The home page of an business site is very important, although it may not harken thoughts of the security of a traditional home’s warmth and protection.  Still, it does get its nickname of “home” for a reason.

Let’s settle one thing up front, though:  For most businesses the home page is not the most important.  Far from it.  The page that earns the honor of being most important is probably one or two click removed from the home page.  It is the one on which a converted visitor can perform an action that directly or eventually will lead to the company earing revenue.  However, in most cases the home page will attract more first time visitors than any other single page on your site.

Assuming that you have followed a traditional link building plan, more external links will be directed to your home page than any other.  Also, more than likely, your home page will be close to the top in terms of the number of internal links directed to it.  Should your visitors lose their way, due either to taking a wrong turn or due to poor design by your website’s architect, they probably will return to the home page to serve as their base of operations in order to launch another quest.

That simply means that your visitors will use your home page more than it might merit, although I took a circuitous route to get to that conclusion.  As long as your prospects are loitering there, you better make sure you help them make good use of their time.

That brings us to our central question, which is what are the purposes of a well constructed home page in an appropriately constructed web business website?  Here are a few functions from which you can choose, although never try to use one page to do everything.

*  Serve as the foyer for your international corporate office and reflect the corporate climate, whether that is formal and efficient or relaxed and friendly.

*  Provide directional signs to all of the locations that your most prized customers are likely to want to visit.  Of course, your navigation menu will provide this service on all of your site’s pages, but, since this is often the first visit by many of your guests, the home page is an opportunity to help them understand the road maps that you will regularly provide.

*  Assure that the business’s mission is clearly communicated.

*  Tell your visitors what you want them to do.  They visit some sites which want to give away information, others which want their contact information and still others that want the visitors to buy a product or service.  Maybe your business hopes for all three possibilities.

*  Keep the whole place neat and tidy, making it attractive without seeming pretentious.

Those are some of the things to keep in mind for your home page, regardless of whether you have a large, established, authority site or you are planning to build a small business website.