on a Service page is worth paying attention to.
Engagement Rate
Engagement rate is GA4’s main metric: the percentage of sessions where someone stayed at least 10 seconds, viewed a second page, or took a key action.
Need a second set of eyes on your home page? Book a FREE 20-minute session with Christy to walk through what’s working and what could be stronger.