A landing page has one job: turn a specific visitor into a specific action. When it tries to do five jobs, it usually does none of them well.
This is the checklist we run before every landing page goes live. Use it section by section, whether you are building a new page or fixing one that is not converting.
Before you design anything
- One audience. Write down exactly who the page is for. If it serves two very different audiences, build two pages.
- One offer. A free consultation, a demo, a quote, a download. Pick one.
- One action. Every button on the page should lead to the same next step.
- Message match. The headline should echo the ad, email or search term that brought people here. If the ad promises a fast quote, the page should open with a fast quote.
Above the fold
The first screen decides whether people scroll. On a phone that is not much space, so every element has to earn its place:
- A headline that states the outcome, not the company name. "Get more qualified leads from your website" beats "Welcome to our agency".
- A subheadline that explains how, and who it is for.
- One primary call to action, visible without scrolling.
- A supporting visual that shows the product, service or result in use. Avoid generic stock imagery.
- A trust signal: real client logos, a review score or a short testimonial, used with permission.
The body of the page
Once someone scrolls, they are looking for reasons to believe you and reasons not to. Answer both:
- Benefits before features. Lead with what changes for the customer, then explain how.
- How it works, in three simple steps, so the next action feels small.
- Proof: case studies, named testimonials and results you can verify.
- Objections answered: price, time, risk, and "will this work for a business like mine?".
- A short FAQ that handles the questions sales teams hear most often.
- The call to action repeated after each major section.
The form
The form is where interest becomes a lead, so treat it as the most important part of the page:
- ask only for what you need to follow up, and nothing else;
- use visible labels, not placeholder text alone;
- show helpful error messages next to the field that needs fixing;
- say what happens next ("We will reply within one working day" only if that is true);
- send people to a thank-you page with a useful next step, such as booking a call directly.
Test the whole journey yourself: submit the form, check the confirmation, and confirm the lead arrives where your team will see it.
Speed and technical basics
A beautiful page that loads slowly loses visitors before they see it. Before launch:
- compress images and serve modern formats such as WebP or AVIF;
- keep scripts to a minimum, especially third-party tags;
- reserve space for images and embeds so the layout does not jump while loading;
- check text contrast and tap-target sizes on a real phone;
- write a clear page title and meta description;
- keep near-duplicate ad variants out of search results with a noindex tag or a canonical link.
Google's Core Web Vitals give useful targets: a Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, an Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less and a Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less.
Before you press publish
- Open the page on at least one iPhone and one Android phone.
- Click every link and button.
- Confirm analytics records page views and form submissions as conversions.
- Proofread everything, including the thank-you page and confirmation email.
- Ask someone who has never seen the page what it offers and what they should do next. If they hesitate, simplify.
After launch
Treat the first version as a starting point. Change one thing at a time, starting with the elements that matter most: the headline, the offer, then the form. Review results weekly and give each test enough traffic to be meaningful before you decide.
Need a landing page built and measured properly? See our web and software service, or book a free strategy call and we will review your current page with you.
