KICK-OFF YOUR STARTUP WITH A

LANDING PAGE

@anaisdezalay DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER

SO YOU HAVE THIS GREAT CONCEPT

YOU’VE DONE YOUR MARKET RESEARCH

IDENTIFIED YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

PLAYED AROUND WITH THE BIG NUMBERS

TIME TO START

TESTING!

IDEA

DATA

PLAN

ENGAGE

MEASURE

LEARN

PLAN, MEASURE, LEARN

Lean marketing is a way of evaluating your market opportunity quickly, at little cost and with minimum effort, before bringing your product to market.

THE LEAN MARKETING FRAMEWORK

A LANDING PAGE IS A QUICK, CHEAP AND EASY WAY TO:

TEST YOUR ASSUMPTIONS, VALIDATE INTEREST, ADJUST YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION

GATHER FEEDBACK, IDENTIFY WHAT MATTERS

MOST TO YOUR AUDIENCE

ENGAGE WITH EARLY EVANGELISTS, RECRUIT BETA TESTERS

GAIN MORE INFO ON YOUR AUDIENCE AND ADOPTION DRIVERS

HERE ARE 10 STEPS TO GET YOU STARTED

1. CHOOSE AND BUY YOUR DOMAIN NAME

If possible, prefer a .com TLD (top-level domain): this is what most users are used to.

TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN Around 15 characters: it’s easier

for users to remember, and better for search engines.

KEEP IT SHORT

Try to include one keyword in your domain name (again, this

helps with SEO).

BE RELEVANT

If you’re thinking of launching your company in several countries, secure the local domains now

PLAN AHEAD

The typical 3 key metrics of landing page performance: •  Traffic sources: how did people find your page? •  Unique visitors: how much traffic is your page getting? •  Conversion rate: what proportion of visitors takes the intended action?

2. DEFINE YOUR GOALS AND METRICS

A startup landing page often includes a call to action inviting people to sign-up for early access to the product or service: in this case, this would be your intended conversion, your main objective. Your job will be to optimize your conversion rate (but more on this later). For the time being, set a (somewhat realistic!) goal for your page. Look up case studies of landing pages optimization for startups in your industry, there are plenty online and will give you something to benchmark against.

3. CREATE YOUR VISUAL ASSETS

LOGO

Try LogoPond for inspiration

COLOR PALETTE ILLUSTRATIONS BANNER

ColourLovers for free color palettes

FlatIcon has tons of quality icons

Use Canva to create your visuals online

Don’t have the skills of a graphic designer? Try GraphicRiver and Fivrr where you can hire freelancers who will do the work for you for a very decent price.

Landing Page Builders let your create beautiful pages and require no coding or web design skills:

4. CHOOSE YOUR LANDING PAGE BUILDER

TEMPLATES FEATURES FLEXIBILITY INTEGRATION

AMOUNT DESIGNS VARIETY

FORM BUILDER A/B TESTING ANALYTICS

ACCESS TO CODE EASE OF USE

PLUGINS

SOCIAL MEDIA EMAIL PROVIDER

PAYMENT SYSTEM

Take the time compare them before you choose and consider the following:

5. DESIGN YOUR PAGE

ABOVE THE FOLD Keep the main info about the

fold: headline, call to action

FONTS AND COLORS Try not to use more than 2

fonts and 3 colors.

FOOTER Contact info, links to social media, copyright, privacy policy

FAVICON Create your favicon online (free) and upload it to your page

CALL TO ACTION Make it stand out: colors, size, placement on page,

directional clues…

MOBILE VERSION Whether your template is responsive or you have to build a dedicated version, go for mobile!

6. WRITE COMPELLING CONTENT

•  Write short copy blocks or use bullet points

•  Use your main keywords (for SEO purposes)

•  Use one headline that clearly highlights your value proposition

•  Add a few testimonials to show users they can trust you

•  Use a single, clear call to action - stay away from “Submit” or other generic CTAs

•  Keep your signup form short to keep the barrier to conversion as low as possible

7. OPTIMIZE FOR SEARCH ENGINES

FILE NAMES META DESCRIPTION

KEYWORDS EXTERNAL LINKS

TITLE TAG HEADING TAGS

The keywords you’re trying to rank for need to be included in the meta keywords and in the body copy of your page.

ALT tags (for images) and file names tell search engine spiders what your page is about (search engines can’t see images)

A.k.a H1, H2…Your primary keyword should be included at least once. H1 has the most influence on ranking.

Social media, blog… The more positive social signals you have on your page,

the better your ranking will be.

Should be about 150 characters and should include your primary keyword. This doesn’t

impact ranking but does impact CTR!

Tells search engines and visitors what your page is about. Your title tag should

be about 65 characters.

8. RUN SOME A/B TESTING

COPY Wording, order, short version longer version, bullet points vs paragraph…

LAYOUT AND DESIGN Colors, layout, stock photography vs illustrations

CALL TO ACTION Copy, placement, with or without directional clues…

SIGNUP FORM Number of fields, fields name, text on ‘submit’ button…

Be sure to run several variations of your page to see which converts best. Here are some elements of your page should be testing:

9. PROMOTE YOUR PAGE Be part of the conversation: browse forums or Quora for topics related to your product and share your knowledge – and a link to your page.

Invest in some paid advertising on Facebook or Adwords

Use an Email Marketing service such as Mailchimp and send out regular updates or offers to your user database

Blog about your industry, niche,

product - or offer to be a guest blogger on

relevant blogs

Setup social media channels to kick-off the conversation with your

future users.

Identify and contact relevant press and online influencers

(Twitter is a great place to start)

10. MEASURE AND OPTIMIZE

TRAFFIC SOURCES How did people find your page? Email? Social? Search? What could you optimize to increase traffic to your page?

UNIQUE VISITS If your page is getting low traffic, you might review how you’re promoting it and consider investing in some paid advertising.

CONVERSION RATE If your conversion rate is too low, review your page: is your copy too long? Unclear? Is your CTA strategically placed, does it stand out?

SEARCH KEYWORDS What keywords were used? Are those the keywords you’re trying to rank for? Time to fine tune them!

10. MEASURE AND OPTIMIZE

A/B TESTING Which variation is performing best? Try to understand why, then…keep testing. This is the best way to see what sticks.

DEVICE USED If your conversion rate on mobile devices is low, improve your mobile page: elements easy to read on a small screen, etc…

DEMOGRAPHICS Time to learn more about your audience: gender, country… How does this data compare to what you had in mind?

LINKS TO SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGING CTA SEO FRIENDLY ATTRACTIVE DESIGN

RESPONSIVE/MOBILE MAIN INFO ABOVE THE FOLD

SCANNABLE CONTENT EASY DOMAIN NAME

RECAP: ANATOMY OF A GREAT LANDING PAGE

DESIGNED FOR USERS OPTIMIZED FOR SEARCH

@anaisdezalay DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER