What does a landing page actually have to include?

Seven sections in sequence. Hero (headline, subheadline, primary CTA). Early social proof (logos or a quantitative trust signal). Problem and promise (resonate before selling). Solution and mechanism (the features-as-outcomes section). Proof and detail (case studies, testimonials with attribution, specific numbers). Objection handling (FAQ, comparison table, or risk reversal). Final CTA (re-state the offer and the action). The structure can flex (combine, reorder, expand) but the elements stay constant.

What is the difference between a hero that explains and a hero that sells?

'We are an X for Y' is description. 'Get X without Y' is sell. The strongest hero patterns combine outcome, audience, and mechanism in a single sentence. The weakest hero patterns stack generic adjectives, welcome the visitor to the platform, or use the brand name as the headline. The hero earns the right to the rest of the page in the first three to five seconds; description does not earn that.

What is the most common landing page failure?

Multiple competing CTAs at the bottom of the page. The visitor reads to the end, sees five alternatives, and picks none. Pick one primary action. Re-state it from the hero (consistency builds confidence) and frame it in terms of the visitor's situation. Everything else is noise. The hero CTA and the final CTA should be the same offer in the same words; differences create doubt.

Skill · Landing page copy

Landing page copy.

A landing page does seven things in sequence. The structure flexes; the elements stay constant.

This skill is narrower than content-and-copy. Landing pages exist to drive a specific action: signup, purchase, demo request, download, lead capture. Each section earns its place by moving the visitor closer to that action. Words that do not earn their place get cut.

Set voice first Read SKILL.md

What this skill produces

A copy doc, ready to hand to design.

The output is a structured markdown document with each section labeled (hero, social proof, problem, solution, proof, objection handling, final CTA), every line of copy attributed to its section, and a short list of variants for testing. The doc is ready to import into the CMS or hand to a designer who only needs to know what type sits where. The skill produces copy, not layout, but writes with layout in mind: short paragraphs, clear hierarchy, visual breakpoints.

The showcase demonstrates landing-page copy patterns across different briefs. Edge (developer tool) shows install-first conversion: massive monospace benchmark numbers as the visual hero, transparent pricing, code blocks as the proof. Cover (insurance) shows quote-first conversion: trust signals up front, objection handling on the page, friction reduction in the form. Pacer (athletics) shows commitment-first conversion: the page sets the bar and asks the reader to clear it.

The framework

Seven sections, in sequence.

Each section earns its place by moving the visitor closer to the conversion. Sections can combine for shorter pages, but the elements stay constant.

1. Hero

The first three to five seconds. The hero decides whether the visitor stays. Three components: a headline that names the promise (specific, outcome-focused, free of cliche), a subheadline that names the mechanism (how the promise gets delivered), and a primary CTA (one button, descriptive label). Strong hero patterns combine outcome, audience, and mechanism in a single sentence. Weak hero patterns stack generic adjectives or use the brand name as the headline.

Failure mode: “Welcome to our platform.” The reader has no reason to keep reading. Every word in the hero has to do work.

2. Early social proof

Within the first scroll, prove someone else trusts the product. Customer logos (recognizable beats unknown), a quantitative trust signal (“Over 10,000 teams”), one strong testimonial with name and role, or press mentions. Trust is the first hurdle. Without proof, the rest of the page does not earn the chance to be read.

Failure mode: Skipping social proof because the brand is new. Use whatever proof exists: angel investors, advisors, the founders' previous companies, beta testers by count. Something is better than nothing.

3. Problem and promise

Establish that the brand understands the visitor's situation. One to three paragraphs naming the specific problem in the visitor's own language (mined from research, not the marketing team's vocabulary). Resonate first. Stop before selling. The test: read the section aloud to the target audience. Do they nod? If not, the brand does not understand them yet.

Source for language: customer testimonials, support tickets, sales-call recordings. The phrases that appear repeatedly in those sources are the phrases that belong on the page. Brand language is for the rest of the site.

4. Solution and mechanism

How the brand solves the problem. One headline summarizing the solution. Three to five specific features or capabilities, each with a one-or-two- sentence explanation. Each feature framed as the outcome it produces, not the technical detail. Visual support helps: screenshots, illustrations, video clips. The failure mode is listing features without translating to outcomes. “Real-time collaboration” is a feature. “Edit together without copying-pasting from email” is the outcome.

5. Proof and detail

The expanded social proof and case studies section. One to three detailed case studies (specific customer, specific outcome, specific numbers), multiple testimonials with attribution, specific data points (usage stats, success metrics, growth), and any third-party validation (awards, certifications, press). Skim-readers will not make it here, but the visitors who do are the ones ready to convert.

Test: “Great product” is worth less than nothing. “We cut onboarding time from two weeks to four days” is gold. The specific testimonial converts; the generic testimonial wastes attention.

