How to Write a Landing Page That Actually Works
Most landing pages try to do too much and convert nobody. Here's how to write one that actually works with clear value, one action, and no distractions.
Landing pages are hard to get right.
Most try to do everything at once. They're stuffed with features nobody asked about. They have seven calls-to-action competing for attention. And they completely forget that someone has to actually read the thing.
A good landing page has one job: get someone to take one specific action. That's it. If you're asking people to do more than one thing, you don't have a landing page. You've got something that'll confuse more people than it converts.
What a Landing Page Should Actually Do
Landing pages exist to convert. Not to inform, not to impress, not to show off your brand guidelines. To convert.
That means taking someone from "mildly interested" to "yes, I'll do that thing you're asking me to do." Whether that's signing up, buying something, downloading a guide, or booking a call.
Everything on the page should push towards that one action. If it doesn't, cut it out.
What makes a landing page work:
Clear value proposition.
What's in it for them? Not what your product does - what problem it solves or what outcome it delivers. This should be immediately obvious. If someone has to read three paragraphs to work out why they should care, you've already lost them.
Remove friction.
Every extra field in a form is a reason not to complete it. Every confusing bit of copy is a reason to leave. Every unclear next step is a conversion you just lost. Make it stupidly easy to do the thing you're asking.
Build trust quickly.
Social proof, testimonials, recognisable logos, guarantees - whatever makes sense for your audience. People don't buy from brands they don't trust, and they definitely don't hand over their email address to strangers.
One clear call-to-action.
Not three. Not five. One. Make it obvious what happens when they click that button.
Types of Landing Pages
Not all landing pages are trying to do the same thing. The mistake is treating them like they are.
Lead generation pages: These are after your email address (or phone number, or whatever). They're offering something in return - a guide, a free trial, a consultation. Keep the form short. Make the value of what you're offering crystal clear. Nobody wants another PDF cluttering up their downloads folder unless it's genuinely useful.
Click-through pages: These sit between an ad and a purchase. Their job is to warm people up before asking for money. Use these to address objections, build desire, and make the actual purchase feel like the logical next step. Don't ask for the sale here - just get them to click through to the checkout with intent.
Sales pages: These are the full pitch. Longer copy, more detail, designed to convert someone who's actively considering a purchase. This is where you can (and should) go deeper on benefits, address objections properly, and build a compelling case. But even here, respect their time. Long doesn't mean rambling.
Squeeze pages: Minimal, focused, designed to capture one piece of information as quickly as possible. These work when you've got a really strong offer and a traffic source that's already warm. Otherwise, they can feel pushy.
The type you need depends on where someone's coming from and what you're asking them to do. Don't use a squeeze page approach when you need to build trust first. Don't write a 3,000-word essay when people just need to know what they're signing up for.
How to Use Brand Storytelling in a Landing Page
Nobody cares how you started your business in your garage. Not here. Not on a landing page.
Brand storytelling on a landing page means positioning the customer as the hero. You're not the star of this story - they are. You're just the guide helping them get what they want.
Start with their problem.
Show them you understand what they're dealing with. Not in a patronising way - just demonstrate that you get it. This builds connection faster than any "about us" section ever will.
Show the transformation.
What changes when they take this action? Paint that picture clearly. Not just features - actual outcomes. How does their life or work improve?
Make it real with proof.
Stories from other customers who've been where your reader is now. Not generic testimonials - specific outcomes. "This saved me four hours a week" is infinitely better than "Great product, highly recommend!"
Keep your brand voice consistent.
If your brand is direct and no-nonsense, your landing page should be too. If you're warm and approachable, that needs to come through here. Consistency builds trust. Switching tone mid-funnel just confuses people.
The story arc is simple: here's where you are now (problem), here's where you could be (outcome), here's how to get there (your offer).
What Good and Bad Landing Pages Look Like
Good landing pages:
They get to the point immediately. You know within five seconds what they're offering and whether it's for you. The headline does the heavy lifting - clear benefit, no clever wordplay that needs decoding.
They remove distractions. One goal, one path to that goal. No navigation menu tempting you to wander off. No competing CTAs. Everything points in one direction.
They build trust without trying too hard. Real testimonials from real people. Recognisable logos if they've got them. Clear guarantees or risk-reversals if relevant. Not fifty trust badges that all look like they came from the same dodgy template site.
They respect your intelligence. The copy explains what you need to know without patronising you or drowning you in jargon. It's conversational but not overly casual.
Bad landing pages:
They bury the lead. You have to scroll past three paragraphs of company history before you find out what they actually want you to do.
They ask for too much too soon. Fifteen form fields for a bloody PDF download. Nobody's doing that.
They try to be everything to everyone. Multiple offers, multiple CTAs, trying to appeal to every possible customer segment at once. The result? It appeals to nobody.
They look like every other landing page template. Same stock photos, same generic copy, same layout. Nothing that makes you think "this is different" or "this is for me."
The Bit That Actually Matters
Landing pages aren't complicated. They're just really easy to screw up.
Know what you're asking people to do. Make it obvious why they should do it. Remove everything that gets in the way. Make it easy to say yes.
