by

THE COLOSSAL LIST OF

LANDING PAGE & CRO
RESOURCES
INTRODUCTION
By Massimo Chieruzzi, CEO AdEspresso
If you want to launch a landing page that’s going to sweep competition off their
feet…well, you really have only two options then:

Build what you think is the best page out there and hope for the best.

Or….

Read and learn as much as possible about it first.

And then make informed decisions about every aspect of the process.

And guess which method would work best….

You know:

When my hard earned $$$ is involved, I prefer not to count on my luck too much… And thus, I
build resource files containing references to all the information I would need on every aspect
of my work.

And today I decided to let you take a peek into one of them.

I’m going to give you a massive, amazing, breathtaking, colossal, really really
big list of resources to help you rock landing pages and improve their conversions.

Whether you run a marketing agency, startup or ecommerce store, I’m sure
you’ll find plenty of useful advice here.

So, without any further ado…enjoy!

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JUMP TO SECTION:
By Massimo Chieruzzi, CEO AdEspresso

1. General Advice
2. Structure
3. Design
4. Copywriting
5. Value Proposition
6. Best Practises
7. Conversion Optimization
8. A/B Testing
9. Myths
10. Long Form Guides / eBooks
11. Example Galleries
12. Case Studies

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1. GENERAL ADVICE FOR
BEGINNERS
Getting started with building and optimizing
landing pages?
Then read these guides first. Simply.

Beginner Guide to Landing Pages (Kissmetrics)

If you’re only new to the idea of creating landing pages to convert visitors, then this
Kissmetrics’ guide is the place to start. It covers everything from structure, design, copy to
attracting the traffic and improving conversions.

Beginners Guide to CRO – Landing Pages (Qualaroo)

This giant resource covers every aspect of CRO from a beginner perspective. And this
particular chapter focuses on Landing Pages. What’s great about is that apart from general
advice, the guide includes case studies illustrating the points.

The Definitive Guide to Creating High Converting Landing Pages (Neil

Patel)
Fact, Neil Patel never disappoints. And it’s no different with this thorough walkthrough
of the process of creating landing pages. From general advice to buyer psychology, Neil
covers the entire process.

Landing Page Optimization Guide (QuickSprout)

Another complete walkthrough everything you need to know about landing pages from
Neil. Split into 7 chapters, the guide covers anything from theory, practical steps to tools
of the trade.

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2. LANDING PAGE STRUCTURE
FACT: Before doing anything else, you need
to learn what elements make up a converting
landing page.
Here are a couple of resources covering just
that, landing page structure.

The Structure of a Winning Landing Page (GetResponse)

A good introduction to landing page structure by Peep Laja from Conversion XL. Even
though he doesn’t go too deep into the topic, the article is a great place to start learning
about what you should include on a landing page.

The Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page (Kissmetrics)

If you want to know what to include on a landing page quickly, check out this Kissmetrics’
infographic. Includes every landing page element, explained.

The Framework of a High-Converting Landing Page (CrazyEgg)

Crazy Egg simplifies the structure and make a case that a landing page needs only 3
elements. Which ones? Check out the post to find out.

The 5 Essential Elements of a Winning Landing Page (Unbounce)

Oli Gardner from Unbounce lists 5 elements every landing page should contain.

How to Structure a Longform Landing Page for Maximum Conversions

(Kissmetrics)
You might get away with 3 elements on a typical landing page. But what if you want to
launch one of those super long, sales based pages (like this)? Kissmetrics outline what

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you should include and how to structure it then.

The Recipe for a Perfect Landing Page (British Design Experts)

A more design focused take on structuring a landing page for conversions. Infographic.

3. LANDING PAGE DESIGN

94% of first visitor impressions are design
related.Regardless of how great copy you
feature on the landing page, if it sucks
visually…visitors’ are just going to bounce
off it right away.

Well, unless you design the page with conversions in mind.

And here are some resources to help you learn how to do it:

How to Design a Landing Page that Turns Visitors into Customers (Digital
Telepathy)
Based no the analysis of landing pages from over 350 companies along their own projects,
this design studio defines the most crucial elements of a converting landing page.

