The Busy Executive’s Guide on How to Write Landing Page Copy

Intro

When potential clients discover your website, the web copy and design will determine in seconds whether they scroll down and explore or click away and forget.

Yet, there are infinitely more ways to write bad landing page copy than good ones. Instead of

discovering the bad ways one by one, you can skip years of trial and error and get almost all of the gold nuggets at once in this article.

You’ll find actionable tips, powerful frameworks, proven processes, and hacks so simple you’d feel stupid that you never realized them yourself.

In this article:

1. 6 Evergreen tips to help you write better landing page copy today.
2. The 3 landing page sections that deserve the most attention
3. Using the PAS, AIDA, and YGB copywriting frameworks to eliminate fluff.
4. How to make your landing page copy mobile friendly before you write a single word?
5. Editing process to eliminate 99% of mistakes from your copy.

6 Evergreen tips to help you write better landing page copy today

1. Write in the you-form

Not I, not we, not some people. You.

If there’s one idea that can instantly improve the way you communicate, it’s Dale Carnegie’s quote from “How to win friends and influence people”:

“People don’t care about you, they care about themselves.”

It’s almost a century old. And it still hits as hard as a truck.

Turn every “we offer” into a “you get”. Apply the you-form to every landing page — from the homepage to the about us page, and everything in between. It shows readers you’re in it for them, not just for yourself. If you have to use an “I”, make sure the “You’s” on the page outnumber it.

2. Keep it simple, kill jargon

Use short, simple words that every bright 14-year-old can get. People want to understand what you can do for them immediately. Not after having to Google what you just said. Avoid technical jargon because it confuses everyone except your competitors and other industry experts.

3. Write how people speak

Keep your landing page copy conversational. Academic writing requirements be damned! And don’t forget to mix things up. Pause. Make your copy sound human. It’s okay to use contractions.

4. Keep it one idea per sentence

The longer your sentences, the more diluted they become, and the harder it is for your readers to follow them and to effectively absorb the information inside. Use short sentences. Make your point clear. Brains love it. Proactively seek out “and’s”, “but’s” and “or’s” and eliminate them whenever possible.

5. Talk about benefits instead of features

Features are important to set your product or service apart from the competition by outlining exactly what it does. However, the value they bring is not always immediate to your audience. Benefits explain why the features matter.

An aluminum bike frame turns into less weight and more speed.

Keyword Research, Backlink Checker, Competitor Analysis, and Rank Tracker become the all-in-one platform for effective SEO

Apple’s leveraging benefits when introducing the first iPod. (Image via Help Scout)

6. Finish with your headline

Leaving your headline for last is a great practice that will increase the odds you come up with something compelling. Plus, it’s easier to create a fitting title for a written page, instead of a blank one.

The headline is the single most crucial piece of copy on every page. Yet, most people treat the headline and introductions as the necessary evil before readers get into the meat of their page. The standard approach is costing you dearly as most people never make it to “the good” part. Unless your headline compels them to.

The three landing page sections that deserve the most attention.

Every page on your website pulls a different weight. The homepage is usually like Atlas, holding your website on its shoulders, while your Privacy Policy page is collecting dust and cobwebs. Similarly, certain page sections are much more important than others.

Hero Section

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The hero section is the first thing that people see when they open your homepage, without scrolling. The hero section will get more eyeballs than any other section on your website. You should use this space to tell people what you can do for them and why they should trust you. In marketing language, this is your “Unique Value Proposition”.

However, deciding what to say is only the first hurdle. Next comes choosing how to say it. One of the most guarded secrets of copywriters is how they come up with what to write. The key is in their source material. Copywriters worth their salt spend long hours on Google, Amazon, or Yelp studying customer reviews. Those are goldmines for discovering and grouping pain points, which become the central pillars of their messaging.

Testimonials Section

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The second most popular section on your website will be the one with reviews and testimonials. According to a survey by Brightlocal 98% of people read online reviews. And before you think about it, Invesp claims that 54% of people refuse to buy products if they suspect fake reviews.

Vague and unspecific reviews can do more harm than good! Like ones that just vaguely mention your professionalism or your high service standard. These raise suspicion that it was your friends or colleagues that wrote them or even worse, you with your 7 alternative emails.

Real reviews are pure gold. But they can be long, clunky, and hard to read. That’s why it’s a great touch to quote the best part of the testimonial and use it as a punchy headline. Like the example below:

Call to Action (CTA) Section

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The third most important section is the CTA one. It’s the place that determines the future relationship that you will have with the visitor. It’s the moment when you lead a horse to water and pray it drinks.

