Along the lines of what Alan is saying, I think your site is a prime candidate to take advantage of many juicy long-tail keywords.
I understand that you'd like to drive traffic to your home page, but keep in mind that the more likely scenario is you'll draw traffic through your articles which are easier to optimize than a frequently changing home page. This is a good thing, though, because people who enjoy your articles will click the home banner and read other articles from your home page. I've become a fan of many blogs this way.
So how do you get more traffic to your site? Make sure you incorporate keywords into every article you write, especially in the titles. For instance, with the Michael Le Vell article, you can search for relevant keywords by simply using Google Autocomplete (see attached image).
This will show you what people are frequently searching for related to Michael Le Vell. In this case, it's good that you included the word "arrested" in your Michael Le Vell article title, but it would be better for SEO purposes if the phrase was together. An alternate title might be "Michael Le Vell Arrested: On Coronation Street AND In Real Life!" There are a lot of related Coronation Street keywords you could use that can be found through the Google Keyword Tool.
My advice: leverage the strength of your site to draw traffic to the entertaining articles and your readers will naturally go to your home page when they want to read more.
I hope that helps!
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