7 Key Design Tips for High-Converting Landing Pages (Hubspot)

Hubspot also lists elements they believe are must-haves for any properly designed
landing page.

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5 Keys to Rapidly Building Smarter Landing Pages in 2015 (Infusionsoft)
A timely advice on less thought of landing pages design strategies. Tips include building
dedicated landing pages depending on device, implementing adaptive design and
matching design to business goals.

Designing for Conversion – 8 Visual Design Techniques to Focus Attention

on Your Landing Pages (Unbounce)
Unbounce’s Oli Gardner offers advice on building landing pages designed to convert.
Great read.

5 Principles of Persuasive Web Design (Conversion XL)

Often times, before you even begin to sketch the page’s layout, it’s good to first
understand what design elements actually work. And how. That’s what Peep Laja convers
in depth in this guide.

5 tips for designing a landing page CTA (99Designs)

You can’t underestimate the role of a call to action in the conversion process. But how do
you design it for the greatest impact? Read this post to find out.

Best Practices for Designing High Converting Landing Pages (Shopify)

If you’re running an online store, this guide from Shopify’s what you need to learn about
designing landing pages.

How to Design a Landing Page That Converts (Marketing Land)

Lastly, a piece from John Paul Mains covering different aspects of designing converting
landing pages.

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4. LANDING PAGE
COPYWRITING
Words affect our behavior. Inspire action.
Entice us to make certain decisions (or
avoid making them, at that). And so, the
copy you feature on a page affects your
conversions.

Believe me, I know. I write it every day.



So, here are some resources to help you understand and write better
landing page copy:

The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Landing Page Copy that Sticks

(Copyblogger)
A great place to get started writing copy for your page. Covers various aspects of landing
page copy with a focus on finding and communicating copywriting hooks.

8 Must-Have Tips for Writing Landing Page Copy That Converts (Hubspot)
And yes, they can help you create copy that works. Simply.

4 Copywriting Tips to Boost Your Landing Page Conversions (Pardot)

A more generic advice but a good reminder of the basics of conversion copywriting at the
same time. Well worth taking a look.

8 Simple but Powerful Landing Page Copywriting Tips (Unbounce)

Another great post outlining some basic but important rules for writing a converting copy.

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Landing Page Copywriting Secrets the Pros Never Share (Unbounce)
A great roundup by Joana from Copyhackers (which pretty much means, it’s a hell of a
resource you can’t afford to miss!) including copywriting advice from some of my favorite
writers: Henneke Duistermaat, Amy Harrison and Joana, of course.

Perhaps not the advice for beginners. But if you’ve written landing page copy before, you
gotta see this.

Copywriting based on the science of persuasion (Conversion XL)

I’m sure you’ve heard of Rober Cialdini’s book, Influence. Undoubtedly it’s the greatest
work on the topic of persuasion.

But how does this advice apply to copywriting? Well, that’s what Peep Laja outlines in this
post.

5 Subtle Yet Super Powerful Copywriting Tips (Unbounce)

A couple of things to remember every time you sit down to writing copy.

How to Write a Kick-Ass Landing Page Copy (Buzzstream)

A recording of a killer webinar from my mate, Joel Klettke. Honestly, if you want to get
serious about copywriting, then that’s the one thing you HAVE TO watch!

8 Copywriting Tricks That Can Turn Bland Copy into an Irresistible Sales
Machine (Smashing Copy)
I know, I’m a bit cheeky including my own post here. But believe me, it’s a great resource
listing copywriting tricks that help increase reading time, conversions and sales.

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If You Want to Measure Your Copy So You Can Improve It, Give Every
Element 1 Job To Do (CopyHackers)
The title says it all, doesn’t it? Great advice from Joanna, applicable to new and seasoned
copywriters.

10 Ways to Build Trust on Your Landing Page (UX Movement)

Trust is a major factor affecting conversions. In fact, I’d risk saying that no conversions are
possible without it. This post by UX Movement outlines ways to build and communicate
trust on the landing page.

5. VALUE PROPOSITION
A value proposition has only one job to
do:
tell a visitor why your business is the
best choice for them. Communicate what
makes you different from tens of other
companies offering similar products or
services.


But …Do you even know what separates you from the
competition?
The resources below will help you find out.

