7 ms·

Landing Page in a Day – Get a custom landing page that converts

76 points by studiofellow 12y ago

itengelhardt 12y ago
I like the idea of offering the service for a flat fee. The "before/after" section is cool, too - although it reminds me of the "lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks" ads I see on Facebook :-) This is productized consulting at its best.
marketingadvice 12y ago
This is pretty awesome. I would love to see some of the work you do from this.
nathanpowell 12y ago
Looks like a great idea. All the best with this!
scottcanoni 12y ago
I would like to create a landing page service using your landing page in a day service. When you design my landing page service page, please make it read "Landing Page in Half a Day". The cost will be $999.
instakill 12y ago
I'm still seeing the old design: http://productpeople.club/ http://productpeople.club/
- studiofellow 12y ago
  I just sent Justin his new design yesterday. So, can't really blame him for not having it online yet. :)
  - instakill 12y ago
    Nice. I wanted to say that the contrast of the green bg to white fonts in your graphicbox is a bit sore on the eyes.
  - buckbova 12y ago
    Justin is you buddy right and not your client? Did you actually spend only one day on his page and charge him too?
- axg 12y ago
  To be honest I kind of like the old design better than the new one.
Cognitron 12y ago
This site has a pretty good landing page.
- jebus989 12y ago
  I'd wager it doesn't have >10% conversion however...
  - instakill 12y ago
    It's a site offering a $1000 product/service. I'd love for you to name a single company pitching this rate that does get 10% conversion.
    - jebus989 12y ago
      Context: this is a site claiming to create landing pages with said conversion rate in a day. Landing page itself was designed in a day. Additional context: > My landing pages convert at over 10%. Even as high as 17%.
jpallares 12y ago
"jQuery, the JavaScript framework" wat
- rgbrenner 12y ago
  "wat" I think what you're trying to say is: the page says jQuery is a framework, when really it's a library. Frameworks have more structure (Angular, Backbone, etc), and JQuery calls itself a library... Author might want to fix that.
  - studiofellow 12y ago
    Heh, good point. Fixed. The explanation is obviously intended for non-technical folks, so the distinction is probably lost there, but I do want to be correct.
untog 12y ago
Like a bespoke Launchrock. Whatever happened to Launchrock? Oh, it got acquired by a company I've never heard of. Moving on.
ssharp 12y ago
I've found that landing pages are less of a design issue and more of a messaging issue, although having something attractive is certainly nice to have. If you're largely taking existing headlines and making them look nicer, you're missing greater opportunities for improvement. I also don't think saying you get 10% - 17% conversion rates resonates at all. A lot depends on what you're optimizing for. I have landing pages that can routinely convert 70-75%, but that's a first step optimization for click-thru, not sale. I think it's best not to pigeon-hole yourself into a range and instead just say "I've increased conversions by x%".
- studiofellow 12y ago
  Thanks for this—very insightful. I do include copywriting. For the case study, Justin already had copy that was in great shape. Other clients might not, so I'll provide writing from scratch in those cases. As for the conversion rates, totally agree that the metric I shared is somewhat vague. Every project has different goals, and sometimes even a fraction of a percent is a major win, such as with major display advertisers. Also, your point about showing the increase in conversions for my projects is way more powerful. Unfortunately, since this is brand new, I don't have better data to share. Hope to have some soon.
  - punee 12y ago
    Sorry, but the metric isn't vague, it's bullshit. You can't promise a conversion rate. Probably not even a conversion improvement, since the people you're targeting won't have enough traffic for testing. I'd stay away from making such claims if I were you. Making nice, clear landing pages with good copy is a good enough value proposition for people who suck at writing and/or building websites.
dfurlong 12y ago
Not impressed by the design of this at all.
crixlet 12y ago
What would really sell me is if there was some hardcore copywriter/marketer behind it as well... that coupled with your great design skills would sell me!
- studiofellow 12y ago
  Sorry if this was unclear, but I do include copywriting & marketing advice in the project.
  - rada 12y ago
    So many comments from people who clearly did not even read your page! The subtitle states "I'll WRITE, design, and code a custom page...", and the very first paragraph describing your offer states: "I'm an expert COPYWRITER and designer, and I want to help you...". Don't let the ADHD crowd get you down. Beautifully done.
    - punee 12y ago
      An expert copywriter would know he has to optimize for the "ADHD crowd" (which is about 80% of people on the internet), for example by mentioning he provides copy in at least one of the subheads, instead of keeping his head in the sand like you suggest.
      - rada 12y ago
        for example by mentioning he provides copy in at least one of the subheads I repeat: The subtitle states "I'll WRITE, design, and code a custom page..." keeping his head in the sand like you suggest Where did I suggest that? So many dramaz. Jeez.
christudor 12y ago
$1000 is a a huge amount of money to pay for a landing page when you can just buy a template for $5 (or get one for free?) and get a similarly nice-looking page in more or less the same amount of time, no?
timme 12y ago
Pretty sure $1k doesn't buy the in-depth product understanding that is required for a good landing page.
ttty 12y ago
Can't read the text at bottom "I wrote a popular design ebook, and write a weekly newsletter to thousands of subscribers." Green of green, and hover that link is white over light green... Great stuff anyway, but the price put me down, at least for me, but I don't usually pay for nothing. I'm a bad customer (:
