Most Shopify homepages have the same problem. Everything on them is fine and nobody knows what the store is.

There is a slideshow with four banners. A row of collections. A row of products. A paragraph about the founders. A newsletter box. Each piece was added for a reason, and together they say nothing first.

A homepage has one job. In a few seconds it tells a stranger what you sell, who it is for and where to go next. This is the order I use, and I use it on the Shopify stores I design.

1. One message at the top

The first screen gets one sentence that says what you sell and for whom. Not the brand name. Not a slogan that could belong to anyone.

Try this: cover your logo and read the headline. Would a stranger know what the store sells? If not, rewrite it.

Under the headline, one short line of detail and one button. A second link is fine if it is clearly the smaller one.

2. One hero, not a slideshow

Slideshows feel safe because nobody has to choose. But every slide after the first is seen by very few people, and the first one disappears before it is read.

Choose one image. The best seller, the range, or the product in use. If you have a sale and a launch at the same time, pick the one that matters more and put the other in the announcement bar.

On a phone the hero is tall and narrow, so the same wide image is cropped hard. Upload a separate mobile image if your theme allows it, and keep the subject in the middle if it does not.

3. Proof right under it

A stranger has no reason to trust you yet. Give them one.

A review count. A press mention. Where the product is made. How long you have been doing this. Pick what is strongest and true, and put it in a slim row under the hero.

I often find the best proof at the bottom of the page, in small type, after everything else. Move it up.

4. The ways in

Now the visitor knows what you are. Show them how to find their product.

Use the way your customers think, which is often not the way your catalogue is organised. In skincare people arrive with a concern, so “shop by concern” works better than a list of product types. In other categories it might be who it is for, or what job it does.

Three to five entries. More than that is a menu, and you already have one.

5. The products people come for

One row. Your best sellers, with price, in the order they sell.

Check this row on your own store. It is very often sorted by the date the products were created, with the best seller somewhere in the middle.

If your products are used together, show the set here too. A routine or a starter kit sells more honestly than “you may also like”.

6. The reason you exist

Now there is room for the story. Two or three sentences and one image. Who makes this and why it is different.

It comes after the products on purpose. People who scroll this far are interested. People who are not have already found a product or left.

7. One more piece of proof

Reviews with real names, or a quote from the press. One block.

8. A quiet ending

Newsletter sign-up, then the footer. Keep the form to one field.

What to leave off

  • A second slideshow.
  • An Instagram feed that loads slowly and sends people away from the store.
  • Every collection you have.
  • A pop-up in the first second. If you use one, let people see the page first.
  • Text over a busy photo. If it cannot be read, it is decoration.

Homepage SEO, briefly

The homepage title should say what you sell and include the brand name. “Home” is a wasted title.

Write the meta description as one plain sentence about the store. Shopify lets you set both under Online Store, Preferences.

Use one H1 and make it the main headline. Some themes put the H1 on the logo. Check yours.

Link from the homepage to your most important collections with normal text links. A page that is linked from the homepage is treated as more important than one that is not.

Check it on a phone

Open the store on your own phone. How far do you scroll before you see a product? Can you read the headline without zooming? Is the button big enough to tap with a thumb?

Most of your visitors see only this version. Design it first.

If you want it done

Send me the store address and tell me what the homepage should make people do. I will tell you what I would move and what I would remove.

More on how a Shopify redesign works, and here is where to start a project.