Delete the welcome paragraph and open with one sentence saying what you do, where, and for whom, followed by the next step, such as a phone number or a quote button. Visitors already know they have arrived.

The first words on the page

Welcome to our website. Thank you for visiting. We are a family-owned business dedicated to providing quality service to our valued customers.

A great many small business home pages open with some version of that paragraph, set in large type directly under the logo.

It occupies the most valuable space on the site: the first screen, the first words a visitor reads, and often the text Google shows under your name in search results.

And it says nothing a visitor did not already know.

What a visitor checks first

Someone arriving on a home page, often from a search on a phone, is checking a few things in a few seconds.

The third is the one most sites skip. A renovation firm that builds whole kitchens and one that fixes sticking doors attract different visitors, and each visitor wants to know which kind they have found.

Why the welcome paragraph happens

Nobody sets out to write it. A design arrives with a large heading and a block of placeholder text on the home page, and someone has to fill the space.

Writing about the business feels awkward, and welcome is polite and safe. So the slot gets filled with courtesy instead of information.

It is also written last, after every other page, when everyone wants to launch. The paragraph that matters most gets the least thought.

The phrases that say nothing

Welcome has company: thank you for visiting, we are pleased to, your one-stop shop, quality service, customer satisfaction is our priority.

Each could appear on any business's site, which is the test. If a sentence would be equally true of your competitor, it is not telling anyone about you.

Mission statements fail the same test. They matter inside the business, and they belong on the about page.

The sentence that replaces it

One sentence does the work: what you do, for whom, and where. A second line gives the next step.

Roof repairs and replacement for houses across the North Shore. Call for a free inspection, Monday to Saturday.

Plain, specific and dull to write. Which is the point, since a visitor scanning on a phone reads a plain sentence faster than a clever one.

Use the words customers use. If people search for furnace repair, the first sentence should say furnace repair, not home comfort solutions.

A worked example

A sail maker working from a loft near a marina makes new sails, repairs old ones and does canvas work such as dodgers, biminis and winter covers.

Its home page opened with a large Welcome to Our Website heading, then a paragraph about the founder's love of the sea and a family tradition going back decades.

On a phone, the welcome and the first lines of that paragraph filled the screen. Nothing on it said sails, repairs, canvas or where the loft was.

Search results showed the same thing, because the page had no description of its own and Google had taken the opening text instead.

The new opening reads: new sails, repairs and canvas work for cruising and racing boats, made in our loft by the harbour. Bring a sail in any weekday, or call for a quote.

The founder's story moved to the about page, where people who want it find it, and the page's meta description now says what the opening sentence says.

The heading and the title

The large heading on a home page is often the word Welcome, or the business name repeated under the logo. That heading tells search engines a good deal about what the page covers.

Make it the service and the place, such as plumbing and drain repair in Coquitlam, rather than a greeting.

Check the page title too: the text in the browser tab and the blue link in search results. A title reading Home or Welcome wastes the same space a second time.

What else belongs on the first screen

Below the sentence, the next step: a phone number that dials when tapped, or a single button for the main action. On a phone, both should be visible without scrolling.

Then one reason to trust you: years in business, the area you have served, or a short review with a first name and a town.

Everything else, including the history, the values and the team, can come further down or on a page of its own. Visitors who want it will scroll.

Writing it for the phone

On a phone, the first screen holds a logo, a menu button and a few dozen words. A long opening sentence wraps across six lines and pushes the next step out of sight.

Keep the sentence to about twenty words, and look at it on an actual phone before approving it.

If the header or a slideshow pushes it below the first screen, that is a design problem worth fixing at the same time.

The counter-case

A warm greeting is not wrong everywhere. A bed and breakfast, a community group or a small venue may reasonably open with a friendly line, since the welcome is part of what they offer.

Even then, the friendly line works beside the facts rather than instead of them: where it is, what it offers, how to book.

For most businesses, though, replace the welcome with what you do, where and for whom, and put the next step right under it.

Rewriting the opening

  1. Open your home page on a phone.
  2. Read only the first screen as a stranger.
  3. Delete the welcome and any thank-you line.
  4. Write one sentence: what, where and for whom.
  5. Put the next step directly under it.
  6. Change the heading and title to match.
  7. Give the history a place on the about page.

Step four is the whole job. The other steps follow once that sentence exists, and it is usually the hardest twenty words on the site to write.

The same question of what a phone visitor needs first, applied to the menu, is covered in phone menus three levels deep.

Frequently asked questions

What is wrong with welcome to our website?

It fills the most valuable space on the page with words that tell a visitor nothing new, and it can end up as the description under your search result.

What belongs in the first sentence?

What you do, for whom and where, in the words customers search with, followed by the next step, such as a phone number or a quote button.

Where does the company history belong?

On the about page, or further down the home page. Visitors who want the story will look for it; visitors in a hurry need the facts first.

Does the main heading matter too?

Yes. The main heading and the page title both tell search engines what the page is about, and a heading or title reading Welcome or Home wastes both.

How long should the opening sentence be?

Short enough to read on a phone without pushing the next step out of sight, roughly twenty words or fewer. Check it on an actual phone.

Is a friendly greeting ever right?

For a bed and breakfast or a community group it can be part of the offer, but it works beside the facts, never instead of them.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Home page that opens with Welcome?

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