If your landing page is trying to do more than one thing, or if you can't explain its purpose in a single sentence, start again.
Landing pages are hard to get right.
Most try to do everything at once. They're stuffed with features nobody asked about. They have seven calls-to-action competing for attention. And they completely forget that someone has to actually read the thing.
A good landing page has one job: get someone to take one specific action. That's it. If you're asking people to do more than one thing, you don't have a landing page. You've got something that'll confuse more people than it converts.
What a Landing Page Should Actually Do
Landing pages exist to convert. Not to inform, not to impress, not to show off your brand guidelines. To convert.
That means taking someone from "mildly interested" to "yes, I'll do that thing you're asking me to do." Whether that's signing up, buying something, downloading a guide, or booking a call.
Everything on the page should push towards that one action. If it doesn't, cut it out.
What makes a landing page work:
Clear value proposition.
What's in it for them? Not what your product does - what problem it solves or what outcome it delivers. This should be immediately obvious. If someone has to read three paragraphs to work out why they should care, you've already lost them.
Remove friction.
Every extra field in a form is a reason not to complete it. Every confusing bit of copy is a reason to leave. Every unclear next step is a conversion you just lost. Make it stupidly easy to do the thing you're asking.
Build trust quickly.
Social proof, testimonials, recognisable logos, guarantees - whatever makes sense for your audience. People don't buy from brands they don't trust, and they definitely don't hand over their email address to strangers.
One clear call-to-action.
Not three. Not five. One. Make it obvious what happens when they click that button.
Types of Landing Pages
Not all landing pages are trying to do the same thing. The mistake is treating them like they are.
Lead generation pages: These are after your email address (or phone number, or whatever). They're offering something in return - a guide, a free trial, a consultation. Keep the form short. Make the value of what you're offering crystal clear. Nobody wants another PDF cluttering up their downloads folder unless it's genuinely useful.
Click-through pages: These sit between an ad and a purchase. Their job is to warm people up before asking for money. Use these to address objections, build desire, and make the actual purchase feel like the logical next step. Don't ask for the sale here - just get them to click through to the checkout with intent.
Sales pages: These are the full pitch. Longer copy, more detail, designed to convert someone who's actively considering a purchase. This is where you can (and should) go deeper on benefits, address objections properly, and build a compelling case. But even here, respect their time. Long doesn't mean rambling.
Squeeze pages: Minimal, focused, designed to capture one piece of information as quickly as possible. These work when you've got a really strong offer and a traffic source that's already warm. Otherwise, they can feel pushy.
The type you need depends on where someone's coming from and what you're asking them to do. Don't use a squeeze page approach when you need to build trust first. Don't write a 3,000-word essay when people just need to know what they're signing up for.
How to Use Brand Storytelling in a Landing Page
Nobody cares how you started your business in your garage. Not here. Not on a landing page.
Brand storytelling on a landing page means positioning the customer as the hero. You're not the star of this story - they are. You're just the guide helping them get what they want.
Start with their problem.
Show them you understand what they're dealing with. Not in a patronising way - just demonstrate that you get it. This builds connection faster than any "about us" section ever will.
Show the transformation.
What changes when they take this action? Paint that picture clearly. Not just features - actual outcomes. How does their life or work improve?
Make it real with proof.
Stories from other customers who've been where your reader is now. Not generic testimonials - specific outcomes. "This saved me four hours a week" is infinitely better than "Great product, highly recommend!"
Keep your brand voice consistent.
If your brand is direct and no-nonsense, your landing page should be too. If you're warm and approachable, that needs to come through here. Consistency builds trust. Switching tone mid-funnel just confuses people.
The story arc is simple: here's where you are now (problem), here's where you could be (outcome), here's how to get there (your offer).
What Good and Bad Landing Pages Look Like
Good landing pages:
They get to the point immediately. You know within five seconds what they're offering and whether it's for you. The headline does the heavy lifting - clear benefit, no clever wordplay that needs decoding.
They remove distractions. One goal, one path to that goal. No navigation menu tempting you to wander off. No competing CTAs. Everything points in one direction.
They build trust without trying too hard. Real testimonials from real people. Recognisable logos if they've got them. Clear guarantees or risk-reversals if relevant. Not fifty trust badges that all look like they came from the same dodgy template site.
They respect your intelligence. The copy explains what you need to know without patronising you or drowning you in jargon. It's conversational but not overly casual.
Bad landing pages:
They bury the lead. You have to scroll past three paragraphs of company history before you find out what they actually want you to do.
They ask for too much too soon. Fifteen form fields for a bloody PDF download. Nobody's doing that.
They try to be everything to everyone. Multiple offers, multiple CTAs, trying to appeal to every possible customer segment at once. The result? It appeals to nobody.
They look like every other landing page template. Same stock photos, same generic copy, same layout. Nothing that makes you think "this is different" or "this is for me."
The Bit That Actually Matters
Landing pages aren't complicated. They're just really easy to screw up.
Know what you're asking people to do. Make it obvious why they should do it. Remove everything that gets in the way. Make it easy to say yes.
