Using Multiple Home Pages

Multiple home pages could be the solution to your multi-site enterprise storefronts or the downfall of your small business. While there are certainly a number of substantial reasons for designing multiple home pages, whether you should take the time and energy to do so depends on a number of business-specific factors.

So, why would a business owner want multiple home pages for a website?

Consider this during the website content planning stage of your project. Designing and using multiple Internet home pages is not something all business owners may have thought about, until now. In fact, if you are realizing substantial website traffic and increased sales, adding an additional home page could change your current web statistics for the worse. On the other hand, if you are doing business internationally, you require localization for specific countries or regions, or you have unique intentions for different customer audiences, multiple home pages done correctly may be an option to consider.

Benefits in designing multiple home pages…

There are benefits in relying on multiple home pages when you have a multi-site business or require localization for different audiences. Multiple home pages gives you the flexibility to target a unique audience and speak directly to them in a language, format, or visually appealing manner you know they recognize and appreciate. When you have targeted your customers based on specific demographics, this technique is especially effective. You are able to:

• Get in the minds of customers based on what you already know about them
• Display the content in multiple languages
• Reach customers based on culture, age, careers, work scenarios, locations, and more
• Directly market to specific audiences through social media
• Increase website traffic with carefully planned marketing and search engine optimization without presenting a conflict for your customers

When they are properly designed, multiple home pages may be the solution to your expanding organization and accommodate your customers for better experiences.

How multiple home pages can hurt your business…

When there is no real reason for to have multiple home pages, don’t do it. There are some downsides in using multiple home pages to attract customers:

• Time, effort, and cost involved in designing and maintaining them
• Duplicate content may be confusing to both your customers and search engines
• Search engines typically see duplicate content as a negative, causing you to rank lower in customers’ search results
• Search engine optimization becomes a challenge when you use the same keywords across multiple home pages
• Customers may be frustrated by multiple home pages unless you carefully plan your marketing strategy

Unless multiple home pages are called for to accommodate your business goals and objectives, a single home page with the appropriate subpages, the right content and design, and a proven marketing campaign may be all you need to achieve results.