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8 Pillars of a Landing Page

8 Pillars of a Landing Page

and how to use each at a pro-level

26 Jan

Before we get started…

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Ok, now to the goodies. 👇

#1 complaint I hear from indie makers:

I don’t know how to make a good landing page 😩

These are people that can code, design, and make whatever they want.

But they have NO clue how to build a converting landing page.

Sound like you?

I gotchu.

By mere coincidence, I’ve audited 600+ landing pages in my lifetime.

Don’t check my screentime app, that’s embarrassing.

Let me lay out the ONLY elements you need on your landing page to make it valuable and conversion-friendly:

Foundations of landing pages

Every page (SaaS, eComm, or otherwise) only needs a few simple elements to be great. The rest is gravy. Here are the foundational modules:

Nav Bar

You need your most helpful pages listed in the navigation. You don’t have to have a ton here, but make it easy to skip between valuable portions of the site.

If you have a login portal or allow sign ups, put links for those on the right side of the nav bar.

You also don’t need complex drop-downs.

Header

This is rarely a place to get cute and clever. You want to aim for a clear H1 99% of the time.

One easy way to do this is to ask yourself: “What is the main benefit to the customer that uses my product?”

This doesn’t talk about features. It doesn’t make puns (unless you can make it really good).

It states the best benefit to the customer, and hooks them to read more.

Subheader

You’ve hooked some interest with the header. Now, we build.

Expand on the benefit and take the user from their current state to their future state.

What will using your product accomplish for them compared to where they are now?

Call to Action

The 2 most common mistakes I see with CTAs:

It isn’t visible above the fold, so it’s harder to find and loses impact
The copy is generic and gives no context

Point 1 is self-explanatory, don’t do that.

Point 2 needs a little more context.

In my eyes, “Get Started” and “Learn More” tell me nothing. So why should I feel good about investing my click there?

I MUCH prefer a CTA that tells me exactly where I’m going and what’s about to happen.

Be specific here, and make your ask.

Social Proof

This is your chance to show your credibility, not tell me about it.

Showcase customers, display logos, slap star ratings on there.

I need to see that other people like me enjoyed the product, too.

And social proof isn’t just for the hero section. I want to see it sprinkled (carefully) throughout the page, with testimonials and reviews easily accessible.

Product Imagery

This is the most forgotten of all the elements.

Please please pleeeeeeease…

Show what the inside of your product actually looks like.

Give me a sense of what I’m getting if I invest time and resources in it.

Oh, and put this close to the top of the page. No one should have to scroll through a full page to see this stuff.

Benefits to Customer

I know the temptation is there to chat about features right away.

Resist. The. Urge.

Dive into all the benefits your potential customer will experience.

Make this product relevant to them.

Write out as many benefits you can think of, then edit that down to 4-6 to actually display on the page.

Features

OK, now go nuts on all the cool stuff you’ve built.

Get a little more technical now that the user has more context on how this all benefits them.

I recommend keeping the total sections of content for features to around 3-5.

Overloading on info will not help your conversion.

Conclusion

That’s seriously it.

If you can nail those few elements on your landing page, you’re in a good spot.

Of course, I’d recommend implementing first and then beginning to test individual elements. You may be able to boost CVR even more.