Your landing page design is key to your site's success. Here's how to get it right.
There are plenty of rules and principles of great design but when it comes to a website's landing page, it is almost an exact science. It's about 'conversion-centred design', or using the design of the landing page to persuade a user towards a particular action.
The first, and arguably most important, task is to find a clear USP (unique selling point) for the product or service in question, and then use the landing page design to focus everything on one primary call to action (CTA). This might be getting the visitor to register their details, say, or make a purchase there and then. Whatever the goal, it's up to the design of the page to channel the user towards it – whether through use of white space, contrasting colours or more explicit directional cues.
Clear, succinct headers and sub-headers and punchy, easily scanned bullet points are the order of the day. The landing page should be prominently branded, often incorporate a 'hero' image to communicate the product or service at a glance, and cut straight to the point to avoid users' attention drifting. With all of that in mind, we've pulled together eight particularly effective examples of landing page design from across the web to show how this theory has been applied in practice.
Like the company itself, Monotype's landing page is about the power of typography
"We are the company behind type," states Monotype's landing page, and its understated yet smart design goes hand-in-hand with this confident statement. Suitably for a company that works in type, its' main landing page is entirely text-based, but with a clever twist; through a dialogue at the bottom of the page you can change the view the mission statement in an assortment of fonts (and in various weights and styles) to get a taste of what Monotype does.
It's all gloriously restrained, encouraging you to click on the text links that take you to four more detailed landing pages – Fonts, Technology, Expertise and Company – providing much more depth regarding Monotype's business and services, and of course getting you to the all-important fonts.
LS Productions lures you in with cavalcade of gorgeous Scottish locations
LS Productions – a stills and motion service production company based in Scotland – knows what its biggest asset is, and that's what you're presented with when you go to its site. A window-filling looping video showcases a selection of the beautiful Scottish locations that it can offer for your film or print project. Scroll down and you'll learn of its three main services: motion, stills and locations.
By this point the landing page has already done its job; everything below – the gorgeous location of the week, the 'meet the team' section – is just window dressing. If you're looking to hire LS Productions then you'll have already moved on to one of the main service pages, where you'll find a wealth of relevant, well-presented information convincing you of the company's suitability.
O'Neill's photo-heavy page sells the surf and snow dream perfectly
American lifestyle brand O'Neill is largely focused on two things, surf and snow, and its US site makes that perfectly clear with an image-led landing page that sells you its clothing ranges and sports gear through stunning photography of big waves and snow-covered mountains.
A set of drop-down links at the top of the landing page can take you straight to what you want if you know what you're after, but beneath that the landing page sets out to seduce you, first with a hero carousel and then a secondary carousel showcasing recommended products, then follows with a responsive two-column image gallery selling its various departments. With an Instagram gallery at the bottom, it's all quite enough to get you dashing to the beach – or the top of the nearest mountain – but not before stocking up on O'Neill gear first, and if you're in a rush you'll find a handy dealer locator at the bottom of the page.
You can't miss the call to action on the Bear CSS landing page
Bear CSS is a tool to help web designers generate CSS more quickly and easily based on their existing HTML. This simple layout follows all the key rules of landing page design: a clear, simple strap ("helping you build a solid stylesheet foundation based on your markup") and simple, no-nonsense information.
The primary call to action, 'upload HTML', is an unmissably large orange button on a pale grey background, underneath three punchy bullets explaining the process. And just in case you miss it, Bear CSS's mascot is pointing his paw directly at it from the other side of the screen.
Squarespace knows its main customers and has built its landing page accordingly
Immensely popular with creatives, Squarespace provides high quality website templates on a subscription basis. Acknowledging that users will respond to different touchpoints, its website presents several landing pages showcasing different aspects of a Squarespace site (including landing pages), as well as pages targeted at photographers, bloggers, artists, musicians, restaurants and weddings.
Each features a full-screen 'hero' image, a large header in the centre, and the call to action, 'Get started', placed directly underneath. Each landing page also includes a gallery of inspiring sites and a tour of the benefits of going with Squarespace. But all ultimately lead to the same place: pick one of the templates, and start a free trial.
The eye-catching gold of GiftRocket's call to action draws instant attention
Another best practice example of how to use exploit a simple 'header plus bullet-points plus call-to-action' formula, GiftRocket's beautifully designed landing page features an illustrated 'hero' image, which is surrounded by icons of all the different products and services that are available for purchase.
But it's that single, prominent 'Send a GiftRocket' button, in eye-catching gold out of a pale beige background, that draws the attention as a single-purpose entry point, provided the bullet points convince you to do so, of course. If not, you can always scroll down the page for more information, testimonials and more.
Hipstamatic's landing page shows what the app has to offer
For retro analogue photography app Hipstamatic, it's all about demonstrating the cool features, as well as the look, feel and intuitive navigation of the app, in as engaging a fashion as possible to draw users in.
At the top of the page, a scrolling gallery strip showcases the 'Hipstamatic aesthetic' in practice, while an enormous iPhone showcases the latest version of the app, with its old-skool ClassicMode and new ProMode, with more up-to-date features.
Beneath that a new strapline sums up what Hipstamatic is now all about: "Make beautiful photography", with a big yellow button inviting you to install the app on your iPhone.
No need for trinkets - now Square leads with its POS software
Square's landing page used to lure users in with a free card reader in return for signing up for its POS software; now it's confident enough in Square Register, its flagship package, that it doesn't feel the need to dangle trinkets in front of you. The result is a focused single landing page that gets straight to the point with the headline: "The POS software that’s simple, powerful, and free.”
Beneath the headline and hero image (plus a link to a video rather than distracting embedded media) the page is split into three no-nonsense sections: Overview, Features and Testimonials, all designed to steer you towards 'Download the app' link floating at the top of the screen. Should you manage to reach the bottom without clicking, you'll find an equally eye-catching Get Started link at the bottom; if you can resist that then you probably don't even need Square's products.
Apple's landing page centres around beautifully shot product photography
It's no surprise that the undisputed masters of industrial designcan knock together a decent website, and the effortless simplicity of Apple.com helped scoop it a D&AD Black Pencil in 2010.
Depending on the hot product(s) of the moment, the homepage slices through the company's extensive product range and zeroes in on just one. Besides the simple navigation bar across the top, it's just beautifully shot product photography, a line of clean type and two links: 'Learn more' goes deeper into features and functionality, while a video link showcases it in true Apple keynote style. It's a true masterclass in landing page design.
Pinterest is so well known, its landing page doesn't need to work hard to sell itself
Pinterest knows what it wants, and is in no mood to beat about the bush getting it: it's sign up, or nothing. The popular online scrapbook is confident enough in its brand and burgeoning reputation not to worry too hard about selling itself, or giving users an opportunity to browse around some pinboards and risk getting sidetracked.
Interestingly, there are different browser-specific straplines: Firefox tells of "a few (million) of your favorite things", Chrome has the more perfunctory line "plan projects, start collections and more", while Safari implores you to "collect and organize the things you love". But the only place to click on any of them is that all-important 'sign up' button.
This is an updated version of an article that previously appeared on Creative Bloq. Let us know what we should add in a future update in the comments below!
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