Words Sell
A landing page is an important part of most modern sales funnels. It can be tempting to think that if your landing page just had better images, an updated color scheme, or a more modern layout then it would bring in more revenue. At the end of the day though, it is the words on your website that sell your products and services, not the attractive images or elegant design. If your visitors don’t like what you are offering to them, or worse, if they don’t understand what you are offering to them, then they will never become your customer. You don’t have to overcomplicate things, just tell people what product or services you are offering in clear terms and then demonstrate the benefits of doing business with you and the added value that comes with it.
For most of us, the primary goal of our website is to bring in customers. Sales are the fuel that every company needs to stay in business. Beautifully designed websites won’t keep you in business, but sales will. At the end of the day, if your website doesn’t drive sales higher, then what is the point of keeping it online?
So, if the words on your webpage are what actually drive sales higher, then what words should you put on your website and where should you put them? In my experience, I think that the following information should be on the homepage for most organizations.
The First Section
They say you only get one chance at a good first impression. With your website, it is no different. We have all seen thousands of hero sections that introduce every type of product imaginable; this is the top section of the homepage on any website. Generally, there is an image that portrays what the company is about, a very brief introduction to the company, and a call to action.

1. The Hero Image
Don’t overthink this image, but also don’t underthink it. It should be a relevant image that confidently portrays the benefits of doing business with your company. If you are an electrician, then a picture of you standing confidently with your equipment can help to demonstrate your competence. If you are a business consultant, then a smiling picture of you in a suit works. If you are a personal trainer, then use a picture of happy, fit clients enjoying a workout. You get the picture – make it relevant and make it positive.
2. A Brief Introduction
Clearly introduce what you are offering to your visitors in as few words as possible. Use language that everyone understands. A mistake that many businesses make is putting a company slogan that is full of insider-language or company-jargon. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because incredibly successful companies like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Apple put their company slogans first that you should too. These companies have invested billions of dollars over decades into marketing to tell the whole world what they do and make their company-jargon understood by everyone. If you haven’t done this, then you should use language that your visitors will understand the first time they see it.
3. The Call-to-Action
If you are unfamiliar with this term, a call-to-action (CTA) is simply a button or link that lets your customers take an action to enter your sales funnel. For a simple e-commerce site, this might be something like a “buy now” button. Another example might be something like “enter your email and get our free guide today!” All you need to do here is clearly tell your visitor what you want them to do. Again, avoid insider-language here. A call-to-action is not the place for passive or metaphorical language. Make it as clear and direct as possible.
Questions That Need Answers
After the brief introduction to the company in the hero section, there are a series of questions that every landing page should answer.
1. What are Your Unique Selling Points?
Pretend that your visitors don’t know anything about you or your company. What value does your product or service add to your customers’ lives? What problem are you solving? What kind of benefits can prospective customers expect if they do business with you? What are your unique selling points?
These are all questions that you need to be clearly answering for your visitors. If the problem you are solving is really a problem that your visitors have, and you still can’t find customers, then you aren’t communicating your solution effectively enough.
2. What Qualifies You?
In addition to identifying and offering visitors a solution to their problems, you also need to show them that you are the best qualified person or company to solve their problems. What qualifies you to be an expert in your field? What skills and experience do you have that sets you up for success in your industry? What unique perspectives can you bring that your customers are unable to get on their own?
You could just list your personal (or your company’s) resume bullet points here, but I think that a far better way to communicate this information is by leveraging reviews from your other clients that communicate your experience and talent as well as serve as a third-party testimonial. If you don’t have these, then go get them.
If you have done work for even a small number of clients, then you can simply reach out to the customers that you know were satisfied with the work you produced and ask them for a review with a leading question. An example of this could be, “Hey Eddie, remember three months ago when we were able to fix your problem with your car that the last mechanic couldn’t figure out? Would you mind writing us a quick review about your experience with our services?” If you phrase your requests for a review with a specific personalized question like that, you can often get reviews that fit nicely into your marketing message.
3. What Do You Want Your Visitors Do?
In this section, simply tell the visitor what steps they need to take if they want to experience the benefits of doing business with you. Maybe you want them to schedule a free consultation or sign up for a trial of your service. Maybe you want them to sign up for a wait-list or request a quote for a service. Whatever it is, put it in quantifiable steps that the user needs to take. If you are a landscaping company, it might look something like this:
- Request a site-survey
- Let us create a custom quote
- Enjoy your new garden
If you are a personal trainer or a gym, it might look something like this:
- Join a beginner workout class
- Eat a healthier diet
- Live a more energized life
Keep it simple. If you have 5 or 6 steps that must be done to get the benefits of your product or services, then it can seem like a burden rather than a benefit to the customer. The aim here is to convince your visitors that you can make their lives better by solving their problems and simplifying their lives. If the steps don’t seem simple, people will get the impression that you will complicate their lives.
4. What is the Cost of Not Hiring You?
Don’t simply talk about the up-sides of your product or services and how you can make your customers’ lives better. Remind them why they are looking for a solution to this problem in the first place. What will their life be like if they don’t do business with you! You don’t need to be overly dramatic, just show them what their life or company will look like in six months or a year if they continue on the course they are on without addressing their problem. Remind them that you are here to make their lives easier by lifting their burdens and freeing them from their problems. Make sure that they know that they will pay a far greater price by not hiring you.
Be Repetitive and Redundant with Your CTA
While you are answering these questions, don’t let your visitors take that knowledge and leave without a trace. Bring them back to a CTA over and over again. Repeat it multiple times on every page. If you think this is unnecessary, then you probably don’t understand the way that most people view webpages. Very few people are going to load your homepage, read it from the top to the bottom and then click on the button at the end of the page. Rather, they will load it and skim the material as they scroll down looking for something that catches their eye. If you are not repeating your CTA at least three or four times on your homepage then you are missing out on sales opportunities.