oliv__ 12y ago
Sorry to say but everything about this website feels cheap and generic to me: from the font to the use of huge font-awesome icons, to the texture in the background; to me this page looks like it's from 2012. "Sound too good to be true? I wrote and designed this very landing page you're reading in 1 day." Yeah, I can tell. It's impossible to create a design that will stand on its own in a day, if only for the fact that you need to have looked at it for so much longer than 24h (which is probably more like 10h) to have any kind of perspective on what you've produced. And, frankly, I feel like somebody who's been doing this for 10 years should know this. To me, this whole thing just reads as an easy cheap hack for this guy to make more money.
- philbarr 12y ago
  I see what you mean - although given my poor landing page design skills pretty much anything looks good to me. Can you give an example of a decent landing page?
  - donutdan4114 12y ago
    I love this landing page: https://www.myvessyl.com https://www.myvessyl.com Also: https://www.apple.com/mac-pro https://www.apple.com/mac-pro But those were not made in a day :)
  - ryanSrich 12y ago
    Check out land-book (http://land-book.com/ http://land-book.com/). I honestly think products like OP's (original OP...) degrade design as a profession. It takes much more time than a day and much more than $1k to properly design a landing page. You not only need to understand the brand (or help build it in some cases) but the language and tone of the business (even in larger companies that have a tone already you still spend a considerable amount of time on this). You need to bring the essence of that product into an easily digestible 'frame'. The design of OP's site tells me that they think design is something that can be done hastily and with very little information.
- spitfire 12y ago
  The entire bootstrapped startup ecosystem is starting to feel very used car salesman/infomercial to me. Everyone talks about how successful their startup is selling books on how to be successful in startups to hopeful startup founders.... Another ebook? really? and +$200 for the video supplements.
BenBradleySmith 12y ago
$1000 is a huge amount of money for what looks like a very basic landing page. In my opinion it would be better to just shell out $150 for the designmodo's startup framework, http://designmodo.com/startup/ http://designmodo.com/startup/ and spend an afternoon tailoring it to your needs.
- sebslomski 12y ago
  I don't think that $1000 is to much for a service like this. Having worked with many non technical founders I know about their pain of finding someone who builds a landing page for a reasonable about of money. I also know quite a few solo founders with a technical background who have pretty shitty landing pages, even though they know (technically) how to build one and/or extended one from themeforest. They just forget about white space, proper padding and stuff, but hesitate to hire a designer for a day.
  - Throwaway12830 12y ago
    I wouldn't have an issue paying $1,000 for a landing page, but I do have an issue paying $1,000 for a landing page where the developer only devotes a single day to learning about my business, understanding the problems we're solving, writing copy, designing, and coding. I'm looking at the before and after example, and there are just a few words changed, previous headlines enlarged and colored, and a call to action at the very bottom. Yes, those are positive changes, but for $1,000 I'm expecting someone to bring far more to the table than a few minor tweaks. If you're asking for a premium price, I'm expecting a premium service.
    - randallsquared 12y ago
      Assuming a day means 8 hours, that's only 125/hr, which is right in line with what many contractors make already. Hardly premium.
      - mudil 12y ago
        Assuming yours is the only page he is working on. He really might have dozens of projects going at the same time.
hellbreakslose 12y ago
Ill do it for 500$
turbostyler 12y ago
All of the work on this site looks like it was done by someone with less than a year of experience in design.
tombrossman 12y ago
Neither your site nor the 'Case Study' contain a privacy policy and both use Google Analytics. Both are in breach of the TOS which is problematic, especially in pro-privacy jurisdictions (like Germany for example). From their Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html the language is crystal clear "You must post a Privacy Policy and that Privacy Policy must provide notice of Your use of cookies that are used to collect data. You must disclose the use of Google Analytics, and how it collects and processes data..." I'm surprised by the number of sites that ignore this. I wish you good luck with the product launch but privacy and legal compliance are hot topics lately and I think you should consider bring your site, and especially your client's sites, into compliance.
acconrad 12y ago
This could just be my opinion, but you're selling custom design and using Courier New as your type - that's not very convincing. After browsing your other pages I was convinced you could design, but I would not have guessed that from this landing page.
girinambari 12y ago
UI programming is different from UX design. If it is just programming 1000$ is too much, there are lot of other alternative options. If it is UX design I think lot more effort involved than you are assuming.
vishalzone2002 12y ago
isn't 1k too steep? With weebly and other similar apps, its much easier for non developers. For developers bootstrap themes are on a rise?
rubiquity 12y ago
There's something incredibly meta about this that I love. This does seem useful though. I've probably underestimated the impact a landing page can have on idea validation and conversions.
ulisesrmzroche 12y ago
I don't think anyone can get quality copy in 24 hours. Research alone takes weeks.

