Questions about creating a landing page before building product

Hey Vacay!

I think you're on the right path, first of all, but I do agree with others that you should first have an idea of how you're going to solve a particular problem, not just a promise that you'll solve it "somehow". Sorry if I misunderstood it in any way!

1. If you don't have a working product, create visual prototypes in Figma or other mockup tool. To make it easier, find a Figma library of components (such as UntitledUI (paid) or the Material Design UI kit (free)) to get some components into Figma so you can drag-n-drop to create the potential user interface. Tinker with this for a few hours and you'll get the screenshots you need.

2. You can gather social proof after you've done the landing page. Ask some of your developer friends or colleagues whether they have the same problem, whether they would pay for it, and how your solution would help them. Use that as feedback about the product before you even launch!

3. I think you should just say "coming soon" or "private beta" and have an email collection widget to collect interest. This will give the users hope that it's real and if they have the same problem and want it solved - they'll sign up to know more about it. Or they'll at least bookmark the link to visit later on.

4. If you're a developer yourself, I'd consider building the landing page yourself. I just recently wrote a post about my experience of building a landing page myself 😄

5. Just had an idea while writing this comment - don't forget to add analytics to your landing page, and fire off analytics events whenever the visitor clicks on any "Get started" or "Notify me" buttons on the landing page. These can indicate intent/need from the visitor. Otherwise it can be really hard to tell engagement with just the number of page visits.

Hope this helps! 😄

Seems like you are "putting the cart before the horse".

Landing pages are for exposing/selling your product. They are inseparable.
You at least need to show - HOW you are trying to solve the problem.
Telling just a promise you will do it — won't cut in nowadays.

You don't have to build it.
Just work on a mockup with a designer in Figma or similar. Still miles better than a generic illustration with a person climbing a ladder.

I wrote a case study the other day on IH. Maybe you'll find it useful. I just showed a mockup.
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/case-study-getfoyl-landing-redesigned-for-conversion-140-increase-91578d63ec

Good luck.

1. make a mockup or clickdummy in figma or pay someone to make a single dashboard like screen for you. that should not be that expensive.

2. if you dont have social proof, leave it. or ask some friends what they think of the idea and if they are willing to be testimonials (its fake but sometimes you gotta do stuff like that)

3. tell your visitors its closed beta so its not public yet. if you state that its just an idea people might be turning away.

4. nope never heard of umso

Based on above question it sounds like you also don't have an audience to begin with.
So how are you going to test your landing page strategy? Paid ads?

I would suggest talk to people, make relationships, DM them - on:
Twitter
Blind
Discord groups

Help them with reference to the problem you are solving. Use those conversations as testimonials.

Once you have some audience - then drive them to your landing page. I hope that helps.

Also I would recommending using Carrd for landing page. Simple and inexpensive.

I was watching a video from Balsamiq, who creates a wireframing tool. I was wondering whether to upgrade my copy, since I bought it almost a decade ago.

In the video, he made a good point about the fact that when a mockup or wireframe of a product looks very beta, or even like a sketch, it gives an immediate impression to people seeing it, that it is indeed in the concept phase, and is in the beginning development phase.
So that means that people, whether seeing the product idea on a landing page, or even if you emailed a picture to a friend, they won't hesitate to be transparent about they want to change about it without feeling like they're criticizing it.

Carrd.io is a good and easy start.

I think it's ok to get something out there and then improve it over time. That's the point anyway! Get it out there, get feedback and iterate. The first step may well be to get a mockup of your idea on the page but don't let that stop you from getting something out there.

Phil
Oxogen.io - Community of like-minded founders where you are rewarded for being part of the tribe.

i had this exact problem last week.

we (me and the founder) ended up focussing on what we knew we wanted to get out there and using 'fake' mockups to demonstrate it (like others suggested).

your product will naturally evolve over time, so don't stress too much about this first iteration of the landing page.

i ended up using webflow (i'm not a dev), but would try https://versoly.com/ next time

I used to have an LP for BotMeNot while it was still in development, and users couldn't test it out.

I think that getting people interested needs to be done both on and off the LP.

You've already got a lot of useful tips regarding the LP, and I'd like to point out what seems like the most important one to me.

Be specific and tangible, but not overly technical, when it comes to how you're solving your potential client's problem(s). Also, show that you're aware of how this problem is affecting them and what's the scope of it.

For promoting your LP, you need to write copy that's in line with what the visitors are going to see and read on your LP. It just needs to be adjusted to the community you're promoting it to.

For peerlist.io I created a simple Figma preview and shared it with multiple users and get feedback before I put more time into coding it!

I learned what people perceived when they look at it for the first time. Got the copy tested and everything!

Interested to hear more input on these questions, especially 3 — I feel the same as you the 'sign up here' 👉 "oh it's not really live yet" CTA feels icky.

Smth like 'subscribe to join the beta' wouldn't be so off-putting IMO

To your point 3: In the Lean Product by Eric Reiss he mentions that doing exactly that is great to do. If the user clicked the link then they're interested, you could say that the feature isn't avaiable yet but once it is you can email them

There is a relevant comment about this on a post the other day:

https://www.indiehackers.com/post/i-failed-to-create-saas-twice-both-in-the-early-stages-1997b8cb9b?commentId=-N3qgeUCboeIiAPyFpps