In the age of information and technology where people are bombarded with choices and overloaded with visual stimulation, it's very important to to consider the age old theory- less is more when designing and planning your homepage. Many studies have been done to test the theory and one of my favorites is by psychologist, Sheena Iyengar at Colombia:

"The jam study showed when you present 30 flavors of jam at a gourmet food store, you get more interest but less purchasing than when you only show 6 flavors of jam. All of a sudden, it became an issue, or at least a possibility, that adding options could actually decrease the likelihood that people would actually choose any of them." (see the complete interview between Jared Spool & Barry Schwartz for more compelling examples)

As a designer, I find the study useful because I'm always looking for ways to improve user experience and conversion rates. Rather than giving users every option available and creating a high probability that they may give up altogether, we can limit the choices presented and make it simpler for them to accomplish their goal.

Compare the experience you have with the home pages of one.org vs. usgbc.org: Which one is easier for you to decide your next interaction with the site? USGBC has so many links I'm not even sure where to click to find the "About" page. One.org's site design is easier to digest because there is a clear visual hierarchy of information. Important campaigns appear in a simple slider front and center, and in the three columns below: a form to fill out to get involved, an about section and the top three blog posts. However on USGBC there are 12 blog posts, 18 million links/navigation items and different programs and conventions they created special designs for that are placed throughout the site like msnbc.com's advertisements.

Bottom Line.

• Don't have your users reaching for the easy button.
• Edit your content and focus on what is really important. If everything is elevated to high importance than nothing is important.
• The success of your site design is directly effected by the content on your site.
• If you need to have a news heavy homepage, learn from industry leaders that do a great job with their homepages. (Guardian, USA Today)