Front Page

For a website, the ‘Front Page’ is what site visitors land on when they go to www.yoursitename.com. Any published content ‘promoted to the front page’ will be the default content on the front page. You may, however, create a custom front page and set that to display by default instead.

The first step to creating a custom front page is to create the page itself. If you’re not familiar with creating pages you can find the instructions here, or you can watch our training video.

Website best practice suggestions when creating your front page:

1. Keep your most important information above the fold
   • This is the area a visitor immediately sees when the page loads without having to scroll down
2. Clearly identify who you are
   • Your business name/logo should be clearly visible along with your location and contact information
3. Include calls-to-action
   • Make sure the search and browse buttons for books are noticeable
   • Have an email subscription? Make sure there is a sign-up button
   • Selling special sidelines? Make sure they are clearly visible and easy to browse
4. Communicate a compelling value-proposition
   • Your value proposition is a clear statement that explains what product(s) you are offering and tells the ideal customer why they should buy from you and not from the competition
5. Simple navigation
   • Your customers should be able to find the information they want quickly and easily. Use clear menu terms and keep them organized.
6. Keep it current
   • Your front page should always reflect the most recent information about your business. Did you move recently? Have upcoming events? A special sale? All of that information should be regularly updated and visible from your front page.

ENABLE YOUR CUSTOM FRONT PAGE

When your custom front page is ready you can set it to appear as the default front page for your website.

Navigate to: Configuration > System > Site Information

1. Complete the path field under ‘Default front page’ - this should be the relative URL of the custom front page you have created. Example: About-Us
2. Save configuration

Visit your website as an anonymous user and confirm that you are seeing the custom front page.

TEMPORARY CUSTOM FRONT PAGE

You may also want to use this feature temporarily to promote a special sale or event. For instance, you could create a page using the instructions to ‘Create A Page’ and ‘Create A Block’ to make a page that focuses on a major upcoming author event. See an example of such a page in the screenshots portion of this document.