Value Propositions and USPs: “My Product Is the One That…”

(CopyHackers)
Short but great introduction into the idea of a value proposition. Read this first.

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How to Write a Great Value Proposition (Hubspot)
A nice infographic explaining the basics of value propositions. It doesn’t answer
the question from the title though. Nonetheless, it’s another good starting point in
discovering your value proposition.

Are You Losing Business with The Wrong Value Proposition? (Kissmetrics)
A great post posing and answering an important question. Does your current value
proposition help or hurt your marketing efforts? Read this to learn how to establish that.

Writing Value Propositions that Work (Help Scout)

A great walkthrough of the process with examples. By Gregory Ciotti.

Useful Value Proposition Examples (and How to Create a Good One)

(ConversionXL)
Intrigued what value propositions others have developed? THIS! ConversionXL review
a number of examples, both good and bad. And then outlines the process of finding out
what differentiates you from the competition.

Why Your Unique Value Proposition is Killing Your Landing Page

Conversions and How to Fix It (Unbounce)
Another post outlining the importance of having a solid value proposition. Includes
examples.

5 Tips to Craft a Better Value Proposition (CrazyEgg)

All the resources up to now offered more theoretical insight into the importance of having
a value proposition, how it works and offered best practices.

The next couple will help you with the actual crafting of a value proposition. Starting with
this resource by Crazy Egg.

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Use These 3 Points to Create an Awesome Value Proposition (WiderFunnel)
A solid and well-research post offering insight into 3 elements that affect value
proposition, points of parity, difference and irrelevance.

Top 5 Tips For Writing the Worst Unique Value Proposition Ever
(UsabilityHour)
A good take on the process, outlining the most common mistakes when writing value
proposition.

7 Value Proposition Formulas to Boost Conversion on Ads and Landing

Pages (Wishpond)
Lastly, Wishpond offers actual formulas you could use right away to craft value
proposition for your business. As with any formulas, remember, they’re generic and might
need some tweaking to tailor them to your audience and business.

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6. LANDING PAGE BEST
PRACTICES
You hear it all the time:
To convert visitors, you must follow best
practices. Do the things that have worked
for others.

But what are those best practices, really? And how can you tell them
apart from myths, only hurting your conversions?
These resources might help.

TIP: Keep one thing in mind when reviewing these posts:

What has worked for other might not necessarily work for you. So
take these practices with a pinch of salt. Use common sense. Test.
And verify which ones work for your audience, business model,
product or service.

How to Make Great Landing Pages (With Crazy High Conversions)

(Wordstream)
Wordstream offers a set of tips to follow throughout the entire process, from preparation
to launching a landing page.

8 Landing Page Design Best Practices (Wishpond)

Wishpond adds a couple of interesting practices they back up with examples and data.
Worth having a look.

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Landing Page Best Practices: Remove Distractions, Be Bold & Tell a Story
(Conversion XL)
The title says it all. How doing these three things could help you increase conversions.

21 Quick Landing Page Tips (Unbounce)

Unbounce offers a snackable list of what they believe are the things to keep in mind when
creating landing pages.

21 Landing Page Tips to Help You Stop Screwing Up Your Conversion Rates
(Conversion XL)
Peep Laja offers his take on elements and practices that could help prevent losing
conversions and sales.

The Essential Landing Page Checklist: 16 Things You Need to Double Check
(Hubspot)
A handy checklist of elements and best practices. Use it to run a final check on your
pages. Solid resource.

Long Form or Short Form Landing Pages? Why Not Both? (Conversion XL)
I’m sure you’ve heard about the debate already. Which page converts best, short or long.
Almost every respectable marketer did a take on the problem.Conversion XL however
stipulate that perhaps you need to use both at the same time. Intriguing.

The Perfect Landing Page. Landing page examples and 12 tips (Smart
Insights)
Using examples from various companies, Smart Insight outlines the best practices for
creating landing pages.

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7. CONVERSION
OPTIMIZATION / CRO
There are two ways to improve landing page
conversions:

Drive even more traffic to it. And then

logically, with more qualified visitors, you
should have more conversions.

Or…

Improve the page to convert more of the current traffic.

