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How to Write a Landing Page (and How Not To)

Your hero says 'Empowering synergistic solutions'. I still do not know what you sell.

By Cynical SallyIssue Nº 1

A landing page has one job: make a stranger understand what you do and why they should care, before they scroll. Most pages spend that moment on a slogan.

This is what you getA real Full Truth, in full
Cynical SallyWebsite / Landing Page

The Full Truth

on A B2B SaaS landing page

4.8
out of ten
Three scrolls in and your own homepage still cannot explain your product.
The Investigation
  1. 01

    Vague hero

    Critical

    'Empowering teams to do more' could be a bank, a yoga app or a forklift. Say the actual thing.

  2. 02

    No proof above the fold

    Notable

    First real evidence is a testimonial at the bottom. By then most visitors are gone.

  3. 03

    Competing CTAs

    Notable

    Five buttons in the hero: 'Start free', 'Book demo', 'Watch video', 'Contact', 'Learn more'. Pick one.

The Copy Clinic

Empowering teams to achieve more, together.

Project management for agencies that bill by the hour. See where every minute goes.

Five competing buttons in the hero.

One button: 'Start free'. Everything else moves below the fold.

The Action Plan
  1. 1Rewrite the hero to name what you sell and who it is for.
  2. 2Move one piece of proof above the fold.
  3. 3Cut to a single primary CTA.
  4. 4Read the first screen to a stranger. If they cannot repeat what you do, rewrite it.
Yours for the price of a coffee.Printed with disdain
Your turn

That was a stranger's website / landing page. Drop yours, I will go just as hard.

One coffee, from €2,99. No mercy.

A Full Truth on a landing page finds the vague hero, the missing proof, and the call to action that asks for marriage on the first date.

How to do it right
  • 01Say what it is in the first line, in plain words a customer would use.
  • 02One primary call to action, repeated, not five competing buttons.
  • 03Show proof early: a number, a logo, a real quote.
  • 04Write benefits, not features. 'Saves you an hour a day' beats 'AI-powered'.
  • 05Make the next step obvious and small.
How not to
  • A hero headline that could belong to any company in any industry.
  • "Empowering", "seamless", "next-generation" doing the work real words should do.
  • Eleven calls to action, so the visitor picks none.
  • Stock photos of people laughing at a laptop.
  • Asking for a credit card before you have said what you do.
How to Write a Landing Page (and How Not To) - Cynical Sally