Every landing page we ship goes through the same twelve checks before it goes live. None of them are clever. All of them catch issues a fresh designer or copywriter would miss.
We don't run them at the end. We run them after every milestone — wireframe, design, build, content — so we don't have to redo work.
A landing page is a single argument with twelve places to break it.
The twelve checks
- Above the fold answers the question. Who is this for, what does it do, and what's the next step. If a stranger can't answer those three in five seconds, the hero is broken.
- One CTA per scroll length. Every screen height should have exactly one primary action. Two competing buttons split intent; zero buttons stalls the read.
- Social proof in the first 600 pixels. Logo bar, one testimonial, or a stat. Whatever you have — show it before the user has to scroll twice.
- Mobile tap targets are 44px minimum. Buttons, links, social icons, accordion triggers. Anything under 44px is a missed tap on a phone.
- Scroll velocity is even. Open the page on a phone and scroll once with your thumb. If a section flies past or sticks, the rhythm is off — usually too much white space or a heavy image.
- The form has fewer fields than you think. Name, email, message. That's it. Every extra field cuts conversion. If you need more, ask on the second screen.
- Page weight is under 1 MB on first load. Hero image compressed, icons inlined as SVG, fonts preloaded. Lighthouse score 90+ on mobile, every time.
- One emotion per section. Curiosity, trust, urgency, relief. If a section tries two, both land at half strength.
- Headlines are read out loud. Read every H1, H2, and H3 out loud before signing off. If you stumble or run out of breath, rewrite.
- Alt text on every image. Accessibility check, SEO check, and a forcing function — if you can't describe an image in one sentence, it probably isn't earning its place.
- 404, 500, and form-error states are styled. If a form fails or a page is missing, the user shouldn't drop into a default WordPress page. Two extra hours of work, one less broken impression.
- Analytics fire on the right events. Form submit, button click, scroll depth, video play. If you launch without tracking, you launch blind.
The check we run last
Open the page on the worst phone you own, on the slowest connection you can find, and try to do the thing the page wants you to do. If you can — and it feels effortless — ship it. If not, keep going.
That's it. No magic. Just twelve small things, run in order, every time.
Want this as a printable checklist? Ask Kiro and we'll send the PDF.