Home Page Text Placement - In Widget?

[columbiaseo]

My client has a blank homepage that showcases his work in a slideshow.  As a result, his homepage will not rank.  I've created landing pages and they have started to rank, but he is not a fan of them.  He wants to add a widget below the menu, essentially where you have to scroll down to see it (no one will ever see it) with the text/onsite optimization we need to get him to rank.  This will leave him with his blank homepage that he likes.

My gut reaction is that the text needs to be in the actual page, not a sidebar widget.  What do you think?  Will this method work?

[Ray-pp]

The sidebar widget will help the page rank, but it is at a disadvantage. Google's understanding of the sidebar makes the content in a sidebar less effective (my opinion, please do your due diligence).

Most sidebars include links, content around advertisements, and generic information. This has resulted in the understanding that content in the sidebar should carry less weight for rankings.

I suggest building up a strong intralinking website architecture. Build those landing pages with unique content, link back to the home page for your parent keyword phrases. Make the slideshow as HTML friendly as possible (can it be done completely in HTML/CSS?) and fill in your alt texts.

Ideally, your home page would have content to help its rank. Can you show content through tabs, modals, or other interaction methods? This way the content is not a focus to the user, but does exist on page for those who want it.