It happens more than you’d think. And usually, it comes down to the questions you didn’t ask before you started.

Here’s what you should actually be asking.

1. Do I even need a new website right now?

Start here. Before you reach out to a single designer, get clear on your actual problem and put some real data behind it.

What is the goal? More enquiries? Better conversions? A stronger first impression for warm leads? Whatever it is, define it, and work out how you’ll measure whether the new website actually achieves it.

Because sometimes a new website is the answer. And sometimes it isn’t. If you skip this step, you risk spending thousands making your problem prettier rather than solving it.

2. What is the goal of this website?

Once you’ve decided a website is the right move, the first thing you should tell any designer you speak to is what you’re trying to achieve. Not “I want it to look modern” or “I want something clean.” The overarching business goal.

A good designer will build toward that target. Without it, they’re just making aesthetic decisions in the dark, and you could end up with something that looks great but doesn’t move your business forward at all.

If a designer doesn’t ask you this question early in the conversation, that’s already a red flag.

3. Are all web designers actually the same?

No, and this is one of the most expensive assumptions business owners make.

There’s a big difference between “someone who does websites” and a designer or agency that thinks strategically about what a website needs to do. The first option might be cheaper upfront. But professional designers have done this kind of project many times; they understand conversion, user experience, and design principles, and their results reflect that.

Hiring a friend of a friend who “knows a bit about websites” might save you money in the short term. It often costs far more to fix later.

4. Can you walk me through the strategy behind a previous project?

Looking at a portfolio is one thing. Understanding what was behind it is another.

When you’re reviewing a designer’s work, ask them to explain what the goal was for a specific project, how they approached it, and what the result was. Did traffic increase? Did conversions improve? Did the client actually achieve what they set out to?

A strong designer will be able to answer that clearly. If they can only talk about how it looks and not what it did, that tells you something important about how they work.

5. How does the process work?

This one covers a lot of ground, and it matters more than most people realise. Before you sign anything, ask:

• What does the timeline look like, and what could cause it to slip?
• How many rounds of revisions are included, and how do those work in practice?
• How quickly am I expected to give feedback, and does a delay on my end affect the deadline?
• What happens if the project runs over scope?

A designer who has their process sorted will be able to answer all of this clearly. Vague answers here are a warning sign.

One thing worth noting: “What if we don’t like it?” is actually the wrong question if you’ve both agreed on a goal upfront. The real question is whether the website achieves what it was built to achieve. That’s a much more useful measure than personal taste.

6. What exactly is included in the cost?

Get specific. The headline price rarely tells the whole story.

Ask what the upfront cost covers. Is it just design? Does it include copywriting and content? What about SEO? Are there any additional features or functionalities that would cost extra?

Then ask about ongoing costs. What does monthly hosting cost? Does that fee include maintenance, updates, or content changes, or is that billed separately? Who is responsible for keeping the site running and secure, and what does it cost when something needs changing?

These are the questions that prevent awkward conversations six months after launch when you need something updated, and you’re not sure who pays for it.

A client I worked with at HelloHorizon asked these questions before we started, and it was one of the best things they could have done. When something came up down the line, we both knew exactly whose responsibility it was and whether it needed a new invoice. No confusion, no tension.

7. How are people going to find this website?

Most business owners don’t ask this, and they absolutely should.

At a minimum, ask the designer what level of SEO is included in the build. Even if the answer is “just basic technical setup at launch, nothing ongoing,” that’s fine, as long as you know. Because then you can plan your traffic strategy, whether that’s organic content, paid ads, or a combination.

A website with no traffic plan is just an expensive brochure. Make sure you understand from day one how visitors are actually going to land on it.

8. How do we track results end-to-end?

This is the question that separates serious business owners from everyone else.

Ask the designer: how do we track someone from the moment they see an ad or a post, through to landing on the website, through to making an enquiry or a purchase? How do we close that loop?

If you’re planning to run paid ads or organic campaigns alongside your new website, this isn’t optional. You need to know what’s working. A designer who can set this up and talk you through it understands that the website is part of a bigger system, not just a standalone project.

If they look blank when you ask this, take note.

9. Who is responsible for what once we go live?

This one prevents more headaches than almost any other question.

Get clear on the terms before you start. Who handles hosting? Who fixes things if something breaks? Who updates the content? What’s included in the ongoing relationship and what isn’t?

Clarity here protects both of you. It means that when something goes wrong (and at some point, something always does), there’s no debate about whose job it is to sort it.

One last thing before you pick up the phone

Go back to question one.

Define your goal. Put a number on it. Decide how you’ll know if the project was a success. That clarity will make every conversation you have with a designer better, and it will make you a better client to work with.

The best web projects happen when both sides know what they’re building toward. Start there.

This guide breaks down what actually works, not just in theory, but the real-world patterns that connect the worlds best performing landing pages.

What is a landing page?

A landing page isn’t about design trends or clever copy; it’s simply a standalone page that:

• Clearly communicates value in seconds
• Removes friction from decision-making
• Guides users towards a specific action
• Converts consistently across traffic sources

According to research from Unbounce, users typically decide whether to stay or leave within 10–20 seconds. That’s your window.