And needless to say, the second option typically works better.

So, if you want to learn more about the CRO process, here are some
resources I found useful:

101 Landing Page Optimization Tips (Unbounce)

Let’s start with a big list. The resource includes advice for every stage of the landing page
creation process.

The Landing Page Optimization Guide You Wish You’ve Always Had
(Conversion XL)
Sporting a bold title, this resource delivers on the promise. Check it out to acquaint
yourself with the idea of optimizing landing pages.

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25 Tips to Optimize Landing Page Conversions (Wishpond)
A nice guide from Wishpond, including tips for anything from design to marketing the
page.

The LIFT Model: Use These Six Factors to Increase Your Conversion Rate
(WiderFunnel)LIFT stands for Landing Page Influence Function for Tests – a conversion
optimization framework used to analyze pages and develop verifiable hypotheses.

The Most Entertaining Guide to Landing Page Optimization You’ll

Ever Read (Moz)
Oli Gardner certainly delivers on the promise. A massive resource but surprising, not a
hard read.

Landing Page Optimization Cheat Sheet (Marketo)

The title says it all. A single page cheat sheet for anything conversions. Not the nicest
layout, bit hard to read. But filled with great information.

6 Worst Landing Page Optimization Techniques to Avoid (UsabilityGeek)

Want to know what mistakes to avoid? This :-)

How to Use Personalized Content and Behavioral Targeting For Improved

Conversions (Conversion XL)
A resource discussing the benefits of personalization and its effect on conversions.
Recommended read.

Which Color Converts the Best? (Conversion XL)

Ever wondered if your page’s color scheme affects conversions? Here’s a great article to
help you answer it.

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3 Form Mistakes That Are Killing Your Landing Page Conversion Rate
(Formstack)
Undeniable:A form can make or break conversions.  Too long might deter users from
filling it in. Too short…Actually, check out this post to find out more about it.

Mastering The Call to Action – Words, Color, Size & Location (Conversion
XL)
A great run through of factors affecting the performance of your C2A’s.

13 Unconventional Landing Page Strategies to Increase Conversions

(Conversion XL)
Lastly, stuff you wouldn’t normally think about when trying to improve conversions.

8. A/B TESTING
I know, A/B testing is a part of the
CRO process. But given the wealth of
information about it, I always separate the
two in my swipe file.

A Beginner’s Guide to A/B Testing: Effective

SEO Landing Pages (Kissmetrics)
As the title suggests, the post contains everything a beginner needs to know about A/B
testing. From basics of landing page optimization to the actual testing process.

What is A/B Testing (Unbounce)

Another beginner resource covering generic information you must have before starting an

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A/B testing process.

How to A/B Test your Landing Page to Maximize Conversions (Wishpond)

Wishpond also offers some generic advice on the A/B testing process. Good for beginners
and intermediate marketers
A/B Testing Tips for Your Landing Page (Lander)
An interactive guide from Lander with a full overview and a walkthrough of the A/B testing
process.

Test for Success: A/B Testing Tips for Emails and Landing Pages (Marketo)
A video and slidedeck showcasing how to design an effective A/B test. Covers email
marketing and landing pages.

5 A/B Tests You Should Be Running on Your Landing Page Opt-In Forms
(Conversion XL)
You can A/B test almost any page element, from C2A to copy and layout. This post shows
the best practices of testing opt-in forms for conversions.

23 A/B testing ideas to optimize your landing page (VWO)

Visual Website Optimizer guys have compiled a list of ideas to help kick-start your testing
process.

How to Design a Proper Landing Page A/B Test (AdEspresso)

We share some advice on A/B testing landing pages too. In this post I outlined how to
design one using The Scientific Method.

5 Things You Should Never Split Test on Facebook Ads Landing Pages
(AdEspresso)
Lastly, my take on things you should never ever ever …. ever split test. Full stop.

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9. LANDING PAGE MYTHS
You know:

There’s plenty of bullshit out there regarding

landing pages.

Every now and then someone comes up

with s theory that just makes you wanna go
“what the -?!”

And here are some of them.

10 Common Landing Page Myths: Busted (Hubspot)

Ginny from Hubspot takes the most common landing page myths under the microscope.

