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The homepage is the most important page of your business’s website. It is the virtual shop front to your business, providing your customers a first impression of what you have to offer. You only have seconds to grab your customer’s attention so it is key to make sure that they can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.

8 essential items and design features to include on your homepage

While you’re free to be creative with the design of your homepage, there are some standard items that a user will expect to see when they arrive at your website.

Branding

Branding can be in a name, sign, symbol, slogan, words or design, or a combination of these elements, that identify the products or services of your business and help you stand out from your competitors.

• Ensure your brand is easy to see on your homepage and include your business logo and headline at the top of the page. A headline tells your visitors what your business has to offer.
• Create a great headline for your business by writing down the key points you want to communicate about your brand. Keep the message clear and simple. Don’t forget, your brand is your promise to your customers so make sure you can deliver what you promise.
• In order to keep your brand consistent, make sure that the look and feel of your website is similar to the look and feel of your printed materials and branding (e.g. brochures, menus, advertisements, letterheads).

Contact Information

• Make sure your customers can find you or get in touch with you by having your contact number, address, email address and/or contact us form easily accessible and visible on your website’s homepage.
• If you have a physical shopfront, make sure you include the hours and days of the week you are open, and provide an online map directing customers to your business.

Site Search function

• Add a search function on your homepage to help users find information on your website.
• Place the site search box in the middle or to the right of the header where users are more likely to find it.
• Colours and boarders can help the site search box stand out on the page.

Call to action (CTAs)

A call to action is an image or text that prompts your user to take some form of action.

• What do you want your users to do on your site? Do you want them to place an order, subscribe to a newsletter, register for an event or request a quote? You can use CTAs to direct your audience to areas of your website where they can perform an action, whether it is to sign up, register or subscribe.
• Ensure the CTA stands out from the other content on the page. You can have it in a colour that makes it stand out from the colour scheme of your homepage.

Site Navigation

A good site navigation will help customers to find the different areas in your website.

• Include a clear and simple site navigation bar to link to the different pages on your website. If your website is very detailed, you may just link to the primary pages.
• Place your site navigation bar either at the top of the page or down the side of the page so it’s easy for customers to find.
• If your site contains a large number of pages, you may look into using a drop down menu for your navigation bar.

Images

• An image or short video on your homepage that clearly shows what you offer can make your site more attractive to your audience, enhance the user experience and help with the overall branding of your business.
• Don’t use images just to fill white space, make sure the image matches the content on the page. Users pay close attention to images that are relevant.
• Make sure your images and videos are of high standard as the quality of the images can affect how your users perceive your website.

Typography

Typography is the visual component of the written word, the art and technique of arranging print.

• Use a couple of fonts that are consistent with your brand’s voice and tone. Too many different fonts and sizes can make your website look cluttered causing confusion.
• Be consistent and use the same font and typeface in both your digital and printed material so customers immediately recognise your brand.
• Make sure there is a strong contrast between the colour of your text and the colour of the background, so the text is easy and comfortable to read and meets accessibility standards.
• Making your text in italics or bold can also cause your content to be difficult to read on some screens.

Content

• As website users generally scan pages, your content needs to be easy to read and direct.
• Use short paragraphs on your homepage and try to bring your message across with as little words as possible. A short paragraph on your homepage summarising your business and products and services can help grab your customers’ attention.
• Make sure your content is relevant, and speaks the language of your customers.
• Keep the important content near the top of the page so the information isn’t lost on smaller screens.

Build a great first impression

Make your first impression count! A clean and appealing web design, which is easy to navigate and highlights the key points of your business, can better attract customers than a website full of irrelevant information. If your audience can’t identify what it is your business can offer, they won’t stick around.