76 points by studiofellow 12y ago

I like the idea of offering the service for a flat fee. The "before/after" section is cool, too - although it reminds me of the "lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks" ads I see on Facebook :-) This is productized consulting at its best.

marketingadvice 12y ago

This is pretty awesome. I would love to see some of the work you do from this.

nathanpowell 12y ago

Looks like a great idea. All the best with this!

scottcanoni 12y ago

I would like to create a landing page service using your landing page in a day service. When you design my landing page service page, please make it read "Landing Page in Half a Day". The cost will be $999.

instakill 12y ago

I'm still seeing the old design: http://productpeople.club/ http://productpeople.club/

studiofellow 12y ago
I just sent Justin his new design yesterday. So, can't really blame him for not having it online yet. :)
- instakill 12y ago
  Nice. I wanted to say that the contrast of the green bg to white fonts in your graphicbox is a bit sore on the eyes.
- buckbova 12y ago
  Justin is you buddy right and not your client? Did you actually spend only one day on his page and charge him too?
axg 12y ago
To be honest I kind of like the old design better than the new one.

Cognitron 12y ago

This site has a pretty good landing page.

jebus989 12y ago
I'd wager it doesn't have >10% conversion however...
- instakill 12y ago
  It's a site offering a $1000 product/service. I'd love for you to name a single company pitching this rate that does get 10% conversion.
  - jebus989 12y ago
    Context: this is a site claiming to create landing pages with said conversion rate in a day. Landing page itself was designed in a day. Additional context: > My landing pages convert at over 10%. Even as high as 17%.

jpallares 12y ago

"jQuery, the JavaScript framework" wat

rgbrenner 12y ago
"wat" I think what you're trying to say is: the page says jQuery is a framework, when really it's a library. Frameworks have more structure (Angular, Backbone, etc), and JQuery calls itself a library... Author might want to fix that.
- studiofellow 12y ago
  Heh, good point. Fixed. The explanation is obviously intended for non-technical folks, so the distinction is probably lost there, but I do want to be correct.

