Ultimately, the curated aspect of the homepage brings people to big brands, right?” [Wall Street Journal managing editor Raju Narisetti] said. “The trick is not to worry about where they’re coming from — the trick is what are they doing after they come. If they come sideways, can I get them to actually go to the homepage? That won’t happen if I diminish the value of homepage internally. I still need to make sure the homepage is engaging — just not get too hung up on people coming there first…It’s more of an engagement play than a front-door-audience play these days.
This rings very true. Whether a publication is known to me, or is a brand new discovery, the home page is almost always the second place I go. After reading a piece, it’s a way I’ll gauge whether that outlet is worth my keeping up with down the road for more content. So the home page is nt less important just because it’s not how I first enter a site, but it can confirm whether I’ll come back.
Near-Earth Object 