If your landing page is trying to do more than one thing, or if you can't explain its purpose in a single sentence, start again.
Landing pages are hard to get right.
Most try to do everything at once. They're stuffed with features nobody asked about. They have seven calls-to-action competing for attention. And they completely forget that someone has to actually read the thing.
A good landing page has one job: get someone to take one specific action. That's it. If you're asking people to do more than one thing, you don't have a landing page. You've got something that'll confuse more people than it converts.
What a Landing Page Should Actually Do
Landing pages exist to convert. Not to inform, not to impress, not to show off your brand guidelines. To convert.
That means taking someone from "mildly interested" to "yes, I'll do that thing you're asking me to do." Whether that's signing up, buying something, downloading a guide, or booking a call.
Everything on the page should push towards that one action. If it doesn't, cut it out.
What makes a landing page work:
Clear value proposition.
What's in it for them? Not what your product does - what problem it solves or what outcome it delivers. This should be immediately obvious. If someone has to read three paragraphs to work out why they should care, you've already lost them.
Remove friction.
Every extra field in a form is a reason not to complete it. Every confusing bit of copy is a reason to leave. Every unclear next step is a conversion you just lost. Make it stupidly easy to do the thing you're asking.
Build trust quickly.
Social proof, testimonials, recognisable logos, guarantees - whatever makes sense for your audience. People don't buy from brands they don't trust, and they definitely don't hand over their email address to strangers.
One clear call-to-action.
Not three. Not five. One. Make it obvious what happens when they click that button.
Types of Landing Pages
Not all landing pages are trying to do the same thing. The mistake is treating them like they are.
Lead generation pages: These are after your email address (or phone number, or whatever). They're offering something in return - a guide, a free trial, a consultation. Keep the form short. Make the value of what you're offering crystal clear. Nobody wants another PDF cluttering up their downloads folder unless it's genuinely useful.
Click-through pages: These sit between an ad and a purchase. Their job is to warm people up before asking for money. Use these to address objections, build desire, and make the actual purchase feel like the logical next step. Don't ask for the sale here - just get them to click through to the checkout with intent.
Sales pages: These are the full pitch. Longer copy, more detail, designed to convert someone who's actively considering a purchase. This is where you can (and should) go deeper on benefits, address objections properly, and build a compelling case. But even here, respect their time. Long doesn't mean rambling.
Squeeze pages: Minimal, focused, designed to capture one piece of information as quickly as possible. These work when you've got a really strong offer and a traffic source that's already warm. Otherwise, they can feel pushy.
The type you need depends on where someone's coming from and what you're asking them to do. Don't use a squeeze page approach when you need to build trust first. Don't write a 3,000-word essay when people just need to know what they're signing up for.
How to Use Brand Storytelling in a Landing Page
Nobody cares how you started your business in your garage. Not here. Not on a landing page.
Brand storytelling on a landing page means positioning the customer as the hero. You're not the star of this story - they are. You're just the guide helping them get what they want.
Start with their problem.
Show them you understand what they're dealing with. Not in a patronising way - just demonstrate that you get it. This builds connection faster than any "about us" section ever will.
Show the transformation.
What changes when they take this action? Paint that picture clearly. Not just features - actual outcomes. How does their life or work improve?
Make it real with proof.
Stories from other customers who've been where your reader is now. Not generic testimonials - specific outcomes. "This saved me four hours a week" is infinitely better than "Great product, highly recommend!"
Keep your brand voice consistent.
If your brand is direct and no-nonsense, your landing page should be too. If you're warm and approachable, that needs to come through here. Consistency builds trust. Switching tone mid-funnel just confuses people.
The story arc is simple: here's where you are now (problem), here's where you could be (outcome), here's how to get there (your offer).
What Good and Bad Landing Pages Look Like
Good landing pages:
They get to the point immediately. You know within five seconds what they're offering and whether it's for you. The headline does the heavy lifting - clear benefit, no clever wordplay that needs decoding.
They remove distractions. One goal, one path to that goal. No navigation menu tempting you to wander off. No competing CTAs. Everything points in one direction.
They build trust without trying too hard. Real testimonials from real people. Recognisable logos if they've got them. Clear guarantees or risk-reversals if relevant. Not fifty trust badges that all look like they came from the same dodgy template site.
They respect your intelligence. The copy explains what you need to know without patronising you or drowning you in jargon. It's conversational but not overly casual.
Bad landing pages:
They bury the lead. You have to scroll past three paragraphs of company history before you find out what they actually want you to do.
They ask for too much too soon. Fifteen form fields for a bloody PDF download. Nobody's doing that.
They try to be everything to everyone. Multiple offers, multiple CTAs, trying to appeal to every possible customer segment at once. The result? It appeals to nobody.
They look like every other landing page template. Same stock photos, same generic copy, same layout. Nothing that makes you think "this is different" or "this is for me."
The Bit That Actually Matters
Landing pages aren't complicated. They're just really easy to screw up.
Know what you're asking people to do. Make it obvious why they should do it. Remove everything that gets in the way. Make it easy to say yes.
If your landing page is trying to do more than one thing, or if you can't explain its purpose in a single sentence, start again.