untog 12y ago

Like a bespoke Launchrock. Whatever happened to Launchrock? Oh, it got acquired by a company I've never heard of. Moving on.

ssharp 12y ago

I've found that landing pages are less of a design issue and more of a messaging issue, although having something attractive is certainly nice to have. If you're largely taking existing headlines and making them look nicer, you're missing greater opportunities for improvement. I also don't think saying you get 10% - 17% conversion rates resonates at all. A lot depends on what you're optimizing for. I have landing pages that can routinely convert 70-75%, but that's a first step optimization for click-thru, not sale. I think it's best not to pigeon-hole yourself into a range and instead just say "I've increased conversions by x%".

studiofellow 12y ago
Thanks for this—very insightful. I do include copywriting. For the case study, Justin already had copy that was in great shape. Other clients might not, so I'll provide writing from scratch in those cases. As for the conversion rates, totally agree that the metric I shared is somewhat vague. Every project has different goals, and sometimes even a fraction of a percent is a major win, such as with major display advertisers. Also, your point about showing the increase in conversions for my projects is way more powerful. Unfortunately, since this is brand new, I don't have better data to share. Hope to have some soon.
- punee 12y ago
  Sorry, but the metric isn't vague, it's bullshit. You can't promise a conversion rate. Probably not even a conversion improvement, since the people you're targeting won't have enough traffic for testing. I'd stay away from making such claims if I were you. Making nice, clear landing pages with good copy is a good enough value proposition for people who suck at writing and/or building websites.

dfurlong 12y ago

Not impressed by the design of this at all.

crixlet 12y ago

What would really sell me is if there was some hardcore copywriter/marketer behind it as well... that coupled with your great design skills would sell me!

studiofellow 12y ago
Sorry if this was unclear, but I do include copywriting & marketing advice in the project.
- rada 12y ago
  So many comments from people who clearly did not even read your page! The subtitle states "I'll WRITE, design, and code a custom page...", and the very first paragraph describing your offer states: "I'm an expert COPYWRITER and designer, and I want to help you...". Don't let the ADHD crowd get you down. Beautifully done.
  - punee 12y ago
    An expert copywriter would know he has to optimize for the "ADHD crowd" (which is about 80% of people on the internet), for example by mentioning he provides copy in at least one of the subheads, instead of keeping his head in the sand like you suggest.
    - rada 12y ago
      for example by mentioning he provides copy in at least one of the subheads I repeat: The subtitle states "I'll WRITE, design, and code a custom page..." keeping his head in the sand like you suggest Where did I suggest that? So many dramaz. Jeez.

christudor 12y ago

$1000 is a a huge amount of money to pay for a landing page when you can just buy a template for $5 (or get one for free?) and get a similarly nice-looking page in more or less the same amount of time, no?

timme 12y ago

Pretty sure $1k doesn't buy the in-depth product understanding that is required for a good landing page.

ttty 12y ago

Can't read the text at bottom "I wrote a popular design ebook, and write a weekly newsletter to thousands of subscribers." Green of green, and hover that link is white over light green... Great stuff anyway, but the price put me down, at least for me, but I don't usually pay for nothing. I'm a bad customer (:

oliv__ 12y ago

Sorry to say but everything about this website feels cheap and generic to me: from the font to the use of huge font-awesome icons, to the texture in the background; to me this page looks like it's from 2012. "Sound too good to be true? I wrote and designed this very landing page you're reading in 1 day." Yeah, I can tell. It's impossible to create a design that will stand on its own in a day, if only for the fact that you need to have looked at it for so much longer than 24h (which is probably more like 10h) to have any kind of perspective on what you've produced. And, frankly, I feel like somebody who's been doing this for 10 years should know this. To me, this whole thing just reads as an easy cheap hack for this guy to make more money.

