Module 01 of 04 . 12 min
The first screen decides everything else
Rewrite the top of your own site so a stranger knows what you sell, whether it is for them, and what to do next, without scrolling.
Somebody is standing in their driveway holding a phone in one hand. They searched, they tapped your link, and they are giving you one screen before they go back to Google and pick the next name on the list. Everything you paid to get them there comes down to that one screen.
Nobody sends you a bill for the ones who left. That is why this is the leak most owners never find. The site looks smart, the logo is nice, the photos are good, and the visitor still cannot tell in two seconds whether you are the person who cleans their kind of driveway. So they leave, and you never hear about it.
The three questions
A stranger arrives asking three things, in this order. What is this? Is it for me? What do I do next? Answer all three above the fold and you are already ahead of most of your competitors, because most of them answer none of them. Their first screen says "Welcome to our website" over a photo of a sunset.
Do this now
Look at your own first screen before you read on
Open your website on your phone. Do not scroll. Screenshot exactly what you can see. Now hand it to somebody who has never heard of your business and ask them what you sell, whether you serve their street, and what they are meant to do. Their face is the whole test, and it takes thirty seconds.
The headline almost everyone has
Quality Power Washing Solutions. Committed to excellence and customer satisfaction. Contact us today for all your exterior cleaning needs.
The one that gets called
House and driveway washing across Grand Rapids. We come out, quote it on the spot, and most jobs are done the same week. Tap to call, or send a photo of the drive and we will price it from that.
The second one is longer, plainer and duller, and it is doing four jobs. It names the service, names the place, tells you what happens next, and gives you something easier than a phone call if you are not ready to talk to a human yet.
What goes on the first screen, in this order
- 1
One line that says the service and the place.
House washing in Grand Rapids. Gutter cleaning across Kent County. Written the way you would say it to somebody at a barbecue, not the way it would be written in a brochure.
- 2
One line underneath that kills the biggest doubt.
Whatever it is people actually hesitate about. Price, mess, how fast you turn up, whether you are insured. You already know this one, because you answer it on the phone every week.
- 3
One button, saying what happens when they press it.
"Get a price" or "Call now" beats "Submit" and "Learn more". A button that names the thing you get is the same words the person is already thinking.
- 4
The phone number, visible, tappable, not hiding in the footer.
Half the people who buy a local service want to talk to somebody. Making them scroll to find you is the cheapest lost call there is.
- 5
One signal that you are real and nearby.
A photo of your own van, your own team, a job you finished. Not a stock photo of a stranger in a hard hat, which every reader clocks instantly and nobody trusts.
Open /services/web-design on this site in another tab and look at what its first screen does. A heading with the service in it, one line saying a good looking site nobody calls is an expensive brochure, three short proof chips, one button. No mission statement, no company history, no explanation of what a website is. That page is built to the same rules you are reading, which is the point of using it rather than a made up example.
Your turn
First screen, or further down?
You run a power washing business. Eight things could go at the top. Only some of them have earned it.
What you clean and which towns you drive to
The story of how the business started in 2011
A tappable phone number
Twelve photos of finished jobs
One line that answers the thing people always hesitate about
The full list of every service you have ever offered
A logo strip of companies you have worked with
One button whose words say what you get
Module 01 checklist
0 of 6Before you move on
Rewrite your first screen so it answers what this is, whether it is for them, and what to do next. One headline, one supporting line, one button, one phone number. Everything else moves down the page.