A landing page is a single page with exactly one goal and exactly one action the visitor is meant to take. Before you build, you settle two things: what should happen on the page, and which number tells you whether it happened. Only then come the building blocks, in the order that has worked for me: the promise, the call to action, the proof, the process, the objections, the form, the call to action a second time. Every way out you cannot justify spreads attention across things that are not the one goal. For rating a landing page, Google counts among other things the number of links on the page and the expectation the visitor brings from the ad they clicked. Run commercially, the page carries the same minimum check as a large website: an imprint, a privacy notice, and if you store anything on the visitor's device, consent before that happens rather than after. You build it with a site builder from a few euros a month, with WordPress plus a plugin, or directly in code.
My own websites are built by an AI employee from my AI workforce, this page included. For coaches, the bigger picture is in AI for Coaches: Practice Over Hype. This article is about the single page, not about building a website: who builds one and what you have to supply is in Getting a Website Built: Steps, Options, the money question alone in What Does a Website or Landing Page Cost?.
What separates a landing page from a normal website
The difference is not size, it is purpose.
From that follows the rule of thumb that saves me the most arguing: two goals, two pages. A page that leads to a first call, a newsletter signup and a download at once has no goal, it has three suggestions.
The decision that comes before the first draft
The build is the second question. The first one: what should happen on this page, and how will I know it happened? While the answer is missing, every design question is a matter of taste. So write down one sentence before you build: "On this page, X should happen, and I count Y."
Two things belong in that sentence: a number you can actually see, not "more attention", and a time frame. Both are settled up front: a number you go looking for afterwards always confirms the page.
The building blocks, in the order they get read
- The promise at the very top. One line saying who the page is for and what they get, matching what the visitor clicked. Google puts it this way for ads: the message should stay consistent from the ad through to the landing page, and important information should sit near the top of the page.
- The call to action in the first screen. Anyone already convinced should not have to scroll: one button with a label that names the action ("Book a call"), not the mechanics ("Submit").
- The proof. References, results, pictures of the actual work, logos you have permission to use. What can be checked beats what sounds good.
- What happens after the click. Three steps, spelled out: you book, we talk for 30 minutes, then you get a quote.
- Price or price range. And if there is none, the sentence saying what it depends on. A page that dodges the price does not read as expensive, it reads as evasive.
- The objections, in sales-call order. Write down the five questions you always get on the phone and answer them in that order. This section cannot be invented, which is why it carries the most weight.
- The form, as short as the decision. Every field is a hurdle. Ask for what you need for the next step, the conversation settles the rest.
- The call to action a second time, then the legal links. At the end sits the same button as at the top, with the imprint and privacy notice beneath it.
Two things are not building blocks but decide over them: the page has to work on a phone and it has to load fast. Google names both as levers for landing page experience.
Every way out needs a reason
A landing page asks one question. Every link that does not lead to the action asks a second one.
When Google rates landing page experience, it names four things side by side: the usefulness and relevance of the information on the page, how easy the navigation is to use, the number of links on the page, and what users expect based on the ad they clicked. On design, it adds that you should not overload the page with too much advertising or with pop-ups. Those are factors, not an arithmetic rule: nowhere does it say that each individual link lowers the result, and usable navigation counts in your favour. Cutting links is a hypothesis for your funnel, one you test.
The exits people overlook while building: the main navigation inherited from the template, the logo linking back to the home page, "learn more" links under every section, blog teasers, a chat window sitting over the button, a footer with fifteen links, two of which are mandatory.
What does not belong on that list: the legal links, trust marks and an easy way to make contact. They answer a question that would otherwise end the visit, and Google names the easy contact option itself as a mark of a good page. Everything else goes on the page only if you can say what it is for. And whether removing it works for you is decided by your number: take out one exit, decide up front how many visitors have to pass through, then compare. One change per round, otherwise you will not know which one did the work.
What a commercially run landing page carries legally
This is not legal advice, it is the minimum check before the launch of a page you run commercially. The most common misconception: that a landing page, being "just one page", needs less than a website. It needs the same basics on less space, and depending on your offer more: sales, bookings, newsletters and consumer contracts each bring their own information duties. The rules below are the German ones, which is the market I work in.
- Imprint. Section 5 DDG requires the usual details for commercially offered digital services, and requires them to be easily recognizable and directly reachable. A landing page on its own domain that merely points at the imprint of the main website does not satisfy "directly reachable" by itself. The link belongs on the page.
