Steve Maurer Freelance Writing

Industrial copywriting and content marketing - manufacturing, machinery, electrical and safety fields

Need industrial strength copy? Call me at +1 479.304.1086

Schedule Your Discovery Call Now! (Calendar Pop Up)

Be the guide your industrial customers rely on for advice, info and solutions.
A likeable expert they can get to know, like and trust. When they win, you win.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Phone
  • Home
  • About
    • Industrial Copywriter – Who, What and Why
    • My AI Use Policy
    • Typical Industrial Copywriting Rates
    • How I Work With B2B and Industrial Copywriting Clients
    • How I Collaborate With B2B Agencies
  • FAQ
  • B2B Copywriting
    • Industrial B2B Case Studies
  • Testimonials
  • Examples
  • Contact
  • Articles
Home›Freelance Writing›Is Your Home Page a GPS or Laundry List?
Don’t show this message again.

Free Report: Social Proof in Marketing Content - the Case for Case Studies

Everyone loves a good story. Your potential buyers crave them. Case studies are the success stories of your customers.
Let them help promote your business. Download the free report here.

Is Your Home Page a GPS or Laundry List?

Steve Maurer September 4, 2012 Leave a Comment

Is Your Home Page a GPS or Laundry List?

When you’re planning a trip, you will probably use some sort of map to chart your course. You might break out the old paper map or atlas, a rather old school approach. In this digital age, online maps show a clear route from point A to point B, photos included.

smallGPSmapsOf course, built-in or stand-alone Global Positioning Systems make traveling even easier by talking to you, telling you when and where to turn on the fly.

The point is that when you need to go somewhere, you must find out how to get there. The easier it is to map a course, the more likely you are to make the trip.

Your Home Page Needs to Be a GPS

When people arrive on your online store’s front door, your home page, they are there for a reason. They have a purpose, perhaps to buy or research a product, and they want to do it quickly. Most of these online shoppers are quite different from their offline counterparts.

Department store shoppers usually like to browse around, checking everything out. They spent time getting to the store; they are going to make the most of their visit.

However, the online customer is usually in a hurry. They searched, they clicked and they arrived. If their search took them to your home page, they need to find what they’re looking for in a hurry. They want to:

  • Find it.
  • Buy it.
  • Get on with it!

Sure, it would be nice if they stayed around and browsed a bit. But look at it this way: the easier it is to find what they’re looking for, the more likely they are to come back again.

But, Is Your Home Page Just a Laundry List?

I’ve been to many home pages with poorly designed navigation. The front door was nothing more than a field of hyperlinks that I had to search and scroll through. More often than not, the item I needed was “below the fold.”

The idea of “below the fold” and “above the fold” comes from newspaper terminology.  Editors placed important items in the top half of the first page, above the fold. On a web page, items that are above the fold are located at the top of the page. Scrolling down takes you below the fold.

Laundry-list navigation shows everything a site offers, often in link “field” or “cloud.”

Even if they do break it down a bit, you still get lost in the maze of links. There often seems to be no rhyme or reason to the link list.

This is usually the result of too many people staking their claim on the home page. Everyone wants their stuff visible right away, even if it’s not what the prospect is looking for and needs at that time.

They don’t understand that this is actually counterproductive. If the prospect can’t find what they need from you quickly enough, they’ll find somewhere else to shop. After all, they don’t have to go back out to the parking lot, get in their car and drive across town.

They just point and click away from your site to the next one.

Upgrade to a GPS Page

Breaking your product line into smaller, specifically grouped selections turns your home page into a GPS.  Instead of talking to your prospect, it guides him through the process by telling him where to click next, not by making him guess.

To illustrate this idea, let’s say that you are an electrical supply house. You have parts available for the homeowner, the storefront business and for industrial applications. In fact, by identifying your three main customer groups, you’ve started to instinctively build your home page’s Global Positioning System.

Instead of a huge list of products, you can build text boxes with headlines for the three categories: Residential Products | Commercial Products | Industrial Applications

Under those category headings you include links to specific types of products. And you could word them for the customer’s normal expertise level. Here is a sample navigation box, separated into main categories for each type of consumer:

HomePageGPS

This is just an example, and a good copywriter will work with the page designer, department managers, sales staff and other “stakeholders” to further refine this link text and other navigation. These text boxes would be placed under your title, headlines and introductory text, of course. You’ll choose links to the products your customers are most likely to need.

These text boxes aren’t stunning, award-winning graphics masterpieces. They’re really kind of plain . . . and simple. Think about it, though. When you’re really searching for something, you don’t need “cool,” you need clarity.

Additionally, a well-designed page will show this navigation above the fold where your customer will find it easily.

Instead of a confusing laundry-list approach, your GPS navigation shows your customer the quickest route to their destination: your product. Getting there quickly helps them buy what they need immediately, and encourages them to return to your easy-to-use website for future needs.


Steve Maurer

Article copyright 2012 – Steve Maurer, Maurer Copywriting


Steve Maurer, Maurer Copywriting
Email – steve@maurer-copywriting.com

I can help you with your online copywriting needs. Click here to go to my contact page.

