10 steps to launching a sales page that looks good & converts
I’ve built hundreds of websites and sales pages for some of the industry’s most impactful, badass leaders. And—through literally trying it all—I’ve gotten the structure, flow, and aesthetic down to an exact science.
I know how much time, energy, and effort goes into creating something you’re hyped to share. Which is why I want to make it a bit easier for you by laying out the process I go through each time.
This article is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about creating and launching a successful sales page. We'll cover the 10 most important steps, from where to start with your copy, sketching wireframes, and more. This article will help you not only launch your sales pages more easily, but will also help you set up your landing pages in a way that can help you increase sales!
WRITE YOUR SALES PAGE COPY
The very FIRST step to creating a sales page is getting your sales page copy DONE! This is the most important piece you need before beginning, it’s what I tell my clients that I need from them before I design. I know that your copy can be such a daunting task. Most people ask me “what content goes where? What is the flow of a sales page?” Staring at a blank google document can be SO frustrating! I have BEEN there..
In my course Sales Page Lab - I’ve created a sales page copy guide that shows you the flow of the content step by step, section by section. If copy is something you struggle with, this extremely valuable tool is going to ease some of that stress of not knowing what to write, or wondering if it’s “too much” or “too little”.
Plus, if you really need help with the actual words and what to say - my favorite trusty copywriter Kaili from Reveal Studio has this helpful resource to write your sales page copy. I’ve used her template along with my own and have created killer sales pages. You can snag her template here - this is an affiliate link so just know that I get a little kick-back for sharing this resource that I love and use myself if you decide to purchase it.
Your sales page copy is the key to great design as you will use this as your roadmap for the rest of your sales page!
PLAN & REVERSE ENGINEER YOUR LAUNCH
After you have your sales page copy done, it’s time to plan your launch! I always like to reverse engineer it, which basically means to plan your launch backwards from your ideal launch date.
You’ll need to take into consideration how long it will take you to put your sales page together, set up the backend of your course, set up your funnel, emails, automations, and design all of your graphics.
A sales page can take anywhere from a day to a week to create! Depending on your skillset, if you are using a template, and if you already have your branding done for your course or program.
You’ll need to think about these four things when planning your launch:
When does my sales page need to be done and where am I going to design said sales page? (I use Squarespace to design all of my sales pages - you can review my tech stack here in this post)
Do I need to design a checkout page or thank you page? I prefer to use Kajabi checkout pages or Thrivecart! Creating a cohesive experience on your sales page + checkout page will help you look so professional and more trustworthy.
Will I need to write emails for AFTER someone signs up for my offer? What happens after someone signs up? I use FloDesk for all of my emails and have them set up so that they are automated.
Will I need to create the course backend for my offer? Or is this something hosted over live Zoom calls? Where will I store these videos so that people can watch them if they can’t make it to my live call? (I love to use Kajabi to host all of my courses! Sign up here.)
BRAND YOUR SALES PAGE
After you have your sales page copy in hand, you have a solid launch plan and you know exactly what things you’ll need to design as far as what happens beyond the sales page.. it’s time to BRAND your offer!
Having a brand for your course or program will make the sales page creation process SO MUCH easier. I usually like to create a separate sub brand for each of my courses or workshops.
A sub branding is basically means that it’s cohesive with your main business branding - it could have similar color palettes and brand fonts, but the sub brand has a unique look of it’s own.
Not having a great brand for your offer can hurt your sales because it can make your offer not look enticing or unique.. it can cause confusion for YOU and your audience, and it can get lost in the sea of sameness with every other person launching thier ideas.
Skipping this step can often make the designing your sales page part of the process even more difficult because it can bring down your own energy about your offer. If you don’t feel excited about it, how will others?!
Launching a new offer that has a brand that makes you feel excited to shout from the rooftops and share with the world will magnetize people in it’s own way. Energy doesn’t lie.
In my course Sales Page Lab - I have an entire module about branding your offers!