6. Objection handling

Anticipate the reasons people say no. Address them directly. Common objection types: price (is this worth it), time (will this take forever to set up), trust (will this actually work for my situation), risk (what if I commit and it is wrong), comparison (how is this different from the competitor), implementation (can my team handle the change). Handling formats: FAQ, comparison table, risk reversal (money-back guarantee, free trial, no-contract terms), or proof of effort needed (“Setup takes five minutes, not five weeks”).

7. Final CTA

The closer. Re-state the offer. Re-state the action. The strong final CTA repeats the primary CTA from the hero (consistency builds confidence), frames in terms of the visitor's situation (“Get your team set up in five minutes”), removes friction (“No credit card required”), and offers one action, not five.

Failure mode: Multiple CTAs competing for attention. New offers introduced only at the bottom (the visitor is now confused). Long forms that ask for more information than the action requires.

Composition

How voice and direction shape the page.

Landing-page copy consumes two upstream artifacts. The first is the brief from creative direction. The four axes constrain hero structure and CTA register. A Coach-Provocative brief writes a different hero than a Peer-Conversational brief, even if the offer is identical. The framework decides whether the page reads as a challenge or an invitation. The aesthetic axis informs density (Editorial Restrained pages run shorter and trust the reader; Expressive Maximalist pages run longer and pile on proof).

The second is the doc from brand voice. Voice sets the register that runs across every surface; landing-page copy applies that voice to one specific conversion context. The voice doc decides whether the brand uses contractions, whether the language is direct or measured, whether jargon stays or gets stripped. The landing-page skill applies those decisions to the seven sections without re-deriving them.

Tactical pages compose with CRO optimization (hypothesis-driven testing once the page is live) and with form-strategy (the form at the bottom of the page is where conversion actually happens, and bad forms kill great copy).

A landing page written without an established voice tends to drift toward category-default conversion-copy patterns: the “Powerful, intuitive, scalable” hero, the three-icon feature row, the closing CTA that says “Get started.” A page written with voice and direction reads like the brand wrote it, not like a template wrote it.

Failure patterns

Where landing pages go wrong.

Hero that explains instead of sells. “We are an X for Y” is description. “Get X without Y” is sell. The hero earns the right to the rest of the page; description does not earn that right.

Feature lists with no outcomes. Features without benefits read as a spec sheet. Each feature has to translate to the outcome it produces. Real-time collaboration is the feature; editing together without copy-paste is the outcome the visitor cares about.

Generic testimonials. “Great product.” “Highly recommend.” Worth less than nothing because they signal that the brand could not produce a specific testimonial. Mine the customer base for the specific outcome statement; if no one has produced one, that is a separate problem the landing page cannot solve.

Multiple competing CTAs. Pick one primary action. The secondary action (read more, book a demo, watch the video) competes with the primary action and converts neither well. Make secondary actions visually subordinate or remove them.

Walls of text. Visitors scan. Use short paragraphs, bullet lists, and visual breakpoints. A landing page is not a long-form editorial piece even when the topic deserves depth.

Writing for everyone. “Our solution works for any business” appeals to no one. Specificity converts. Pick a segment, address it directly, and let other segments self-select.

Ignoring mobile. Most visitors arrive on mobile. The hero has to work at 375 pixels wide before it works at 1440. Test the page at the smaller size first.

Reference

Source files and related skills.

Frequently asked questions.

What does a landing page actually have to include?: Seven sections in sequence. Hero (headline, subheadline, primary CTA). Early social proof (logos or a quantitative trust signal). Problem and promise (resonate before selling). Solution and mechanism (the features-as-outcomes section). Proof and detail (case studies, testimonials with attribution, specific numbers). Objection handling (FAQ, comparison table, or risk reversal). Final CTA (re-state the offer and the action). The structure can flex (combine, reorder, expand) but the elements stay constant.
What is the difference between a hero that explains and a hero that sells?: 'We are an X for Y' is description. 'Get X without Y' is sell. The strongest hero patterns combine outcome, audience, and mechanism in a single sentence. The weakest hero patterns stack generic adjectives, welcome the visitor to the platform, or use the brand name as the headline. The hero earns the right to the rest of the page in the first three to five seconds; description does not earn that.
How does landing-page copy compose with brand voice?: Brand voice sets the register that runs across every surface. Landing-page copy applies that voice to one specific conversion context. The voice doc decides whether the brand uses contractions, whether the language is direct or measured, whether jargon stays or gets stripped. The landing-page skill applies those decisions to the seven sections. Run brand voice first; consume its output here. A landing page written without an established voice tends to drift toward category-default conversion-copy patterns and stops sounding like the brand.
What is the most common landing page failure?: Multiple competing CTAs at the bottom of the page. The visitor reads to the end, sees five alternatives, and picks none. Pick one primary action. Re-state it from the hero (consistency builds confidence) and frame it in terms of the visitor's situation. Everything else is noise. The hero CTA and the final CTA should be the same offer in the same words; differences create doubt.