The Clickbait Landing Page

Let’s be honest.

Most entrepreneurs obsess over getting more traffic: SEO, social media, product launches. But if your landing page doesn’t convert, none of it matters.

Most fail not because the product is bad, but because the promise is weak or the page is a mess.

After writing over 30 landing pages and watching thousands of startup launches, I noticed a framework that works. I call it: The Clickbait Landing Page.

Step 1: Make a promise that sounds too good to be true

The first job of your landing page is to stop people from closing the tab. That’s your headline (H1). Your hero section. It needs to make people say: “Wait… what?”

This is where most founders play it too safe. They write “clean” or “honest” copy that nobody remembers.

The best headlines sound too good to be true, slightly clickbait, bold enough to spark curiosity. That’s the job of the promise: To open a loop in the reader’s brain. To make them scroll.

Here’s a simple way to brainstorm it: If TechCrunch wrote an article about your product, what would the headline be?

Step 2: Prove it’s not clickbait

If the promise does its job, the next question is always the same:

“Yeah, but… how?”

This is where your landing page earns trust. Each question your promise raises should be answered in its own section: testimonials, pricing, how it works, etc.

• How does it work? → Show steps 1, 2, 3.

• Why this product? Why now? → Agitate the pain

• Can I trust this? → Add testimonials

• Can I afford it? → Show pricing

• Do I need this now? → Show urgency

Think of your landing page as a sales conversation. Anticipate every doubt and answer it in the right order. That’s how you move someone from “This sounds too good to be true” → “Okay, I’m in.”

And cut anything that doesn’t help make the promise feel real. Extra words kill conversions.

Make it sound scammy. Then prove it isn’t.

Why this works

Let’s say your landing page converts 1% of your 1,000 monthly visitors. That’s 10 sales.

Improve that to 2%, and you’ve doubled your revenue without changing the product, the price, or the traffic.

→ To double your traffic would take ads, SEO, influencer deals (and money).
→ To double your conversion rate takes 3 hours and a blank doc.

This is why landing pages matter. They’re the bridge from attention to money.

Your move this week

1. Rewrite your headline, make it sound too good to be true. (I have a lot more to say about headlines, should I send a full issue on this?)

2. Back it up, answer every question your promise raises (why? what? how?).

3. Cut the fluff, remove anything that doesn’t support the promise.

4. (optional) Send me your before/after: Take a screenshot of your current hero section, then update your headline. Reply with both. I’d love to see. (I’ll feature a few in a future issue)

Don’t expect to nail it first try. Great landing pages are built through iteration and repetition (just like shipping fast).

— Marc Lou