There are two primary types of landing pages, and they are similar in their main goal; convert a visitor into a customer, but they vary in how they get that visitor in the first place.

Marketing funnel landing pages

These are what people most commonly refer to when they say a “landing page”, as this is where the term originated. It’s a standalone page that is part of a wider marketing campaign and is typically where the visitor lands once they’ve clicked on an ad or scanned a QR code. Hence the name landing page.

The goal of this type of page is to educate and sell the prospect on the product or service and then make it incredibly easy for them to take the next step. Be that purchasing or filling in a highly optimised form.

SEO search term landing pages

SEO landing pages are a slightly more unique version of a landing page; they still share the same overarching goal of converting a visitor into a customer, but the way that they get those visitors is different. Instead of relying on a marketing campaign or advert, they are built to target specific search terms that your ideal customer may be searching on Google.

They are built to include these specific search terms in their content so they rank on Google for said search terms. This type of landing page can be dangerously effective because you know the exact intent of the visitor. If the visitor searches “how to fix a sink drain”, you know they’ve probably got a blocked sink, and that’s when your plumbing business can show up with a perfectly placed landing page to help.

What’s the difference between a home page and a landing page?

A lot of the time, when I talk to people about landing pages, they get confused and ask, “well isn’t that just my homepage?”, and I understand the confusion. If you’re running ads, the temptation just to send people directly to your homepage is real.

But the difference between a home page and a landing page is how focused the page is. A home page may have 15 different links to different services, maybe an about us section, and your blog. A landing page is designed to do one thing and one thing only. Convert the customer, so there are no distractions on a landing page, no unnecessary links, just the primary campaign focus, whatever that may be.

The 5 elements of every high-converting landing page we tested

Across our testing of nearly 100 landing pages, we found 5 key factors that determine the success of any landing page:

1. A headline that actually has meaning

One of the things we found most common among the highest performing landing pages is that their headline answered three questions instantly: who they are, what they do, and who it’s for. A weak headline tries to be clever or funny; high-performing headlines are clear and specific. They answer the question “Does this company solve my problem?” instantly.

We found that the more specific the headline was, the higher-performing the landing page was. You’re not trying to please everyone, just a small number of niche people with the exact problem you solve.

What works here:

• Outcome-driven messaging
• Specificity (numbers, timeframes, and results)
• Plain English over jargon

2. A clear scroll stopping call to action

The next thing we noticed among all the landing pages we tested was that their call to actions (the bit that asks for you to do something) was always clear and scroll-stopping. Now, what do I mean by scroll stopping? It was in contrast to the rest of the page, or it jumped out at you, it made you stop scrolling and think, “Am I ready to take the next step?”

Another thing we noticed is that on average, the best performing landing pages had on average only 2 call to actions, one below the headline, and one near the bottom of the page.

3. Real social proof

Social proof is one of those things that looks simple on the surface, but the difference between social proof that converts and social proof that does nothing is massive.

The worst offenders we saw were the generic “5 stars, great service!” type testimonials with a stock photo and a first name. Nobody believes those. The best performing landing pages had testimonials that were specific, named real people with real job titles or business names, and ideally addressed the exact objection a visitor might have before converting.

Think about it from the visitor’s perspective. They’re looking at your page, wondering whether you can actually deliver. A testimonial that says “We were sceptical at first, but within six weeks our leads had doubled” does infinitely more work than “Really great team, would recommend.”

What works here:

• Named individuals with a company or location attached
• Testimonials that overcome a specific objection
• Video testimonials, where possible, are harder to fake and harder to ignore

4. Visual results proof

Related to social proof but slightly different. Where a testimonial is someone saying something worked, visual proof is showing it. Before and after screenshots, case study results, dashboards, graphs, and real numbers. Anything that makes the outcome tangible.

The landing pages that performed best didn’t just tell you they’d get results, they showed you what those results looked like. If you’re a web design agency, show the before and after of a client’s website. If you’re a marketing tool, show the actual dashboard with actual numbers in it.

People are sceptical, and rightly so. Visual proof short-circuits that scepticism in a way that written copy simply can’t.

What works here:

• Before and after comparisons
• Real data, real screenshots, real numbers
• Case study snapshots with specific outcomes (“42% more enquiries in 90 days”)

5. Friction reduction

Every extra step you ask a visitor to take is a reason for them to leave. The best landing pages we tested were almost paranoid about removing friction. Short forms, clear next steps, no unnecessary clicks, no confusing navigation, no moment where the visitor had to think too hard about what to do next.

This one is more about what you remove than what you add. Strip out anything that doesn’t directly serve the conversion goal. If a form field isn’t essential, cut it. If a paragraph doesn’t push the visitor closer to acting, cut it. If a link takes them somewhere else on your site, cut it.

The simpler you make it to say yes, the more people will.

What works here:

• Forms with three fields or fewer at the point of first contact
• One clear primary CTA, no competing options
• Trust signals near the CTA (no contract, free trial, money-back guarantee, etc.)

