I build landing pages for small businesses. Here's everything I've learned about what actually works (and what's a waste of money)
Been building landing pages for local businesses for a while now. Seen the same mistakes over and over.
Going to dump everything I actually tell clients before we start.
Before you spend a single penny, answer these 3 questions
- Who is landing on this page and why?
- What's the ONE action you want them to take?
- What happens after they take that action?
Most business owners can't answer all three.
If you can't, no designer can save you, you'll just have an expensive, pretty page that does nothing.
What actually matters on a landing page
Your headline. Full stop.
If someone lands on your page and can't tell in 3 seconds what you do and who it's for, they're gone. I've seen pages where changing one headline dropped bounce rate by 40%. Not the colors. Not the layout. The headline.
After that: one clear button. Not five. Not a menu. One button that tells them exactly what happens when they click it. "Get a free quote" beats "Submit" every time.
Social proof close to the top. Not buried at the bottom. A photo of a real customer with a real name and a specific result converts better than a logo wall of brands nobody recognizes.
What's a waste of money for most small businesses
- Custom illustrations and fancy animations. Nobody cares.
- 6-page websites when you need 1 page with 1 goal.
- Stock photos of people in suits shaking hands. Everyone knows they're fake.
- A designer who shows you color palettes and fonts before asking who your customers are.
Red flags when hiring someone
- They show you a portfolio of beautiful sites but can't tell you what results those sites got.
- They quote you a price before understanding what you actually sell and who you sell it to.
- They ask what you like visually before asking what problem you're solving.
- A landing page is a sales tool, not a piece of art. If the person building it doesn't talk about conversion, walk away.
What a good landing page for a local business actually needs
- A headline that says what you do and who it's for
- A subheading that handles the main objection
- 3 lines on why you specifically, not just the service
- One real testimonial with a specific result
- One call to action, repeated 2-3 times down the page
- Your phone number visible without scrolling
That's it. A local plumber, a tutor, a salon none of them need more than this.
Happy to answer questions in the comments, hope it helped.