Landing Page Copy

A landing page makes one promise and spends the rest of the page making it believable. The costly mistake this skill prevents is the clever-but-vague page: paid traffic arrives, reads "Supercharge your workflow," and bounces before learning what the product does. Clarity outsells cleverness, and the reader decides in the first five seconds whether to give you thirty more.

Operating procedure

Write top to bottom in the order below, because each section answers the objection the previous one created: the hero makes a claim, proof makes it credible, benefits make it concrete, objections clear the residue, and the CTA collects.

Step 1: Gather inputs

1. The one promise - the single outcome the page sells. If the user offers three, make them pick one; the others become body copy. If no positioning exists yet, route to positioning-statement first.
2. The ICP and the pain in their own words (support tickets, sales calls, reviews - not the founder's paraphrase). Label paraphrases as guesses.
3. The real alternative (spreadsheet, incumbent, doing nothing).
4. Available proof: testimonials, logos, numbers, screenshots. Default: if none exists, use specificity of mechanism as interim proof and flag the gap.
5. The one action the page asks for (trial, demo, waitlist) and what happens after the click.
6. Where traffic comes from - the page must echo the promise of the ad or post that sent them (message match; optimizing this loop afterward is landing-page-cro).

Step 2: Write the hero

• Headline: the core promise in plain language - the outcome, not the feature. Test: a stranger knows what they get within 5 seconds. Under 10 words.
• Subhead: who it's for and how it works, in one sentence.
• CTA button: a verb plus the value ("Start free", "Get the template") - never "Submit" or "Learn more".
• Supporting visual: show the outcome or the product doing the promise, not an abstract illustration.

Bad hero: "Unlock the power of intelligent automation" / "Our AI-driven platform revolutionizes how modern teams work" / [Learn More] - no outcome, no audience, three buzzwords, a CTA that promises homework.

Good hero: "Send client reports in 5 minutes, not 5 hours" / "ReportKit pulls your agency's campaign data into white-label reports automatically - no spreadsheets" / [Start free - first report in 5 minutes] - outcome with a number, names the audience and mechanism, CTA restates the value.

Step 3: Place social proof immediately under the hero

A logo strip, a usage number, or one strong quote - proof belongs right after the claim, while skepticism is highest. Specificity beats volume: one named customer with a result ("cut reporting time 80% - Dana K., Brightside Agency") outperforms five anonymous star ratings.

Step 4: Write the body in order

1. Problem - name the pain in the reader's own words; they should think "that's exactly it."
2. Solution - how the product removes it, framed as outcomes.
3. Features as benefits - for each feature, complete "which means…" until it lands on the reader's life: "encrypted backups" becomes "you never lose your work." Cut any feature that can't finish the sentence. Three to five, each with a concrete detail.
4. Deeper proof - testimonials with names and outcomes, screenshots, numbers.
5. Objections - answer the top 2-3 hesitations plainly (price, migration effort, security, "will this work for my case"), pulled from real sales conversations.
6. Repeat CTA - same action, same wording as the hero button, now that they're convinced. Optionally add a friction-reducer line beneath ("No credit card. Cancel anytime.").

Step 5: Edit pass

• Write to one person, in second person ("you"); no first person.
• Specific beats grand: "set up in 3 minutes" beats "incredibly easy."
• Cut adjectives; let the proof carry weight. Delete every "powerful", "seamless", "revolutionary".
• One promise per section; every section moves the reader one step closer to the CTA - cut any that doesn't.
• Read the headline and CTAs aloud; anything that sounds like marketing rather than a person gets rewritten.

Page skeleton template

HERO
  Headline: [FILL: outcome promise, <10 words]
  Subhead:  [FILL: who it's for + how it works, 1 sentence]
  CTA:      [FILL: verb + value]

PROOF BAR: [FILL: logos / usage number / 1 named quote]

PROBLEM:   [FILL: the pain, in the customer's own words, 2-3 sentences]
SOLUTION:  [FILL: how it's removed, outcome-framed, 2-3 sentences]

BENEFITS (3-5):
  - [FILL: feature] - which means [FILL: outcome for the reader]

DEEP PROOF: [FILL: 1-2 named testimonials with results / screenshot]

OBJECTIONS (2-3):
  - "[FILL: hesitation]" - [FILL: plain answer]

FINAL CTA: [FILL: same verb + value as hero]  [FILL: friction reducer]

Deliverable

Produce a complete page draft in the skeleton order - hero (headline, subhead, CTA), proof bar, problem, solution, 3-5 features-as-benefits, deep proof, objection answers, and repeat CTA - plus a one-line note of the weakest proof point to strengthen before scaling traffic.

Do NOT

• Do not lead with the company or the category ("Acme is a platform for…") - lead with the reader's outcome.
• Do not make two promises in the hero; a visitor who must choose chooses to leave.
• Do not use "Submit", "Learn more", or "Get started" without value attached - the button copy is the last thing read before the decision.
• Do not invent testimonials or numbers; flag missing proof instead - fabricated proof is a trust and legal liability.
• Do not bury proof below the fold while the claim sits at the top unsupported.
• Do not A/B-test or restructure an existing page here - that diagnosis-first loop belongs to landing-page-cro.

Quality bar

• A stranger can say what the product does, who it's for, and what to click within 5 seconds of seeing the hero.
• Every feature line finishes a "which means…" that lands on the reader.
• At least one piece of proof is specific (name, number, or screenshot).
• Zero unearned adjectives; every claim is either proven or concrete.
• The page's promise matches the ad or post sending the traffic.

Escalation

Route conversion testing of the live page to landing-page-cro, the one-line claim to positioning-statement, the promise/pillars/proof ladder to messaging-hierarchy, and launch scheduling of the page to launch-plan-sequencer.