A homepage that sells: what to put above the fold

A homepage that sells answers three questions within a few seconds on a phone: what do you sell, is it for me, and can I trust you? Above the fold, which means the part visible before scrolling, that usually needs only a clear headline, one strong photo and one button. Below it, show your best sellers, main collections, any current offer, reviews and the delivery and payment details shoppers worry about. Cut everything else.

What does "above the fold" mean on a phone?

It's the first screen a visitor sees before scrolling. On most phones that's small: room for your logo and menu, a headline, perhaps a line of text, a photo and a button. Since many shoppers visit on mobile, that screen does a lot of work. If it's taken up by a slow-loading slideshow, a popup and three banners, many visitors never see your products.

What should go in the first screen?

1. A plain headline that says what you sell: "Handloom cotton sarees from Pochampally" beats "Welcome to our world".
2. A short supporting line that adds who it's for or why you: "Woven by our family since 1985. Delivered across India."
3. One strong photo of your product in use, sharp on a small screen, not a busy collage.
4. One clear button: "Shop sarees" or "See today's menu", going straight to products.

Avoid auto-rotating slideshows: most visitors only see the first slide, and moving banners can be distracting. If you have a festival offer, make it the hero for that period rather than one of five slides.

What should come next, in what order?

How do you set this up on UpMinutes?

The UpMinutes homepage editor lets you arrange sections such as the hero, collections, offers, new arrivals and reviews, so you can follow the order above or adapt it to your trade. A few related settings help a homepage sell:

• Countdown on offers ending within a week, so time-limited offers look genuinely time-limited.
• Newsletter box and an optional sign-up popup with a coupon. If you use the popup, keep it polite and easy to close.
• Quick view, so shoppers can see a product's details without leaving the homepage.
• Slide-out cart or a small toast when something is added, so they keep browsing.
• WhatsApp chat button for questions.

Every theme has a live demo, in light and dark, and you can try a theme with your own products before switching. Browse them on the themes page, and read choosing the right theme if you're unsure.

What makes a good hero photo?

The hero photo is the first impression, so it's worth taking care over. The best ones share a few qualities:

• It shows your actual product, ideally in use: a saree being worn, a cake on a festive table, a lamp lit in a living room.
• It reads on a small screen. One clear subject, not a crowded flat lay with twenty items.
• It leaves room for text if your theme places the headline over the photo; a plain area of wall or sky helps.
• It works when cropped, since phones show a narrower slice than desktops. Check both.
• It matches your brand's mood: bright and cheerful for kids' wear, calm and rich for handloom silk.

Our guide to product photos with a phone covers light and backgrounds.

Should your homepage be in more than one language?

If many of your customers are more comfortable in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu or Kannada, yes. UpMinutes storefronts can run in those languages as well as English, with buttons, checkout, emails and policies translated; you translate your own headline, product names and pages, by hand or with machine translation that you then review. Keep the headline short so it reads well in every language, and check the layout on a phone in each one.

How should a homepage differ by trade?

• Fashion: lead with a styled photo and new collection; collections by occasion (office, festive, wedding) often beat collections by fabric.
• Food and home kitchens: lead with today's menu or best sellers, delivery area and order cut-off times. See home bakery online orders.
• Jewellery and gifts: lead with an occasion ("Rakhi gifts ship by…") and price-band collections ("Under ₹1,000").
• Services and bookings: lead with your main service and a "Book now" button; show prices or starting prices.
• B2B and catalogues: lead with what you make and minimum orders, with "Ask on WhatsApp" or a quote button.

What should you remove from your homepage?

• Long welcome paragraphs nobody reads.
• Multiple competing offers.
• Stock photos that don't show your actual products.
• Social media feeds embedded on the page, which can slow it down and send people away.
• "Coming soon" sections and empty collections.
• Anything you haven't updated in months.

How fast does a homepage need to be?

Fast enough that the first screen appears quickly on mobile data. Large uncompressed photos are the usual culprit. UpMinutes converts photos to WebP in three sizes automatically and doesn't load page builders, plugins or app scripts, but it still helps to upload sharp, well-cropped photos rather than huge files. Read store speed and Core Web Vitals for more.

How do you know if your homepage is working?

Look at what visitors do after they arrive. UpMinutes analytics show visitors, the shopping funnel, top pages and sources without cookies, and you can also connect Google Analytics 4. Useful questions:

• Do most visitors click through to a product or collection, or leave?
• Which homepage section gets the most clicks?
• Do visitors from Instagram behave differently from those from Google?

Change one thing at a time, such as the hero photo or the order of sections, and compare a few weeks before and after. See store analytics for beginners.

Homepage checklist

• Headline says exactly what you sell.
• One photo, one button above the fold on a phone.
• Best sellers with prices near the top.
• Four to six collection tiles.
• One current offer, with an end date.
• Reviews and delivery, payment and returns basics.
• Nothing outdated or empty.

For more on building trust, read trust signals for a new store.

Filed under Store design. More guides on the UpMinutes blog.