Which cms is better to use for landing pages? Choosing a CMS for landing page

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Interfaces,

Usability

Either at the instigation of Business Youth, or for other reasons, now only the lazy do not offer Landing Page development. And there are reasons for this. According to the global idea, landing is this special page, which technically should turn visitors into leads with a much higher probability than a website in the usual sense can do.

Satire of most landing pages

Like mushrooms after rain, more and more landing sites appear every day, offering professional development to everyone in need. landing page costing from “three kopecks” to mind-boggling amounts.

At the same speed, the secrets of effective landing pages, which generally boil down to this guide:

clearly formulate your proposal
limit supply
describe why you are the best
describe the work process
give social proof
clearly and conspicuously indicate the desired action

Particularly resourceful people sell packs of “effective landing page” templates, while others have gone even further and thus the market has received universal online services for independent “designing” a landing page.

Is it as simple as 1-2-3?

More and more “specialists” are trying to assure us that they know how to make a conversion of 40%, explaining this with magic, the right persuasion technologies, a special sequence of presentation and an understanding of the client’s pain (literal phrase).

Unfortunately, usually, all this comes down to a horse-sized timer, during the period of which we are offered a 20-30-50-100% discount, a frying pan and delivery by a snow maiden in a bikini.

Out of a good hundred viewed landing pages about landing pages, only a small part said anything about the objects of influence themselves - you and me, those same mysterious consumers who should easily and naturally leave their contact or perform another desired action.

Technology Obsession

Almost every landing page maker will be happy to talk about persuasion techniques, large buttons, succinct headings, stylish timers, etc. But few people even think about why all this is being done. The conviction to perform this or that action cannot be based only on the ball (promotions, discounts) and other dubious techniques.

This kind of Western infographics has become so popular among many CIS studios that every third person considers it their duty to place it on their landing page.

Let's think about users

As in the case of classical interface design (and there is essentially no difference here), at the center of the whole process is a certain collective image - a character with a name, photograph and even a life story who has his own good reasons visit your website. The character has life experiences: dreams, fears, doubts, thoughts and actions. When visiting a site, he wants to complete a certain task, for example, buy a product or order a service. He has certain ideas about this and, depending on how well the site meets his expectations, he will or will not perform the action we want (that is, he will or will not realize his goal on our site).

The task of an experienced designer is to identify these same characters from a variety of different audiences, determine their needs (expectations) and implement appropriate interface solutions.

And in these interface solutions there may well be no timer, no promotion, no discount, but the landing page will work with higher returns.

The whole secret lies in correctly understanding the target audience of a product or service and giving appropriate answers that will simply leave no other choice but to be happy and press the coveted conversion button.

And against the backdrop of this simple but important action, all the pathetic attempts of most landing page makers simply come down to operating with other, lower values. The desire to get cheaper and save money does not concern everyone and affects only a small share of the audience. Thus compensating for their own lack of education, these figures bring a rather dangerous audience into the business of their clients, whose main value is the maximum share. And this audience will happily betray the business and leave in an instant for another, unless an even greater discount is made.

Characters help you abstract from your personal experience, the personal experience of your colleagues and design the interface truly for the target audience that will use it. The use of personas helps to more deeply understand the needs of the target audience and identify solutions that may seem unexpected at first glance. It is also convenient to use characters as a document in defense of interface solutions, when a designer, developer, or God knows who else suddenly decides to show their imagination and make their own adjustments to the layout.

How to “give birth” to a character?

As with conventional childbirth, the character is the result of preliminary work, in our case research.

The first step is to conduct a series of interviews with all responsible parties. Such parties may be:

directors
managers
consultants
sellers

At the same time, if managers are useful for identifying business problems, then the most important for future characters will be those individuals who directly communicate with clients. Often, consultants and salespeople are more knowledgeable about clients' problems, needs, and fears than managers.

Most common mistake Most companies are trying to get information from a brief. So, don’t waste the paper. You will never be able to get truly important and valuable information from the brief. Each business is unique and has its own characteristics that can only be captured through personal communication. In addition, briefs are far from fun to fill out, which is why they usually contain only short replies or information without any value.

It is also ideal to conduct interviews directly with the users of the product or service themselves, but usually this task is difficult to accomplish and increases the project budget significantly, so communicating with consultants and sellers will be enough.

We will postpone the detailed nuances of business interviewing until the next material (if you want one).

Based on the data obtained, you can quite simply identify groups of users with similar behavior and tasks and select from them those for which the interface will be designed. Each group is a character (collective image).

Now it's time for the Empathy Map. It is necessary to form a complete image of each character and looks something like this:

It will be quite simple to fill it out after the interview and it is better to do it together.

Forming needs

As a result, the empathy map will contain the very needs that are needed to create a cool landing page. If you are designing a full-fledged website, then the work should be continued by creating a map of the ideal path (Customer Journey Map). But the landing page only has one page, so we’ll omit it.

Now all that remains is to prioritize the needs (we close the most important ones immediately, the rest as we go) and match them with interface solutions.

What to do with all this?

Now that there is an understanding of the target audience, personas and their needs, the field for real activity appears. Instead of pushing standard blocks around the layout like: “why 99% of customers choose us”, “hurry up for a promotion”, etc., you will be able to answer really exciting questions from users and capture a much more valuable audience than those searching for the ball.

And finally, it should be said that in fact, any technique described, be it a timer, a discount offer, or something else, can be effective tool, if used correctly.

For example, while designing a landing page for an SMS mailing service, we discovered that none of the many competitors offer anything more than just a mailing service. At the same time, from interviews with businesses, the need to help clients learn proper SMS marketing was clearly evident. Such training would not only increase customer loyalty, but also increase the profits of the business itself through more private mailings. Therefore, we suggested that the customer create a guide to effective SMS marketing and give it to each client who tops up their account with a certain amount. minimum amount. Thus, we formed a USP (unique trade offer). Next, two versions of the landing page were designed. In the first version, the manual is broadcast as one of the features of the service, in the second - as a USP with a timer. At the end technical implementation we will run an A/B test and determine which option was the most successful.

IN in this example the use of a timer is quite justified, because the promotion is not being sucked out of thin air, but an offer of real value is being broadcast.

The main insight of this article is think! Stop churning out template solutions without any analytics or preliminary work. Respect yourself and the client's business.

AG Landing Panel CMS is a Landing Page management system or engine for one-page websites. This product will be of interest primarily to: website developers, web studios, weblancers, layout designers, webmasters, as well as website owners

The video shows the main functions of AG Landing Panel CMS.

Note:

The engine can be connected to almost any HTML page
Management system allows you to change any information on the site
Two access levels for increased security - Editor and Developer
The engine can make website backups in one click
In the site settings you can change meta data and contact information
Additions: subscription to the newsletter, multi-page and guest book.
Only individual blocks for changing text can be connected to your site
When ordering a control system connection from us, you receive full set additions
The site is easy to manage, there are tooltips
Images on the site change in one click

About the engine

CMS designed specifically for managing a one-page website

Landing Page is a one-page website! It is not advisable to use WordPress, Joomla or the like to manage it! How many files are there in these engines? Thousand? Two? And all for one page management! What kind of load do they put on the server? How fast do they load? Answer these questions honestly! It is unlikely that a professional webmaster will use such CMS for one-page websites! Landing pages require a super lightweight, compact and easy-to-use engine that can be used by people of any skill level!

Advantages

Check out the benefits of a CMS and what the engine can do

- Without MySQL
  Lightweight and fast
  It only takes 1 MB. The engine does not use a database, it works with HTML page th and makes changes in it. CMS does not require server resources and works on all hosting providers.

- Easy to install
  Does not require installation.
  Just upload to the server via FTP, and the engine is ready to work. There is no need to create any databases or configure access rights. Next, you need to connect the layout itself, this can be done from the admin panel or via FTP.

- Protection from dummies
  Editor and developer.
  Two access levels: Editor and developer. The client will never mess up the template code, since he won't have to mess around with it. All information is edited through Editor access.