Find out more…

• Head to Queensland Government website for tips on how to create a website.
• Check out the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
• Get Practiceplus to build your website

Taxpayer wins – mostly :The  taxpayer  must  use  reasonable  procedures  to verify  that  suppliers  are  valid  registrants,  their registration  numbers  actually  exist  and  are  in  the name  of  that  person.  The  Court  held  that  the taxpayer’s  procedures  (reviewing  the  suppliers’ registrations,  stamped  by  Revenue  Quebec)  were generally  sufficient  to  meet  the  documentation requirements  (Excise Tax Act Subsection 169(4)).  It was  not  relevant  that  some  suppliers  did  not  have scrapyards  and/or  vehicles  to  carry  on  scrap  businesses,  nor  that payment  was often made  in cash, making it difficult to verify the suppliers’ revenues.  The taxpayer could not be expected to query government officialsto ensure that GST registrations were properly issued.However, in respect of one supplier, the facts showed that the taxpayer had been  sloppy  to the point of  gross negligence  in accepting evidence of registration where it was clear that the  registered supplier  was not acting on their own account. Those ITCs were properly denied, and the related gross negligence penalty upheld.As  well,  one  purchase  was  made  on  the  date  the  supplier’s registration was cancelled, so the supplier was not a registrant on that date, and the  ITC  was properly denied.  However, the related  gross negligence  penalty  was  reversed,  based  on  the  due  diligence undertaken in respect of the supplier previously.

Finally, the Court held that a  rebate for  GST/HST paid in error  (Excise Tax Act Subsection 261(19)) does not apply where the error arises due to the taxpayer’s negligence, or because the payment is made to a nonregistrant, including a supplier whose registration has been cancelled.The  purpose  of  the  rebate  is  not  to  allow  the  taxpayer  to  recover GST/HST from the Crown when the erroneous payment to the supplier results from taxpayer’s failure to exercise proper care and attention.

SINGLE SUPPLY – SERVICES PROVIDED INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF CANADA

In  a July 11, 2017  Federal Court of Appeal  case (Club Intrawest vs. H.M.Q.,  A-249-16),  at  issue  was  what  portion  of  resort  fees  paid  by members of the Intrawest program would be  subject to GST.  Fees  paid provided access  to resorts in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.  The fees were  used  primarily  to  administer  the  program,  maintain  the properties, and build a  reserve fund.  The taxpayer had argued that the portion of the fee related to the properties outside of Canada should not be  subject to GST/HST  according to the place of supply rules  in Section 142 of the Excise Tax Act.

In the original Tax Court of Canada case (Intrawest vs. H.M.Q., 2012-3401(GST)G), the Court found that the fees were for a single supply of service,  and  that  part  of  the  service  was  provided  in  Canada, therefore GST/HST was applicable to the entire fee.

Taxpayer wins-Generally, once it has been determined that there is a single supply, the entire charge  is either subject to  GST/HST or not.  The Federal Court of Appeal  determined,  that  even  though  the  service  was  paid  in  a  single payment,  an  alternative  approach  was  required  to  recognize  that ultimately the services  were distinct:  services provided inside Canada and those provided outside. These were two separate supplies, so the single supply provisions did not apply.

The  Federal  Court  of  Appeal  agreed  that  the  taxpayer’s  original proposal  to charge GST/HST based on the proportion of costs in Canada to  the  total  membership  costs  would  more  fairly  and  reasonably reflect the nature of the supply.

AGENCY AGREEMENT In a June 9, 2017 Tax Court of Canada case (572256 Ontario Ltd. vs. H.M.Q.,  2015-4326(GST)I),  the  Court  reviewed  whether  an  entity’s management  contract  to  maintain  real  property  of  the  taxpayer constituted an  agency agreement.  If it did, the taxpayer was eligible to claim input tax credits  for purchases made by the management entity.

Taxpayer wins The  management  agreement  identified  the  property  manager  as an agent of the property owners. This status was questioned because the manager  had  acquired  the  parking  area  related  to  the  other  real estate.  Although  no  written  documentation  existed  to  support  the relationship,  the  Court  concluded  that  the  parking  area  was  held  as  a bare  trustee,  and  the  manager  acted  as  agent  in  respect  of  that property  as  well.  The  taxpayer  was,  therefore,  entitled  to  input  tax credits.