Landing pages that convert, one move per page
The twenty-five moves that turn a page people read into a page people act on.
A diagram of the mechanism, the classic mistake, and one thing to go try. That's a page.
Landing pages that convert, one move per page
The twenty-five moves that turn a page people read into a page people act on.
Set in Space Grotesk, Inter and JetBrains Mono (SIL Open Font License).
Behaviour claims checked against Nielsen Norman Group research articles (the fold and scrolling eyetracking, form design guidelines, A/B testing guidance, first impressions), Google web.dev Core Web Vitals guidance (page speed), and W3C Web Accessibility Initiative basics. Unbounce Conversion Benchmark Report figures are cited only as practitioner benchmarks and named as such. Example businesses are illustrative, not case studies; no other statistics are quoted.
General guidance only, for building your own page. Not professional marketing or legal advice. Pairs with Build a business website with AI, one step per page, which covers building, hosting and securing the site itself.
Your purchase is for personal use only. You do not have redistribution rights: please do not share, resell, or republish this book or its pages.
© 2026 Steve Hodgkiss. All rights reserved. Personal use only; no redistribution rights.
Edition 1.0 · stevehodgkiss.net
Contents
The idea
Before any styling: one page one job, the single promise it keeps, the one visitor it serves, the one action it asks for, and the room the button opens.
- 01One page, one job
- 02The single promise
A landing page is one page with one job. Not a mini homepage: a single door with a single promise and a single button, nothing else to click.
One page, one job
One page, one job is the idea this book builds on; the site book introduced it, and here it earns its keep.
A stranger arrives with a question: is this for me? Your one job is to answer it and show the button.
The mistake is treating the landing page as a small homepage: menus, side doors, three offers competing for the click.
One promise, one action, no navigation out. Every page that follows sharpens one part of that.
The homepage is the mall. The landing page is the door.
Write your page's job in one sentence: "This page convinces [who] to [one action]." If two actions fit, you have two pages.
One promise the whole page keeps. Specific enough to be retold by a stranger after a single read, honest enough to survive the delivery.
The single promise
Let's say your headline says friendly, affordable, reliable. Three promises blur into none; pick the one your best customers actually pay for.
The mistake is the vague promise: quality service, because it names no test and can be said by every competitor.
Your bike back in two days, fixed right, or you don't pay: a stranger can retell it, and you can keep it or fix your promise.
If you can't keep it, change the promise, not the page.
Say your promise out loud to someone outside your trade. If they can't retell it an hour later, it isn't the promise yet.
The fold
The shop window: the 5-second test, the headline that names the benefit, the subhead that finishes the sentence, the button above the fold, and one line of proof.
- 01The 5-second test
- 02The headline names the benefit
Show the page to a stranger for 5 seconds, hide it, ask: who is it for, what do they get, what do they do next? Wrong answers are your edit list.
The 5-second test
First impressions form frighteningly fast: research cited by Nielsen Norman Group found people judge a page's appeal in about 50 milliseconds. The 5-second test borrows that honesty: what a stranger recalls is all your page said.
The mistake is testing on colleagues, who already know the offer and unconsciously fill the gaps.
A stranger, 5 seconds, three questions: every wrong answer points at a line to rewrite or a promise to move up.
If they can't retell it, the page didn't say it.
Run the test on a friend who doesn't know your business: 5 seconds, then the three questions. Write down their exact words.
The headline is the sign over the door. It names the benefit in the visitor's words, with a number where honesty allows one. Not what you do: what they walk away with.
The headline names the benefit
Let's say the headline says what you are, not what they get. Photography services names the process; name the outcome: your wedding photos, ready in three weeks.
The superlative sign is the mistake: best, leading, excellence. Every rival hangs the same board.
Benefit, visitor's words, honest number. If the number can't survive delivery, keep it off the sign.
Name what they walk away with.
Write three versions of your headline: outcome, visitor's words, clock where honest. Pick the one your best customer would say back to you.
The mechanics
The form as a ticket, the thank-you page as the receipt and the smile, the door that opens in 2.5 seconds, the phone most visitors hold, and the wider door of accessibility.
- 01Forms: ask less, get more
- 02The thank-you page is part of the page
- 03Speed: the door that opens fast
The form is a ticket, not an interview: name, one way to reach you, and at most one line more. Every field you cut raises completions; ask the rest in person.
Forms: ask less, get more
Nielsen Norman Group's form research: every field cut raises completions; theirs went from six to two. Tickets get filled in; interviews get abandoned.
The wish-list form: eight fields and hidden placeholder labels before any conversation — Nielsen Norman Group flags both.
Name, email, what do you need; labels above the fields, and qualifying questions belong to the reply.
Cut every field the first reply can ask for instead.
Walk your own form on a phone and time it. Then delete every field whose answer could be asked in your first reply. Time it again.
The thank-you page is the receipt and the smile: it confirms what just happened, says what happens next and when, and can ask one small useful thing.
The thank-you page is part of the page
Let's say the button lands on a bare thank you. That page is the one your warmest visitor is guaranteed to read; treat it as the receipt, not a full stop.
The dead-end thank you is the mistake: nothing confirmed, no next step, a message that could belong to any site.
You're booked for Thursday; we call within one day; bring the bike and the key. Then one gentle referral line.
The sale is the click. The smile is the receipt.
Rewrite your thank-you page: what they did, what happens next, and when. Add one gentle ask, a review or a referral, and nothing more.
The page itself is a door, and speed is how fast it opens. Google's guidance: 2.5 seconds for the main content to show. Usually one hero image holds it shut.
Speed: the door that opens fast
Google's guidance: main content showing in 2.5 seconds or less, for most visits. The largest content is usually the hero image; size it for its box and the door swings free.
The mistake is the 6 megabyte camera photo, uploaded to every visitor, on their phone, on their data.
Measure with a free tool, compress the hero, drop the rest; the site book owns the mechanics.
A beautiful page nobody waits for is a closed door.
Run your page through a free speed test on your phone's connection. Find the one heaviest thing. Shrink it. Run the test again and compare.
An A/B test is two shop windows racing: the same page with one difference, live traffic split between them, clicks counted until a winner is clear.
The A/B test: one change at a time
Nielsen Norman Group's guidance is strict and freeing: the variant differs in one element alone, each visitor sees one version, and the score is actions, not opinions.
The mistake is testing a whole redesign at once: it wins or loses, and you learn nothing you can reuse.
One headline, one button, one image at a time. A/B shows which won, never why; a 5-second test answers why.
One race, one difference, one winner.
Pick one element, the button words, and write one challenger. Small traffic? Run the 5-second test instead.