December 18, 2006: Home Page or Pied-a-Terre?

Traditionally we've called it the home page, but as traffic to this destination dwindles into a single-digit percent of the site total, it's starting to look more like a pied-a-terre. What does that mean for an online media business?

The old-school concept of a home page--a splashy front door to the entire site--is yet another fundamental assumption that harks back to our roots in print and, eventually, needs to be re-examined. Now less than 10% of our pageviews are to the home page; on some days it's below 8%. A year ago, the figure was nearly 15%, almost 50% higher.

This change is actually a good thing. It means people are finding the site through search or other referrals; bookmarking specific pages or content areas they want to visit frequently; clicking through from newsletters and emails; and subscribing to RSS feeds. However, as people change their entry points, we must adapt the way we expose them to additional information. Once, we could showcase a spectrum of important content areas on the home page and link out to individual pieces of content that more or less lived on their own. Now, virtually every page needs to give a clear picture of both site content and architecture. A robust site search feature is also critical.

That's not to say that the home page is going away. Even if the only people who use it are your grandmother and potential advertisers, it's a great opportunity to make a brand statement. It's an important demo tool for the sales team, providing a quick and easy map to who you are, what you cover, how you cover it, and what audience you're targeting. And because it's likely the single page most closely associated with your brand, advertisers are often willing to pay a premium for home page placements.

We're still thinking through the implications of the home page's drop in popularity. For example, as it gets less traffic yet continues to maintain high brand identification, it may make sense to reduce the number of ad units and simply make the page look as good as possible. There are implications are for the home page itself, but also for all the new entry points the audience is using. How do we, in essence, turn every page on the site into a mini-home page?