What should my homepage say?

Your homepage has about five seconds to convince a visitor to stay. Not to buy. Not to sign up. Just to keep reading. Those five seconds are entirely about what the page says above the fold.

The above-the-fold hierarchy

Line 1: What this is. A concrete statement. Not a metaphor, not a question, not a clever pun. Just clarity.

Line 2: Who it's for and what changes. Name the audience and the outcome. "For remote teams that waste two hours a day in status meetings."

Line 3: Proof or action. Either a trust signal ("Used by 3,000 teams") or a CTA ("Try it free").

Everything below the fold is supporting evidence: how it works, who uses it, what it costs. But the above-the-fold headline determines whether anyone scrolls to see that evidence.

A cybersecurity startup that rewrote its homepage

Before: "Next-Generation Threat Intelligence Platform. AI-Powered. Enterprise-Ready. Schedule a Demo."

Three problems: "next-generation" means nothing, "AI-powered" means nothing, and "enterprise-ready" tells a mid-market buyer they're in the wrong place.

After: "You'll know about the breach before it happens. Real-time threat alerts for security teams at companies with 50 to 500 employees."

The new version names an outcome (know about the breach before it happens), creates urgency (real-time), and specifies the audience (50-500 employees). A visitor from that segment recognizes themselves immediately.

The stranger test

Show your homepage to someone who has never seen your product. Give them exactly five seconds. Then ask three questions: 1. What does this company do? 2. Who is it for? 3. What would you do next on this page?

If they can answer all three correctly, your homepage works. If not, the headline is the first thing to rewrite.

What to cut

Remove anything that doesn't directly answer "what, who, why." Mission statements, founding stories, partner logos, and team photos all belong further down the page. The top of the page is reserved for the visitor, not for you.

Homepage copy structure

The highest-converting homepage structure follows this sequence: (1) Headline that names the audience and the outcome. (2) Subheadline with one sentence of proof or differentiation. (3) CTA button with action-oriented text (not "Learn More" but "Get Your Plan"). (4) Social proof: logos, numbers, or testimonials. (5) How it works in three steps. (6) Objection handling. (7) Final CTA. Every section should reinforce the same message established in the headline. If a section tells a different story, cut it.

Above the fold priorities

Above the fold is the only space that matters for the stay-or-leave decision. Prioritize in this order: clarity of what you do, who it is for, one proof point, and one CTA. Do not put navigation dropdowns, announcements, or video autoplay above the fold. Those compete with your message. The goal is instant recognition: "This is for me" or "This is not for me." Both outcomes are good. The bad outcome is confusion. If your [value proposition is clear](/answers/cant-describe-what-makes-my-business-different), the above-the-fold practically writes itself.

servo helps you write the headlines, subheads, and CTAs that make visitors stay.