And turns out, most of them are rubbish :-) Check it out.

4 Landing Page Design Myths that Actually Hurt Conversions (AdEspresso)

My take on some of the landing page myths. Researched and their ridiculousness backed
by data.

5 Landing Page Myths Holding Back Your Conversion Rate (Smedio)

Guys at Smedio take a look on other landing page myths messing up your conversion rate.

Why “The Fold” Is A Myth – And Where to Actually Put Your Calls To Action
(Kissmetrics)
A post dealing with one of the most common myths saying that your C2A should always
be above the fold. See how they debunked it.

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3 Landing Page Optimization Tips – Debunked! (CrazyEgg)
CrazyEgg guys show the process they used to bust 3 intriguing landing page best
practices:That a headline must address the visitor’s pain,That you need high quality
content to convert visitors, andThat there’s no point in testing low traffic pages.Check it
out.

10. LONG FORM GUIDES /

EBOOKS (NOTE, INCLUDES
GATED CONTENT)
So far, most of the content listed included
posts and similar resources. However, there
are also some intriguing long form guides to
landing pages’ optimization.
Here are the ones that caught my attention:

Landing Page Conversion Guide (Smart Insights)

A 88 page long eBook with over 50 examples, best practices recommendations and
checklists to keep you in check.

The Complete Guide to Landing Pages (Wishpond)

An eBook teaching anything from landing page fundamentals, best practices, A/B testing,
optimization and pretty much anything else there is to know about them.

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Landing Page Design That Sells (99designs)
A design focused eBook showing the principles of good landing page design.

How to Write Irresistible Landing Page Copy (Hubspot & Unbounce)

A joint published eBook (written by Joanna from Copyhackers) covering all the aspects
of conversion copywriting. If you’re serious about the words you include on the landing
page, then you can’t afford not to download it.

Create landing pages that skyrocket your conversions (Lander)

Another thorough overview of the landing page creation process, by Lander.

Landing Page Best Practices (Grasshopper)

A basic eBook outlining everything a beginner needs to know on the topic. For newbies
only.

The Ultimate Guide to Landing Page Optimization (Unbounce)

A 58-page guide teaching everything there is to know about Landing page optimization,
from background information, optimization process to examples and even getting the
executive buy-in to start optimizing.

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11. EXAMPLE GALLERIES
Intrigued by all this knowledge? Sure you
are. But now take a look at landing pages
that implemented it well:

Land-Book Gallery
A massive gallery of best landing page designs.
Unfortunately, not updated regularly. But still, with a backlog of some great landing pages
to get inspiration from.

15 of the Best Landing Page Design Examples You Need to See (Hubspot)
A nice roundup of landing page design inspiration with information about what’s good on
each page.

35 Beautiful Landing Page Design Examples to Drool Over (Unbounce)

Unbounce critiqued 35 landing pages. Ideal resource to see what works and what doesn’t,
in practice.

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12. CASE STUDIES
Finally, this content shows real case studies
of how marketers managed to improve
their landing page conversions. Not for
beginners.
But if you’ve been struggling to get your
landing pages going, take a look how others
overcame similar problems.

How we made $1 million for Moz (Conversion Rate Experts)

Intriguing title? And so is the case study. Check how CRE improved Moz’s landing page
and generated one mil in the process.

How We Improved Landing Page Conversions by 79.3% (Conversion XL)

Another case study, this time by Peep Laja showing the process they’ve gone through
when working on TruckersReport page.

5 Landing Page A/B Tests (And Their Surprising Results) (Hubspot)

Not a case study per se but still an interesting read. Take a look at some surprising results
Hubspot got from 5 different tests.

6 Conversion Rate Optimization Case Studies With Surprising Results

(Conversion XL)
Conversion XL list their tests with surprising results.

Which Test Won

A massive resource of various tests, case studies and CRO advice. A must see.

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100 Conversion Optimization Case Studies (Kissmetrics)
Whoa! 100? Yup, a one hundred different conversion studies in a single post. Kissmetrics
lists main objectives, results and a link to the study source.A must see post, perhaps not
for a single sitting though :-)

Wildfunnel’s Case Studies

WF conducted a number of conversion optimization […]

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