Why it’s time to ditch the home page link on your menu bar

Where are you right now? Office? Kitchen? (Gulp), bathroom?

What if I asked you to move to another room? How would you get there?

Would you have to leave your house and go back through the front door to move from room to room?

No, you wouldn’t. Why? Because, well, you’re already inside; there’s no reason to go back outside again.

That’d be illogical! But that’s exactly the logic you apply when you stick that home-page link on your menu bar.

You’re wasting valuable digital real estate assuming your guests would want to go back to your front door, even though they’re already in your house, eating your food, and petting your dog.

Get rid of your home page menu link. Here’s why.

1. People inside your site have absolutely no reason to go to your home page (if it’s structured properly)
2. Everyone and their grandmother knows logos in the upper-left-hand corner of your site link back to your home page. Eliminate redundancy.

So what the hell is it about that damn home page on your menu?

The way I see it, you have a home page on your navigation bar because everyone else does.

Well, that’s a pretty awesome way to stand out, right? Do what everyone else is doing?

There was a time and place for that home link. Especially when folks were adapting to life on the web.

The home page link is a relic. It’s that phone jack hardwired into your kitchen wall. It serves no purpose.

And in the case of your website, it’s distracting.

Your audience is already one breath away from forgetting why they even came to your website.

Your goal is to keep your visitors engaged. Keep them focused. Every option you give them while you tell your digital story is another distraction from the end goal.

The best way to keep your audience focused is to

EMBRACE. WHITE. SPACE.

While that’s good advice for your website in general, it’s even more appropriate with your website’s menu bar. It’s the table of contents for all those cool sub-pages (or ‘chapters”) of your site that you wrote and designed.

But your home page link sits there, off to the side, taunting visitors, drawing their attention away from the pages that actually matter.

It may seem simple — remove your homepage link.

But every micro-moment matters. Just one fraction of a second of a distraction, and your visitor is off on another tangent.

And you’re just a fleeting memory.

Have confidence in your website’s story

This isn’t just about a link on your navigation bar. It’s about having confidence that the story you’re telling on your website has the gravitas to keep your readers engaged.

Does it?

When’s the last time you poked around your site through the eyes of your visitors? Do each of your webpages encourage your visitors to take an action? Do they inspire, entertain, and educate?

Did you put as much care and effort into these subpages as you did for your homepage?

Or do they have the color and character of an old British drama?

By removing your home page link on your menu bar, you’re casting the spotlight on your other pages. You’re sharing the burden that the homepage has had to endure for far too long.

That’s an important step you can take toward keeping your audience focused on what matters most.