- Privacy notice. Article 13 GDPR requires, when personal data is collected, information about the controller, the purposes and legal basis, recipients, the storage period and the rights of the data subject. Your form triggers that, even if it only asks for a name and an email address.
- Consent, and before the fact. Section 25 TDDDG allows storing information on the end user's device, or accessing information already stored there, only if the user has consented on the basis of clear and comprehensive information. Exempt is what serves solely to transmit the message, or what is strictly necessary for a service the user expressly requested. In practice: the page loads, the visitor decides, and only then may storage technology load. This is exactly where pages fail that keep the advertising pixel in the page head and draw the consent dialogue afterwards.
The question attaches to storing things on the device, not to the word "cookie": a measurement method that puts nothing there does not trigger it. That settles nothing about data protection, and whether your particular setup fits belongs checked once by someone qualified to do so.
What you build it with, including prices
All amounts come from the providers' own pricing pages as of September 2026, and they are the regular prices, not the promotional rates.
You do not need to buy an AI generator on top: IONOS and STRATO include one in their packages, and anyone building in code has a model write the draft. The more important point: a page with a clear goal works in the cheapest builder, and a page without a goal does not improve in the most expensive package. What the whole thing costs is worked through in What Does a Website or Landing Page Cost?.
How I measure which button gets pressed
Since 19 September 2026 I measure, cookie-free, which button on which page gets clicked on kevinwelter.com. Every button into my community carries two markers: an event named after its placement, and the same name in the link. That shows me per page whether the button at the top or the one in the closing section produced the click. According to its own documentation the analytics tool sets no cookies in its tracking code, and in the event I checked, no value goes along that identifies a person. Server logs and any extra data are looked at separately: cookie-free does not by itself mean free of personal data.
Those markers had to be set before the pages were built, and that is exactly what the order in the second section means. For your landing page, little of it is needed: an event name on the button and a marker on the link that leads to the page. If you would rather not set that up alone, bring the question into the community or into one of the calls, where other people have already taken that step.
An AI employee who builds the page and maintains it afterwards
In my business these pages are built by Ralf, an AI employee with exactly one job. He gets the address of an existing website and delivers a modern version from it in one go, one that works on a phone. Over 20 client websites have come out of that, and he ships kevinwelter.com himself, version after version. For a landing page that is the decisive point: it comes out of the same material as the website, with the same typeface, the same colours and texts, instead of becoming a second construction site.
The rules behind it are tight: he invents no services, no prices, no reviews, everything comes from the existing site or the brief, and what is missing he marks as a placeholder. Before any launch come a build, screenshots and a click test. He drafts, I approve. How he works and where I hold him back is on Build a Website With AI: How Ralf Works.
If the landing page is the destination of an ad, the other half belongs with it: Susi researches the market, builds the ad and creates the campaign paused, so that ad copy and page promise speak the same language. Building block 1 seen from the other side, on Running Meta Ads With AI: How Susi Works.
Frequently asked questions
Can I create a landing page for free?
Yes, for the build itself. Canva has a permanently free tier, IONOS lets you test its demo package free of charge, STRATO starts Smartwebsite Basic at 0 euros for the first month, then 7 euros monthly, as of September 2026. What does not become free is the domain and the legal pages. With a free tier, check whether your own domain and the absence of provider ads are included, and whether it permits commercial use.
How long should a landing page be?
Long enough to answer every objection, and not one line longer. For a first call with a clear offer a short page often does it; for an expensive decision you need proof, process and objections in full. The better question: does the call to action appear in the first screen and at the end?
What belongs on a landing page for coaches?
The same skeleton, with one specialty: for coaches the proof is rarely a number, it is the process. How many sessions, how long, what happens in between, what is different at the end. After that, the objections from your first calls, word for word. How AI helps in a coaching business is in AI for Coaches: Practice Over Hype.
How do I optimize an existing landing page?
Settle the number that counts first, then change a single thing and let it run until enough visitors have been through. The most rewarding changes are usually the headline, the button label and the number of form fields. Change three things at once and you end up with a result but no explanation.
Where to go from here
Write down the one sentence: "On this page, X should happen, and I count Y, measured over Z weeks." Underneath it, the five objections you always meet in a first call. No landing page needs more preparation than that, and none carries with less. The tool comes afterwards. And if you want an AI employee alongside you who builds the page from the material you already have and maintains it: Ralf and the other ready-made roles are available to load in my community Claude Practitioners.
