The Home Page
The
home page acts as the site
guide, it is the page presented to website visitors who do not directly
specify a web page but simply enter the website domain name.
As it is usually the way most visitors enter your website it is,
without doubt, the most important page on your website.
Technically a home page is the same as any other web page. However, when making the home page you need to consider that this page is
usually the starting page of the Website for many visitors.
What A Good Home Page Must Do
The Home page must tell new visitors what to expect from the website- what is in it for them! This it should accomplish within the first 2 -3 paragraphs. It should then provide clear navigation to the rest of the site for new and returning visitors.
Default Home Page And Page Name
Home page file names are by convention either index.htm, index.html, home.htm, home.html, default.htm or default.html for html pages.
For PHP pages the home page is usually index.php
Usually your web hosting provider will tell you which to use, if not use index.htm as it tends to be accepted by most providers.
It is possible to have multiple home pages files like index.php, index.htm etc.
Which one the visitor sees as the default page is determined by the server settings, and may not be configurable from the control panel.
Home Page and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Not only is the home page the most important from a visitor perspective it is also the most important from an SEO perspective.
In fact for many small/mini websites (around 5 pages) the home page will be the only page with any real content and the only page requiring SEO.
Related Articles:
- Web Page Names
- Mobile Design Strategy: Home Page Tips
- Home page essential tips
- Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability