Hi
@MetBob. I personally am a big fan of keeping important things above the fold. I still like visually appealing sites, but just don't 'get' why a full page graphic or slider has become so popular.
With that said - a few brief comments below (just being honest, no offence intended).
First - Who is your target market: end users or domainers? More comments on this below.
Second - Are you doing much business through your site already? If so, then ask your current users what they like and what needs to be changed. If not, then I suspect a bunch of stuff needs to be changed.
Third - what's the point of your site? Selling domains or providing info? You need ONE over-riding reason for existence which then helps dictate what's important for the rest of the design.
- It does look a bit too 'blocky' to me, though I think that would be easy fixed. The current site looks too busy and I would be likely to bounce straight off since it looks like a lot of 'work' (I will have to sit there to figure out what it's all about rather than it being obvious). I just don't think you need a block for every item (suggestions follow)...
- I would get rid of the marketplaces altogether from the home page. Put a link to a marketplaces page in the top menu if you really want to, or even bury it deeper than that. I think it's confusing to an EU since they won't know all the marketplaces anyway. Even as a domainer I am thinking well are all domains listed at each MP, or do I have to trawl through all the MP's to view all the domains? Same with your domain listings - many say I can buy on any of 3 marketplaces. Only a domainer might care. That's just confusing for an EU. Much better to replace with a max of 2 links - 'click to buy now', 'click to make an offer' (linked to your chosen MP).
- If the site is directed to EU's I think you need a definite tagline at the top stating what your site is about. The things that most stand out to me when I first see the page are 'Domains by Price', 'FAQ', 'Featured Domains' and then each of the graphics on the featured domains - particularly the frog. So there's a fair chance I can deduce that it's about domains - but I would suggest making it extremely obvious for the EU by stating exactly what your site is about. Then people know whether they want to stay and look, or bounce. Without that I think they're more likely to bounce.
- If you want to persist with the 'block' approach I would suggest a max of 6 blocks. Or even 4 would do. At the most, the 4 from the top row and 2 from the bottom. No need for a block for 'Contact' since everybody is used to finding contact details in the top menu (usually far right, which is where you have them anyway).
- If you're going to have the first 3 blocks on your home page I would 'organise' your top menu a bit more. Perhaps a top menu item of domain list with sub menus of catalog (probably more correct 'by category') and 'by price'. And a menu item called 'More Info' under which you could have stuff like FAQ, Whitepapers, How To, Blog. You could still feature the Blog on the home page if you wish.
- I would prefer a search facility for the domain catalog (like you would find on SD, etc) so I can drill down and select an IOT domain for under $100 (for arguments' sake), but I am guessing that's probably not something on your radar so listings 'by category' and 'by price' as well as the full list are adequate.
- The 'Featured Domains' listing is good.
That should give you some food for thought. All the best.