Our clients spend an awful lot of time obsessing over the homepages of their sites. And there is some merit to that; typically, the homepage is one of the most visited pages of a Web site. But in the age of search, any page of your Web site can act as a homepage.

What to do? Put the same amount of thought into secondary pages. As you carefully craft copy and calls to action on the homepage, ensure that each page of your site is designed to convert your visitors by influencing them to take actions you deem important.

Need more convincing? Well, if you have any analytics on your site, it will likely show an interesting long tail trend. The number of people who visit your secondary pages probably exceeds the total visits of your homepage. The impact is even greater if you are building a knowledge-based site like Squidoo or Wikipedia.

The Web has changed. People no longer come in solely the front door of your site - some visitors get dropped straight into your living room, and you need to be prepared to serve them equally.