SKETCH YOUR WIREFRAME + FLOW
My next step before actually designing the sales page, is creating a wireframe! This basically is a sketch of my ideas about what will go where.
If you are not an artist, it’s OK this is just meant to help you NOT stare at a blank screen when you dive into creating your sales page. This wireframe is usually a loose sketch of where things will go, what layout ideas you have for your content, and a place to jot down some of your design ideas.
Below is a wireframe i’ve made for a sales page - you can see that it’s not too far off from my wireframe. The sketch really helped me get a sense for what I wanted to put where - and this is the part most people struggle with!
BUILD OUT YOUR CONTENT IN ‘SECTIONS’ USING SQUARESPACE
When I design sales pages I tend to think of it in “sections” - for example when you make a slide deck or presentation, it usually starts with an intro page, then each page after has a title and the copy.. I like to think of a sales page in that way. Each section of the page is a page in your slide deck or webinar!
I use Squarespace to design ALL of my sales pages and this makes it super easy to build the page out piece by piece, section by section.
With my helpful sales page copy guide I just go through the sales page design block by block. Starting with section one, moving to section two, and flowing through each section until I am done! I sometimes move things around after creating each section, but to make the task less daunting - breaking it up into sections is the way to GO.
ADD SOME DYNAMIC DESIGN FLAIR
Most people will get stuck on the design of each section - but one tip I have is to just add your content to each section without worrying about design too much…After I have the content in each section I go back through the entire page to spruce up each section with dynamic design or adding some extra flair!
This can look like:
Creating background images or background textures for each section
Choosing a different color for each section to create contrast & better flow of the content (trust me having every single section the same color makes flowing through the content more difficult! Color can really help the flow of your content!
Adding icons, GIF’s, info cards, glam shots of my course, photos, and videos - I always do this part after I add the content in because sometimes I am not sure what photo should go where until I see it on the page!
DESIGN ADDITIONAL PAGES FOR A COHESIVE LOOK
After your sales page is designed, the rest of the process is so much easier because you will already have all of the graphics created! You can utilize the images, content, info cards, etc that you’ve created for your sales page to create other elements for your launch!
Some things you may need to set up include:
You might need to create a thank you page that appears when someone signs up, you can use the same branding and content from your sales page to do this!
You may need to design your checkout page - you can use your offer glam shot on your checkout page to create a seamless cohesive feel. Check out the example we provided of this below.
You might need to create a WAITLIST for your sales page - you can either add a waitlist to your page design and hide your investment and sign up buttons - or you can create a separte waitlist page
You may need to design your actual program or course area in a platform like Kajabi (my favorite) or teachable..etc With all of your design and sales page content created you can utilize those same elements in your course area! Example of what this looks like below:
GO THROUGH AND ‘TEST’ YOUR SALES PAGE
Once you have everything set up and designed - the MOST important step is to TEST your sales page, automations etc.. to make sure they work. I always do this and “pretend” i am signing up for my offer to make sure that everything works properly and looks good!
You also need to check over all of your pages to make sure that there are no spelling errors, the dates are correct, the links work, and it all looks good on mobile too!
CREATE MATCHING SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS + POSTS
Once your entire sales page is designed, you can use each “section” of your sales page as inspiration to create promo graphics! For example if you have a section that shares pricing or what’s included with your offer - you can turn that into a series of instagram posts or instagram stories.
Having your entire sales page designed first is going to make the promo process so much easier! You can even use entire sections of your sales page to make instagram carousels! (instagram carousels are my favorite type of post to design and I have a Canva social media template kit that has all of these types of promo graphics you can use for your launch for purchase here)
LAUNCH YOUR SALES PAGE!
Last but not least, it’s time to launch! The steps I shared above are repeatable for every single sales page I design - and once you get these steps down, creating and launching your sales pages will be SO much faster, easier, and less time consuming than going into it staring at a blank screen ;)
So there you have it: the steps to creating a successful sales page that will help you launch your next online program or course. We hope this article has been useful to you, and that it helps you get more clients and make more money doing the work you love!