philbarr 12y ago
I see what you mean - although given my poor landing page design skills pretty much anything looks good to me. Can you give an example of a decent landing page?
- donutdan4114 12y ago
  I love this landing page: https://www.myvessyl.com https://www.myvessyl.com Also: https://www.apple.com/mac-pro https://www.apple.com/mac-pro But those were not made in a day :)
- ryanSrich 12y ago
  Check out land-book (http://land-book.com/ http://land-book.com/). I honestly think products like OP's (original OP...) degrade design as a profession. It takes much more time than a day and much more than $1k to properly design a landing page. You not only need to understand the brand (or help build it in some cases) but the language and tone of the business (even in larger companies that have a tone already you still spend a considerable amount of time on this). You need to bring the essence of that product into an easily digestible 'frame'. The design of OP's site tells me that they think design is something that can be done hastily and with very little information.
spitfire 12y ago
The entire bootstrapped startup ecosystem is starting to feel very used car salesman/infomercial to me. Everyone talks about how successful their startup is selling books on how to be successful in startups to hopeful startup founders.... Another ebook? really? and +$200 for the video supplements.

BenBradleySmith 12y ago

$1000 is a huge amount of money for what looks like a very basic landing page. In my opinion it would be better to just shell out $150 for the designmodo's startup framework, http://designmodo.com/startup/ http://designmodo.com/startup/ and spend an afternoon tailoring it to your needs.

sebslomski 12y ago
I don't think that $1000 is to much for a service like this. Having worked with many non technical founders I know about their pain of finding someone who builds a landing page for a reasonable about of money. I also know quite a few solo founders with a technical background who have pretty shitty landing pages, even though they know (technically) how to build one and/or extended one from themeforest. They just forget about white space, proper padding and stuff, but hesitate to hire a designer for a day.
- Throwaway12830 12y ago
  I wouldn't have an issue paying $1,000 for a landing page, but I do have an issue paying $1,000 for a landing page where the developer only devotes a single day to learning about my business, understanding the problems we're solving, writing copy, designing, and coding. I'm looking at the before and after example, and there are just a few words changed, previous headlines enlarged and colored, and a call to action at the very bottom. Yes, those are positive changes, but for $1,000 I'm expecting someone to bring far more to the table than a few minor tweaks. If you're asking for a premium price, I'm expecting a premium service.
  - randallsquared 12y ago
    Assuming a day means 8 hours, that's only 125/hr, which is right in line with what many contractors make already. Hardly premium.
    - mudil 12y ago
      Assuming yours is the only page he is working on. He really might have dozens of projects going at the same time.

hellbreakslose 12y ago

Ill do it for 500$

turbostyler 12y ago

All of the work on this site looks like it was done by someone with less than a year of experience in design.

tombrossman 12y ago

Neither your site nor the 'Case Study' contain a privacy policy and both use Google Analytics. Both are in breach of the TOS which is problematic, especially in pro-privacy jurisdictions (like Germany for example). From their Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html the language is crystal clear "You must post a Privacy Policy and that Privacy Policy must provide notice of Your use of cookies that are used to collect data. You must disclose the use of Google Analytics, and how it collects and processes data..." I'm surprised by the number of sites that ignore this. I wish you good luck with the product launch but privacy and legal compliance are hot topics lately and I think you should consider bring your site, and especially your client's sites, into compliance.

acconrad 12y ago

This could just be my opinion, but you're selling custom design and using Courier New as your type - that's not very convincing. After browsing your other pages I was convinced you could design, but I would not have guessed that from this landing page.

girinambari 12y ago

UI programming is different from UX design. If it is just programming 1000$ is too much, there are lot of other alternative options. If it is UX design I think lot more effort involved than you are assuming.

vishalzone2002 12y ago

isn't 1k too steep? With weebly and other similar apps, its much easier for non developers. For developers bootstrap themes are on a rise?

rubiquity 12y ago

There's something incredibly meta about this that I love. This does seem useful though. I've probably underestimated the impact a landing page can have on idea validation and conversions.

ulisesrmzroche 12y ago

I don't think anyone can get quality copy in 24 hours. Research alone takes weeks.