PS. You absolutely will not want to miss the next article, or any of them for that matter! If you are one of the few who haven’t signed up for automatic updates, just drop your email address in the “Get Important Article Updates!” box.

First, you’ll get a friendly email asking you to confirm your totally free subscription. After that, you will get an email notification whenever I post a new article. Don’t worry; should you decide that you don’t wish to receive any more notifications, there is an unsubscribe link with every email. But I guarantee you won’t want to miss a single one! Thanks for signing up!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: Freelance Writing Tagged With: copy writing, home page design, sales

About Steve Maurer

Steve is a U.S.-based content and copywriter for the industrial and safety markets, starting his career in 2010. With over 35 years in the food processing industry as a machine mechanic and facility electrician, Steve’s lived in the work boots your team wears now.
During the time he worked in the industry, he was the go-to writer for SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), training materials for maintenance crews, and was a standing member for ergonomic and safety committees.
Steve keeps his finger on the pulse of modern manufacturing and safety topics by subscribing to various industry newsletters and by keeping in touch with experts in the field. His style of writing is accurate and authoritative, while maintaining readability and approachability. His copy makes you think, and may make you smile as well.
You can find out more about Steve from this website.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Contact Steve

Steve Maurer Office - +1 (479)304-1086 Email: steve@maurer-copywriting.com 3000 West Anne Street Fayetteville, AR 72704 Click here for my Contact Form

View Steve Maurer's profile on LinkedIn

Let’s Talk About Your Important Project!

Schedule Your Discovery Call Now! (Calendar Pop Up)

A Terrific Writer to Work With

Steve is a terrific writer to work with - timely, thorough, enthusiastic, and a genuine pleasure to hire. His writing is conversational and informative - exactly what we need on the web today. I'm privileged to consider him part of my writing team!
Mindy McHorse
Executive Editor for Barefoot Writer Magazine, Copywriter/Consultant/Author

Sales Enablement Copy Certification

Goes above and beyond to create premier content

You won’t find a harder-working writer anywhere else! I contacted Steve when we needed a writer for a business with very specific needs and incredibly high standards—and he did not disappoint! Not only does Steve have deep manufacturing industry experience and insights, but he’s also easy to communicate with, listens to client needs, and goes above and beyond to create premier content. The work he produced was outstanding and performed well. It was a joy getting to know him throughout our content-writing engagement. Can’t wait to work with him again!

Erin Hardy
Senior Director, Copy

Direct Response Certification

A Responsible Professional

"Steve Maurer is a well-trained copywriter who provides excellent content and works 110% to give clients what they want, when they want it. If you are looking for a responsible professional who provides results, call Steve."
Melanie Rembrandt
BtoB Content Strategist and PR Consultant,
Rembrandt Communications®, LLC

AWAI Verified(TM) Copywriter

AWAI Verified

(Opens in a new window or tab)

Friendly, Down to Earth. Like an old friend

When we first started blogging, we were struggling to get our blog posts completed efficiently. Steve helped us get our thoughts organized and on paper and also made recommendations as to how we could improve our lead magnet and website in general.

Steve has a special gift for making dry subject matter interesting and easy to consume – and that’s not an easy thing to do. He’s friendly, down to earth and very easy to work with. After five minutes talking with him you’ll feel like you’ve been old friends for years. Don’t hesitate to call him. Great guy.

Kathy Oken
Co-Owner, The Oken Company

Sign up for my free newsletter!

About That Copy Guy

I’m a professional, freelance business writer, specializing in content marketing; content that engages readers and promotes my clients as credible, reliable and trustworthy.

As likeable experts. Read More…

Professional, Easy to Work With

Steve contributes to the Uberflip Blog on an ongoing basis and is exactly what you want in a freelance writer, and more. Not only is he an expert in his field and an engaging writer (his pieces are always hits with our audience), he’s a complete professional and so easy to work with.

He routinely beats deadlines and approaches his work with a genuine enthusiasm – I always know I’m going to get great results.
Hayley Mullen
Former Community Manager at Uberflip

AWAI Circle of Success Member

Detail Oriented – One of the Team

The Data Rescue Center/Prosoft Engineering Recommendation
Steve wrote quality, in-depth technical content for our blogs and website for several years. He has an extensive technical background and has been able to learn about our products and company very quickly.

With that he has been able to provide us with great content as if he were an actual in-house employee. Steve has strong writing skills, great grammar, quick turn around and pays attention to details.

I would highly recommend him.
J. Bell - Marketing Manager

Mailing Address

Steve Maurer Freelance Writing
c/o Steve Maurer
3000 West Anne Street
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72704

Contact Information

Office Phone: 479-304-1086
Email me - Steve Maurer
View Steve Maurer's profile on LinkedIn

Simple Effective Writing

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication
- Leonardo Da Vinci

  • Nice Guy. Wears Work Boots. Writes B2B Industrial Copy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright Notice
  • Terms and Conditions
  • My AI Use Policy

© 2025 www.maurer-copywriting.com · Rainmaker Platform

Privacy Policy