Home Page Design and the Blindfolded Cheese Salesman - tip #2

One trick our blindfolded cheese salesman can adopt is to put out a sample platter of his top cheeses. With plentiful samples, he really doesn't need to say a word. The cheese itself is all the introduction he needs.

Okay - so you can't hand a sample of cheese across the net, no matter what kind of bandwidth you have. And granted, not everyone is in a position where they can use the web to sample their wares. The home page as a sample platter works best when your trade is in thoughts and ideas as opposed to hard matter. But if you're in such a position that it is possible to show your worth directly, then why oh why wouldn't you?

New visitors should be funneled directly to your best and most popular material. Regular visitors should be presented with the most relevant and up to date material. The best advertisement for your service is your service. If you're an expert, send them to your best, expert advice. If you provide a web based service, slide them right into the service.

When you visit Flickr for the first time you're met with a very bright and colourful image and links that will instantly bring you to a dozen galleries. It's so very easy to slip off of the homepage and go skipping from image to image to image. When you visit the online comic PVP, the first thing you're hit with is the comic. No need to go hunting for the funny - it's right there on the home page, each and every day. The Wikipedia hits you with a number of interesting and relevant articles giving you an immediate sense of the breadth and depth of content contained within.