7 steps to a successful landing page development that the client should be aware of

I would like to breakdown the process behind the successful landing page development. Why am I doing it? Simple, could not resist after seeing another ad “Developing landing page in 4 hours”…

Let’s have a look at why this is looking suspicious and touch pricing topic for the successful landing page and why prices range could be so different.

I need it yesterday

Sound’s familiar? Majority of the clients will need landing pages have done urgently and “yesterday”.

Almost every third customer sets a requirement of express-development status for the landing page development. Since “Summer is blooming…”, “Competitors are actively pushing…”, “We doubted for too long and now we need it urgently”.

You need to understand that the landing page development is a complex process, and not some kind of predefined “magic spell”.

These 7 steps to a successful landing page development are clearly defined. Therefore, unnecessary rushing will reflect in quality and by doing so most likely, affecting the conversion rate.

Hence we are doing it the right way, there should be a marketing strategy development. This requires at least 14 working days.

This is if that the client:

Promptly responds to requests (briefing, clarifying details on business processes)
Provides promptly feedback on stages of the landing page development
Sign-off
Does not deviate from the goal (does not change the product/service/target audience in the late stages of the process)

Now let’s refer back to the mentioned ad. Landing page in 4 hours, what will be the outcome of it? Probably none… There is no room for consideration of the business. Doing something quick will reflect on conversion rate and on other all sorts of things.

My suggestion is to take the necessary time to develop a successful landing page that tick all of the boxes. Now, this is clear, let’s proceed with the steps.

Step 1 – Audit

There are two initial stages to this step:

Firstly, the client fills out a brief, which contains questions for the primary analysis of the specifics of the business and working processes.
Next, either a call or a meeting is arranged to go through everything and to clarify information. Usually, in the process of this conversation, we identify key features of the company as well as generating ideas which will help to develop the successful landing page.

I believe that any professionals should not only be able to “wrap” what the client has briefed in, but also offer their ideas as they could be very valuable.

Time required: 1 – 2 days

Step 2 – Competitors analysis

Landing page development without competitors analysis is like walking on the edge with eyes being closed. There could be a gap that competitor will use and basically “crush” newly created USP with their counteroffer.

Obviously, in some areas, it’s difficult to come with something radically new… In this case, you shouldn’t try and reinvent the wheel. The most important thing is to correctly to present it.

Time required: 1 day

Step 3 – Working with the target audience

Who are we creating a landing page for? Who is our target audience and what are their needs that we address with the offer or services?

Therefore, one of the most important development stages is
to determine these needs of future customers. In fact, when developing a landing page, we need to see the target audience in a section scheme.

Time required: 1 day

Step 4 – Structure development and low fidelity prototyping

The landing page structure is carefully constructed for the best outcome and this is why it is so important to complete the previous 3 steps. These steps help with the development of the concept and to define:

The style for the landing page
How it will be structured, what blocks will it contain
What messages need to be delivered
What will be the order for the blocks on the landing page

Therefore, at this step, we will be working closely with marketing lead forming the structure, including the call to action triggers, raising levels of trust and factoring in psychological behaviour.

It’s important at this step to work closely with the marketing manager as we do not want to waste any time and money guessing on the strategy.

Time required: 2 days

Step 5 – Copywriting

Since we have the structure in place, it’s time to assign a copyrighter and produce selling copy.

From my experience, it’s almost impossible to nail the copy in the first go. Therefore, at first, a raw copy version is produced which is then adjusted.

Time required: 2 days

Step 6 – Design

We have already said that the key point of any successful landing page is its sale experience. With a custom developed design:

Improve and help to digest presented information
Increase brand awareness
Establish a market positioning
Just to look better than your competitors

The design step often increases the cost of development. This is due to the fact that a custom layout needs to be assembled from scratch, and this increases the time to complete the task.

Time required: 3 days

Step 7 – Development and testing

Usually, the client is not involved in this step and doesn’t bother with the technicality. Once development is complete and all of the testings are done on the test environment and client gave the green light, the landing page will be moved on to live server.

Time required: 2 – 4 days

Hopefully, this is going to bring some light and help you to summarise why 4-hour landing pages are probably a waste of your time and money. It’s impossible to fit in all of the steps within 4-hour slot.