Build simple landing pages

02Fit and tradeoffs

You can deliver this service yourself: you write, build and check the page, so the skills below apply to you. EYF-supported delivery is paused. If it reopens, it is planned only for agreed updates to an existing page the owner controls, not new builds. Either way, you keep the client relationship: you agree the job, collect the approved wording, get the approvals and get permission to publish. This plan is written for doing it yourself.

This suits someone who enjoys clear writing, tidy layout and checking how a page behaves on different screens. You do not need to appear on camera, but you do need to talk through the job with the owner and learn enough about your chosen tool to hand over something reliable.

Skip it if you want a quick sale without testing, or you cannot explain recurring hosting costs. A simple page can quietly grow into copywriting, branding, booking, forms, analytics and ongoing maintenance. A beginner offer should name the features it leaves out.

03How it works

1. Learn a small complete page. Build and revise your sample page before selling a live one. Get comfortable with headings, navigation, layouts that work on phones and basic accessibility.
2. Define a narrow offer. Agree the sections, where the wording comes from, one round of changes, how the files are delivered and who handles later changes. Keep design separate from hosting and maintenance.
3. Ask about the visitor’s task. The page should answer a real question and lead to one appropriate next step. A page cannot rescue an offer nobody wants.
4. Find a relevant buyer. Look for a specific gap, such as a service with no clear explanation online, and ask whether the owner wants it solved. A rough website is not an invitation to redesign it.
5. Share a copy outline before polishing. Confirm the service description and any claims first. Never add invented reviews, qualifications or urgency to fill a layout.
6. Test and hand over. Check links, narrow screens, keyboard focus and the contact route. Get separate permission before publishing, keep production accounts with the owner and explain the recurring costs.

04Get Customers

Look for a service people struggle to understand, or a next step they cannot find. A useful page explains that one service and leads to a working, owner-approved contact route. Start from that problem rather than offering a redesign to every business you see.

Choose your delivery route first

For DIY, finish your sample page and check it on narrow and wide screens, with a keyboard and through every link. Make sure the demo contact button is clearly labelled. Have that page ready to show before you offer paid work. Supported delivery would only cover updates to an existing owner-controlled page, and it is paused for now; the delivery page shows its current status.

Shape the offer in the buyer’s words

Using the Juniper Bike Care sample, the visitor's problem is simple: they need to understand what the bicycle check includes and how to ask about one.

“I can make one clear page explaining your bicycle check and how to ask about it. You approve the facts and keep ownership of the site and domain, and we test the real contact route together before calling it ready.”

Before quoting, you need to know: the service and who visits the page, the approved facts and photos, the real next step, which platform the page lives on, who owns the accounts, and who approves the result. Domain and hosting costs, booking or payment systems, ranking promises and ongoing maintenance sit outside this offer.

Three routes to a first buyer

A local group that allows offers. In a Facebook or Nextdoor group for the area where you actually live or work, check the rules first, then reply only where business responses are welcome and the request fits:

“I build simple pages that explain one service and how to ask about it. Here’s my sample page so you can see the layout; its contact button is a demo. What do people usually need to know before they get in touch with you?”

A warm introduction. Ask someone you know whether they would like to pass on a note:

“I’m building clear, focused service pages. If you know an owner whose service or contact details are hard to find online, would you be happy to forward my sample page? No pressure either way.”

A relevant personal message. Use something you genuinely noticed, sent through the contact route the owner lists for business:

“I looked for how to ask about your bicycle check and couldn’t find a clear next step. How do customers normally get in touch? A focused page might help, if that’s useful.”

If their current page already does the job, move on. Never criticise whoever built it or use their branding without permission. You can ask about the need before your sample is ready, as long as you do not promise a build you cannot deliver yet.

A complete example conversation

This fictional teaching case uses Eli, who runs Juniper Bike Care, and Avery, the seller. It shows one delivery variant: Eli already has hosting, supplies a photo, and Eli's nephew Sam handles every upload, so Avery never needs access to the hosting account. The website handoff guide continues this same case. The worked example in the paid pack is a separate variant: a text-only page sent as an HTML file by email with no hosting involved. The fee and dates here illustrate an agreement; they are not an EYF price, a market rate or a real result.

Avery: I looked for how to ask about your bicycle check, but couldn't find a page explaining what it covers. What do customers ask you most?

Eli: Whether we fix anything in the check. We look at visible parts and note questions to discuss; it isn't a repair or safety test.

Avery: I can build a single page explaining that, with five sections and a link to your existing contact page. What is your website built with, and who looks after it?

Eli: It's plain HTML on my hosting account. My nephew Sam manages the hosting and uploads the files. I own the domain and pay the renewal. Use our current contact page for inquiries, and please show our opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Avery: Then I'll deliver an HTML file and the approved image for Sam to place on your hosting, so I won't need any access to your account. I'll put the hours next to the contact link. Can you supply the photo and check the wording? Who approves the final page?

Eli: I'll send a photo I took and the service wording. I approve the page, and Sam will publish it after I say yes. No booking or payment system is needed.

Avery: I'll send the outline, fee and dates below. Sam can upload my draft to a test folder on your hosting that isn't linked from your site, so you can check it on your phone. It only replaces your live page after you approve. Your hosting and domain stay yours.

The page purpose, platform, contact destination, opening hours, files, approval and publishing responsibilities now have answers. A job on a website builder, or one where you edit inside the client's account, would need a separate decision about tool access and handoff.

Handling replies

• Interested: “Which service and visitor matter most? Which facts and photos are approved, who owns the platform and accounts, and who signs off the page and the contact route?”
• Price question: “Once I know the platform and the wording, I’ll quote the page, its sections, one tested contact link, one round of changes and the handoff. Hosting, booking and ongoing updates are separate.” Base the amount on how long your sample page took, including checks and corrections, and agree it in writing before starting.
• Asks for guaranteed bookings or rankings: “I can build and test the page we agree. I can’t promise bookings, traffic or search positions.”
• Already has a web person, or not interested: “Thanks for letting me know, I’ll leave it there.” Then stop.
• Wants booking or payments built in: “That changes the job. Let’s work out what it needs before treating it as part of a simple page.”
• No clear contact destination or ownership: Pause until the owner has confirmed the real next step and set up access they control. Never accept passwords or two-factor codes.
• Not now: “Would it be alright to check back later?” Only return if they say yes.

If nobody replies

If the channel suits a follow-up, send one a few days later: “Just checking whether a clearer bicycle-check page would be useful right now. No worries if not.” Then stop. Look at what to change for the next owner: a better-matched business, a sharper observation, a clearer sample or a narrower offer. Change one thing and try someone new.

Agree a small paid pilot

Start with this one page. Here is the complete agreement for the same fictional case:

Hi Eli, I'll build one plain HTML page with five sections: the bicycle-check offer, who it helps, what is included, one common question and a next-step section showing your opening hours, “Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.”, with an “Ask about a check” link to your existing contact page. You'll receive index.html, the approved image and editing instructions. You'll own the files, and you and Sam keep control of your hosting and domain; I won't need access to your hosting account. Booking, payments, forms, hosting purchases and ongoing maintenance are not included.

The fee is USD150, paid by bank transfer after you confirm this agreement and by Monday 12 October 2026, before work starts. Please supply the approved wording, your photo and the contact page address by the same day. I'll send the draft files on Wednesday 14 October for Sam to upload to the unlinked test folder. You're the approver: please send everyone's feedback together by Thursday 15 October. One round of changes to this page is included, and I'll send the checked final files on Friday 16 October. I'll answer handoff questions and correct any error in the agreed page through Friday 23 October. New sections or later updates need a separate quote. If inputs or feedback are late, we'll agree revised dates.

Eli replies: “Confirmed: the scope, hours, USD150 fee, inputs and dates work. I approve the page, and Sam publishes it only after I separately approve publication.” In this teaching case, Avery records the payment when it arrives on 12 October. For a real job, choose your fee from the time your own sample build, messages and checks took.

Keep the answers in one brief and welcome the client with the agreed dates. The website handoff guide follows this job through the final handoff note. Your client pays you directly; any later EYF-supported existing-page update would be a separate arrangement.

Deliver, revise and get acceptance

Share the draft where the owner can review it. For Eli, that is the unlinked test folder on Eli's own hosting, where Sam uploads the files Avery sends. Ask for all corrections in one list. Make the agreed changes, send the revised files to Sam, then open the test-folder page and repeat the checks: narrow and wide screens, keyboard focus, every link, the opening hours against Eli's message, and the “Ask about a check” link reaching the real contact page. Write down what you actually checked and anything that did not work.

Your handoff note says where the final files are, which line of index.html holds the opening hours and how Eli can change it and send the file to Sam, that Eli owns and renews the domain and hosting, and that your help with questions ends on Friday 23 October. Then ask: “Does this final page match the service, wording, hours and contact link we agreed? Please reply to confirm you accept it.” Save the yes with that version. Publishing is a separate yes from Eli, and Sam keeps a copy of the old page so it can be restored if something goes wrong.

Get permission for proof and discuss useful updates

Save the acceptance with the final files, and keep the payment record separately. If a real agreement has payment due on delivery, ask for it now and follow up politely under the agreed terms if it is late. Only claim a paid project once the payment has arrived; the fictional example above is not a client result you can claim.

Ask separately: “May I show this page in my portfolio and name Juniper Bike Care?” Having worked on the owner's site does not give you that permission. If they are happy, ask whether they would like to introduce you to another owner whose service needs explaining.

A repeating job needs a real repeating change. Suppose Eli changes opening hours with the seasons and sometimes wants a fresh workshop photo on the page. A monthly update could work like this: Eli sends any new hours and up to one photo they took by the 1st of the month. You update the hours line and the image in index.html, check the files on a phone and send them to Sam, who uploads them to the test folder. You check the contact link there, and Eli approves the update in writing. After Eli says yes, Sam publishes it. Agree in writing the monthly fee (the handoff guide's example is USD30 for each month with changes, paid when Eli sends that month's update), that one set of hours and one photo are included, and that either of you can stop by saying so before the next 1st. Domain renewal, security and uptime monitoring stay with Eli unless you explicitly offer them.

You can also approach another suitable owner with your labelled sample and try another route. A useful next job comes from new information or another real need.

Your next step

Run the phone, keyboard and link checks on your sample page and fix one thing. Then note one real service that is hard to understand online, choose a route from above, and write your opening message in your own words.

05What buyers need

A plausible buyer needs visitors to understand the offer and know what to do next. Confirm the specific problem with questions: “What do people ask before booking?”, “What can the page truthfully promise?” and “Who will update the details after handoff?”

Upwork’s research includes web design, but that marketplace signal is broader than this beginner offer. Webflow’s plan page shows why a free practice environment is different from custom-domain hosting. Google’s SEO guidance supports clear, useful pages; it does not mean a new page will rank or bring in customers.

Pricing, publication and data collection are decisions the owner approves. For a first project, a clear static service page is often enough. Leave out payments and sensitive data collection, even when a tool offers the button.

06Common questions

Do I need to code?

You can use a visual builder or learn basic HTML/CSS. Either way, you need to understand the tool’s limits and be able to test and explain the result. Pick one route for your first sample.

Can the sample page be free?

Yes. A local HTML/CSS page needs no paid host, and some builders offer free staging. A real custom domain, live hosting or advanced features may cost money, so check the current plan before telling anyone hosting is free.

Who should own the domain and account?

For a live business website, the owner should control their domain and production account. Write down any access you keep and who handles maintenance before launch.

Can I guarantee more sales or search traffic?

No. A clear page can make it easier for visitors to get in touch, but traffic, the offer itself and customer behaviour are outside your control. Never invent a conversion lift or ranking promise.

What should I do about forms?

Keep a sample page demo-only. For a real form, confirm where the data goes, what is collected, who can see it, how consent works and who deletes it. Agree that as extra work.