- I'm my own boss
  The content is separate from the code.
  The client does not need to run after the developer to change the text, picture or background. Now he can do it himself without fear of accidentally ruining anything. The content is separate from the code.

- Content Security
  Website backups.
  The engine can make backup copies of the site by pressing one button. If a client or developer breaks something in the body of the site as a result of editing, then you can roll back a step or two or three in a special section backup copies content.

Multimedia content
Images section in the admin panel.
In the admin area of the editor and developer there is a special section for managing images. Through this section you can change any image on the site. The section is simplified as much as possible for the client - the image was re-uploaded, it appeared in the right place on the site.

AGLandingPanel engine!

AGLandingPanel is a single-page site management system created for Landing Page developers and their owners.

You will like our system, and maintaining the site will bring you pleasure from your work.

Note

You can connect AGLandingPanel to an HTML page of any complexity
The engine takes up only 1MB of space
Every web designer can connect the CMS
The engine can make backups in one click
Images on the site are changed through a special section
Two access levels - Editor and Developer
AGLandingPanel does not use database
A client who does not understand HTML and CSS will be able to edit the information himself
After installation, you can immediately start developing your Landing Page
AG LP is not a constructor, it is a full-fledged software core
Doesn't take much time to connect your Landing Page

Hello friends and colleagues. Some people here complain to me that customers often ask for landing pages with an admin panel. So that you can quickly change some text on the landing page. And indeed, this is very convenient for the customer, but for us, developers, there is no point in using some kind of heavy CMS like Bitrix, Joomla or WordPress, because it will only be one page, and connecting such heavy things for the sake of a visual editor is not entirely rational, but others We get practically no opportunities from these CMSs.

Developing your own CMS (for me) is also not an option. Firstly, you need to have a certain amount of knowledge, secondly, it’s a waste of time, and thirdly, why reinvent the wheel?

CMS for landing page

Before we begin the setup and description, I would like to draw your attention once again to the fact that we are talking about CMS not about how, but about how visual editor landing page. That is, this is an editor with which the customer can easily change the text and images on the landing page and will not need to get into the code.

Now you can go directly to the CMS - I chose Sitecake. It's really convenient. To understand how it works, I suggest watching a demo video. And then, I’ll show you how to connect the whole thing:

Well, what are your impressions? I think it’s very cool, convenient and also free. No, of course there are paid plans (from $19 to $250), but they are more for branding.

No longer on the developer's website demon paid version. Minimum cost: $19. You have the opportunity to try for 30 days.

In the paid version, you can put your logo in the editor, instead of the Sitecake logo. As I understand it, for $250 we buy the rights and receive full support from the developers. We can sell this CMS as additional functionality or include it in the cost of our services as a separate product. As it is written on the website:

For agencies who want to set custom cms pricing for their clients.

Sitecake - CMS for landing pages

So, let's figure out how to connect it. In fact, everything is very simple. Just download the archive and copy 2 files from there to the root of the site (folder sitecake and sitecake.php).

After this, we assign a class to those elements that will be available for visual editing sc-content- All. After reading this on the developer’s website, I immediately ran to install and test this CMS, which is perfectly suited for landing pages.

That is, it all comes down to 3 steps:

Download and unpack the archive
We throw everything into the root of the site (folder and file)
Add a class in the right place sc-content

To open the editor, you need to type in address bar browser: yoursite.ru/sitecake.php

Content Management Software (CMS) literally translates as “ software for content management." A more familiar formulation to our ears is “content management system.” There is a simpler name - “site engine”.

CMS is special program, which is designed to perform 2 main functions:

Showing a page to the user from predefined design templates and content.
Assisting the page owner in managing the landing page.

Is a CMS required for a landing page? Depends on who the owner of the landing page is. If you are creating a website for yourself personally, and you are a web developer, then you can do without a CMS. The way out of the situation is to update the site via FTP - a file transfer service.

If a landing page is developed for you to order, you are an entrepreneur without programming skills and plan to update the page yourself, then you will definitely need a simple interface to independently maintain a one-page website.

Universal paid and free CMS

There are universal paid and free services for creating landing pages.

The general advantage of universal platforms is that you can find any kind of ready-made solutions.

