Startup Marketing for Beginners: 5 Master Tips For Writing Landing Page Copy

You have the playbook, you've selected a design - and now, you are all set to count all the dollars coming in, right? Not quite.

The next thing is perhaps the hardest. The previous steps you can to a certain extent, automate, but now you need to fill in the blanks with captivating content - and that comes from a different place.

We have many friends who wrote extensively about this task - here we present you with a digest of top 5 tricks for landing page copywriting.

1. You are not selling a product. You are selling a better product.

Neil Patel writes in an article published on Hubspot:

Customers already know the solution they are looking for. They are capable of learning virtually anything thanks to the internet and search engines. In fact, not only do the customers know the solution, they know the features they are looking for, the requirements the product must meet, and benchmark pricing.

If you are pitching only your solution, you are not giving customers what they need and want. You need to pitch benefits.

Today's customers are smart: they do their own research diligently, and functionality is assumed - your business needs to stand out, deliver additional value, and your landing page needs to reflect that.

2. K.I.S.S. (aka "the Einstein-filter")

Albert Einstein is often quoted saying: "If you cannot explain it simply, you do not understand it well enough."

Another fun way to put this is Ian Lorie's "blank sheet of paper test" from Unbounce:

"If you write your headline, subhead, image caption or first paragraph on a blank sheet of paper and handed it to a stranger on the street, would they understand it?"

Not only is using simple, clear language a subconscious signal of authority on the subject, it also helps speed up the decision-making process. In today's information-overloaded world, you only have so much time to spend with a prospect before they move on. Make that time count.

3. It's A Landing Page, Not Your Life Story

We've talked about this before, but its importance warrants repitition: a landing page is the end of the lead generation path. All that is needed to be said has been, in collateral that came before it.

Damian Farnworth who writes on Copyblogger:

At this stage the market is glutted.

The field is exhausted, and it is the most difficult stage to profit in. This is where you revive a dead product by shooting directly at the consumer.

All you need to do on a landing page is recap that previous information, and present it in a personalized context. Your landing page speaks to one person at a time. So speak to them.

4. Dysgraphia is a medical condition, not an excuse

This really shouldn't be said - but the sad fact is it needs to be.

Ken Bunskoek on Wishpond:

"Ok, we all do it. We make grammar mistakes, forget to make the 'a' an 'an', or even leave out a word or two. But poor syntax on a landing page is money out the door. You lose customer trust and conversions."

There is nothing like a badly worded landing page, except one with poor grammar. It will put your business name in the same space as Nigerian princes and other scammers that are infamous for bad English.

Take your time, and make sure everything is perfect: grammar, wording and that it is working on desktop and mobile alike. We'll discuss mobile readiness in the next piece.

Your landing page is your professional image, treat it as such.

5. Hire Professionals

As much as understand the plight of startups when it comes to expenditures, spending money is not only justified, but recommended when it comes to assets that may very well define your public image.

Aimee Woodall published on Linkedin:

While there is risk on hiring an outsider to handle your marketing, there is an even greater risk in doing it yourself. You may think you have some good ideas (you probably do!), that you know how to write and send emails and that you have seen a few episodes of "Mad Men."

That does not qualify you as a professional. While many of the principles of marketing are innate (not to mention fun), you are an expert in your own business, and there is no way you can expect to keep up with all the changes in this industry while maintaining focus in your own.

Great results come from experience and passion. That is why your product is better than your competitor's, right? Same holds true for marketing: nobody expects you to become a marketing professional overnight.

Hire professionals, be they copywriters, agencies, or fractional CMOs. The latter is our recommendation: all the value of an agency, with the added benefits of flexibility, innovation and a closer relationship with your business goals. They know all of the above and then some, can create assets for you that work, and they just need you to let them do their job so you can focus on yours.


Writing good landing page copy isn't easy - it requires going back and re-evaluating a lot of what you have already done in other collateral - but perhaps the most important part of your marketing efforts. If you are willing to do it alone, study the masters, starting with the people and articles linked in this post.

Then at the end of the day, you can focus on product development, counting the sales, and watching your revenue soar.