How long does it take to build a landing page?
Anna Talerico on Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 05:03PM On Wednesday I presented “High Performance Landing Pages” with friend & client Arden Buchanan at the MarketingProfs Digital Mixer in Chicago. What I enjoyed most about the 90-minute session was that it was peppered with questions throughout and we were able to have great back & forth with session attendees throughout the presentation. It’s so much more fun to talk with an audience rather than to an audience.
While Arden was sharing a few of his 400+landing pages that he’s tested over the past couple of years, a hand shot up and you can guess the question. “Wow - that’s a lot of landing pages. How long should it take to make a landing page?”. (You can imagine the look on her face when we got to the part about American Greetings 1,000+ landing pages that they’ve made in just 9 months!).
So…How long should it take to make a landing page? Here’s the guidance we gave the session attendees.
Minutes
If you have an existing landing page, and just need a tweaked version of it, strive to have minor changes done (and live) in minutes. Think about this as replacing a button on a shirt, or mending a hole in your socks.
Hours
If you are launching a new version of a concept, it could take hours. This might involve swapping a layout, moving elements around on the page, changing imagery, rewriting copy. This is like hemming a pair of pants.
Days
If you are trying an entirely new landing page concept or strategy, then it could very well take you days to execute. You may need strategy, writing, design, art direction, production, QA, etc. Gathering up all of these elements into a cohesive landing page can take a little more time. Think about this as sewing a new dress (not all of us can sew a wearable dress, and so new landing page concepts may require some outside assistance from a tailor!).
Please note that WEEKS and MONTHS are not part of the guidance! Landing pages need to be somewhat disposable (because you are going to be using lots of them through trial and error to see what works best). You don’t want to sink weeks of time, resources & money on something that may or may not work.
Planning landing pages? Think Minutes, Hours, Days. If you can’t execute landing pages that quickly, put your attention on designing a new process, or using new tools that allow you to develop landing pages with as little friction as possible. It’s usually friction in the process that slows down landing page development.
Landing Pages, landing page design in Strategy 
Reader Comments (3)
I agree with you that landing pages should be simple and "disposable". You very clearly make the case, but getting clients to change their perspective can be tough. They're accustomed to a process where any change to the website (including landing pages) requires touches by graphic designers, IT people and management/marketing people. The change is hard, but the rewards are obvious.
I'm a small business owner, and I'm just now starting to consider how to manage my landing page, to keep it dynamic and fluid. After reading your suggestions, it seems to me that I should be able to hire someone to handle regular updates without breaking the bank. I had Joomla built into my pages, so it should be easy. However, it always seems to cost a lot more to have someone do it than it is to do it myself. What should I be looking for? How much should it cost to have my pages up dated?
Questions! Questions! When it comes to web pages it's pardora's box!
I can build a landing page for my site in less than an hour. I start with an existing one, rename it, and go from there.
The longest amount of time is the quick internet research required for the paragraph or so of content on each page.
Here's an example.
http://www.atlantarealestateinfo.com/chestatee.php