Will they accept your appeal for immediate action and subscribe to a newsletter, try out a demo, complete a purchase, or take any other action? If they are not convinced, all of your hard work fails to achieve its objectives.

There are a number of things you can do to make your landing pages more effective with regard to conversions. Visit our separate article on conversion rate optimization to discover more about it. Alternatively, you can see your article on the psychology behind landing pages.

Frameworks to help you write landing page copy

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Using copywriting frameworks is a great way to structure your message in a proven and effective way. Moreover, they help you write faster and avoid fluff.

PAS - Problem - Agitation - Solution

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PAS is a three-step framework that is one of the easiest, yet most effective ways you can structure your message.

You start by vividly describing the problem your reader is facing. Then you amplify the pain the problem causes. You make it painfully clear why this problem is important to solve now. Finally, you present your service or problem as a solution.

Example of using PAS:

1. Losing time with outdated processes?
2. Feeling like your productivity is limited and your competitors are leaving you behind?
3. Automate your manual tasks with our SaaS solution!

AIDA - Awareness - Interest - Desire - Action

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The AIDA framework was invented in 1898 and is still in use today. It’s one of the most reliable marketing frameworks and consists of 4 consecutive steps — Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.

The first step is to grab the reader's attention by making a bold statement or using an eye-catching headline.

Once you have their attention, the second step is to generate interest by providing relevant information about your product or service.

The third step is to create a desire for the product or service by highlighting the benefits and showing the reader how it can solve their problems or meet their needs.

Finally, the framework concludes with a call to action that inspires the reader to take the next step, whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a service, or requesting more information.

Example of AIDA in action:

1. Tired of losing time with manual processes every day?
2. All of those clunky manual processes can be removed.
3. With our SaaS solution you can focus on important tasks and forget about the daily chores.
4. Stop wasting time and try our SaaS solution today.

You Get Because (YGB)

YGB is a powerful writing technique that makes your message more compelling. The first part “you” is about intriguing your audience by naming their belonging to a group identity. Are they Moms, Veterans, Freelancers, Fishermen, or CEOs? “Get” is all about the deal you offer, maybe it’s a 10% discount. “Because” gives a reason why the deal is happening, such as Happy Friday!

YGB examples:

Veterans get 10% off because we appreciate their service.

Moms get one free Tupperware item because servings can get messy.

All newsletter subscribers get exclusive statistics every week because we like to add value.

How to make your landing page copy mobile friendly before you write a single word?

Most of the time, people write website copy on the standard A4 page from Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Although that’s fine for the desktop version, problems arise when your developer applies the copy for mobile. Oddly spaced words, sentences, and paragraphs ruin the readability of the mobile version.

Two simple solutions have been staring into your face since the first time you opened a document.

#1 Use the Ruler in Docs/ Word

Use the ruler to limit your text width and voila — you’ll be able to see how the text will appear on phones as you write!

If you don’t see the ruler, you have to enable it from the View menu in Docs. You can take your phone in your hand and use its width as a measuring stick to get a rough idea of the width you need.

#2 Insert Table and write inside

Tables are a super simple, yet vastly underrated helper when trying to write copy for mobile. Here’s an example of a wireframe you can easily create if you play with the Merge Cells and Split cells options.

A wireframe is helpful for communicating your vision to designers and developers who should apply the content to the live page. Moreover, tables allow you to see almost exactly how your copy will appear on mobile with a bit of imagination.

Editing process to eliminate 99% of mistakes from your copy.

Writing makes your copy good. Editing makes it great. Here are a few simple things you can do to get the most out of the editing process.

1. Use Grammarly or an editor of your choice for spelling and grammar checks.
2. Use Hemingway to measure your readability score and spot difficult sentences.
3. Read your copy out loud and see if you stumble anywhere. Remove inaccuracies.
4. Have someone else read your copy out loud to see if they have any difficulties.
5. (Optional) Use an SEO checker tool to see if your landing page is SEO optimized.

Recap on how to write landing page copy

The mission of every landing page is to clearly and concisely explain what your brand can do for your web visitors and to motivate them to take an action. To succeed landing pages need an intuitive section structure, a clear value offer, testimonials, and a compelling call to action. In every section, you can apply copywriting frameworks and techniques, as well as follow a number of golden copywriting rules. You can use simple tools to write your copy directly for the mobile version. Finally, a clear editing process can help you get more out of your copy.