How can I improve my landing page?

The honest answer is that a landing page is never truly finished. The best performing pages we’ve come across aren’t the ones that were built perfectly on day one; they’re the ones that have been continuously tested and refined over time.

Start by identifying the single biggest point of friction on your current page. Is your headline vague? Is your form too long? Is your CTA buried? Pick the one thing most likely to be costing you conversions and fix that first before moving on to the next.

From there, landing page optimisation becomes an ongoing process. Small changes to your headline, your CTA wording, or the placement of your social proof can have an outsized impact on conversion rate. Tools like A/B testing let you make data-driven decisions rather than guessing, and over time, those incremental improvements compound into a page that consistently converts.

If you want a deeper dive into the optimisation process, CXL’s guide to landing page optimisation is one of the more thorough resources out there and well worth a read.

The five elements we’ve covered in this post are your foundation. Get those right first, then optimise from there. And if you’re looking to get one built for you or need help with your current one, then feel free to check out our website design service.

TLDR; Use PageInsights to make sure your website loads fast, ensure your website is mobile optimised, use the correct keywords for your target audience naturally on your page, structure your content properly, and answer the questions your customers are actually searching for.

Loading Speeds

These days, attention spans are growing shorter and shorter, if your website takes ages to load, people will just click off. But it’s not just people who don’t like slow loading websites, Google also hates them. If your website is slow to load, Google will recomend it less than other websites.

You can use https://pagespeed.web.dev to test your websites load speed. Simply input your websites URL and click scan, this will give you a score out of 100 and a list of things you can improve to speed up your website. Google is litterally telling you how to rank higher on their search engine.

Mobile Layout

Over 50% of todays internet users and browing on mobile. This means that if your website isn’t optimised for a mobile experience, those users will simply rage and exit your website. Most people make the mistake of simply altering the layout of their mobile site, but in realitiy you need to tailor an entirly new experience for your mobile users. This means different nagivation, different layout, all designed to be more intuitive and ‘app-like’. Ensuring that your website works well on mobile will help you capture traffic that comes from your social media pages.

Correct Page Structure

Google crawls your website in order to show it in search results. For it to be able to understand the content in a structured manner, it’s important to structure your content almost like a Word document. That is with one title (H1 tag), a few sub-titles (H2 tags), and then content under each heading relevant to its title. These should be hierarchical so as not to confuse any crawlers.

Keyword Optimisation

Keywords are basically the phrases and words your potential customers are typing into Google when they’re looking for businesses like yours. The trick is to include these naturally throughout your content without sounding like a robot wrote your website. Think about what problems your customers have and what they’d search to solve them, then make sure those phrases appear in your headings and content.

Answer Questions People Search For

You can use https://answerthepublic.com/ to find questions people are searching within your industry. This will help you write relevant content to get your page ranking for these exact searches and keywords. Typically you would write a blog post around a specific question with a medium to high search volume and make a few tweaks to capture a niche.

The beauty of this approach is that you’re not just chasing traffic, you’re attracting the right kind of visitors who are actively looking for solutions you provide. When someone searches “how do I improve my website speed” and lands on your detailed guide, they’re already primed to trust your expertise.

Submit Your Sitemap

One of the most effective ways to ensure Google discovers and indexes your content is by submitting your sitemap directly through Google Search Console. Your sitemap.xml file acts as a roadmap of your website, telling search engines exactly which pages exist and how they’re organized.

By proactively submitting your sitemap, you’re not leaving discovery to chance; you’re essentially inviting Google to crawl and index your site more efficiently. This is particularly valuable for new websites, recently updated pages, or sites with complex structures that might be difficult for search engines to navigate on their own.

To submit your sitemap:

1. Log into Google Search Console
2. Select your property (website)
3. Navigate to “Sitemaps” in the left sidebar
4. Enter your sitemap URL (typically yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml)
5. Click “Submit”

Most WordPress sites automatically generate sitemaps through SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math, so you likely already have one ready to submit. Once submitted, you can monitor indexing status and identify any issues Google encounters while crawling your site.

Track Your Visitors

Putting these technique into practice will make a huge difference for your website, but you won’t be able to see this difference if you’re not tracking your visitors using an analytics tool. Here are a few good ones for WordPress:

• https://www.monsterinsights.com/
• https://developers.google.com/analytics
• https://independentwp.com/

Now… what to do when you get more visitors

Now that your website is getting visited more than most of the cafes here in Norwich, it’s time to make sure that your website is actually setup to convert. More visitors only means more money if you can actually convert those visitors into customers.

This is where most businesses drop the ball. They spend ages driving traffic to their site but haven’t thought about what happens when people actually arrive. Do you have clear calls-to-action? Is your contact form easy to find? Are you making it painfully obvious what the next step should be?

We can make sure this happens using conversion optimisation which is done through several different methods. This will be discussed in next week’s blog post so subscribe to the newsletter to make sure you never miss info that can boost your business like this.

Want HelloHorizon to help you get more visitors AND convert them into paying customers? Get in touch with us today to see how we can transform your website into a money-making machine.