However, universal CMSs also have their disadvantages:

overloaded interface
too much unnecessary code
loss of time setting up the page and linking it to the system
lack of flexibility and additional load on the server

If we compare, the differences between paid platforms and free ones are as follows:

they are more reliable in operation
they are more convenient to use
more code optimized
better documented

Free engines (CMS) for creating landing pages

For a more detailed introduction to easy-to-use control systems, consider specific examples universal CMS.

Wordpress

The most popular free platform, with which even a beginner can create beautiful page landing. To do this, there are more than 1,500 Russified, customizable templates to choose from.

Pros:

easy installation
interface not overloaded with unnecessary details
a huge number of design themes

Minuses:

unoptimized internal structure, requiring additional installations and settings
the likelihood of code conflicts or injection malicious code, which threatens the security of the site

We have been working with Wordpress for a long time. We can advise and install the system for you and help you choose a template

Joomla

Full-fledged free tool to develop a landing page based on 23 template options. A landing page made on Joomla can have any design and content. All versions of the product are Russified, so users will not have any problems with the language.

Pros:

opportunity free download templates
convenient use provided correct settings programmer

Minuses:

necessity additional purchase modules for the implementation of non-standard projects
poor protection against hacking

In general, the ease of use of this system, like many others, depends on the adequacy of the developers who were involved in the development of the landing page. If the developer has configured everything correctly, administering the site will be easy; if not, expect problems.

Paid CMS for creating landing pages

1C-UMI

A completely commercial system that provides the ability to attach your domain only on the basis paid tariffs. On the UMI platform, you can either create a landing page yourself or use a ready-made one.

Pros:

convenient control panel structure
variety of template themes
a good set of tools for SEO optimization and landing page promotion
low probability of conflicts in the code due to writing additional modules specifically for this platform
service of contacting technical support when identifying bugs in the operation of the site

Minuses:

the need to purchase additional modules
When installing a plugin of the wrong version, there is a high probability of failure, for which the technical support service is not responsible

We are official partner UMI. We can advise and buy a suitable edition of the system for you.

1C-Bitrix

The optimal solution for creating a modern, highly efficient website with the ability to customize 1C. Thanks to this, the program can conveniently control orders and store information about goods or services.

Pros:

availability of a database of materials and documentation for working with the platform
automation of lead collection from landing page
increase in conversion significantly compared to a regular website thanks to built-in site analysis tools

Minuses:

inconvenient administrative panel designed for programmers
weak system that is not suitable for heavy loads

We are the official partner of 1C-Bitrix. We can advise and buy a suitable edition of the system for you.

NetCat

A CMS system with more than 15 years of history, which is positioned as the first landing page builder that creates selling pages itself. Purchasing a NetCat license provides support for an unlimited number of sites.

Pros:

free to use and update
open source and the ability to make changes to system modules
quite adequate admin interface (control panel)
availability of technical support
ability to create a site map
no load on the server

Minuses:

reluctance of technical support staff to provide free help in case changes to the site are made by the user without the appropriate knowledge
when purchasing a ready-made solution, you may encounter problems that were not present when viewing the demo version
danger of site infection by malicious viruses

After considering the features of various CMSs, the choice is yours which tool to choose based on your requirements. Regardless of whether you are planning to create a custom landing page or want to buy a one-page website, we recommend choosing programs for on a paid basis, since with their purchase you receive a guarantee from the developer company technical support in case of difficulties in working with the CMS.

Either at the instigation of Business Youth, or for other reasons, now only the lazy do not offer Landing Page development. And there are reasons for this. According to the global idea, a landing page is a special page that technically should turn visitors into leads with a much higher probability than a website in the usual sense can do.

Satire of most landing pages

Like mushrooms after rain, more and more new landing sites appear every day, offering everyone in need the development of a professional landing page costing from “three kopecks” to mind-boggling sums.

At the same speed, the secrets of effective landing pages are beginning to spread across the Internet, which generally boil down to the following guide:

clearly formulate your proposal
limit supply
describe why you are the best
describe the work process
give social proof
clearly and conspicuously indicate the desired action