Above the fold: how to approve a landing page's first screen
A checklist for client, strategy, copy, and design teams to approve a landing page's first screen by campaign, device, and evidence.
The team behind Polimake. We explore the intersection of technology, creativity, and automation.
Above the fold is not a fixed height
It is the part of a page visible before scrolling. It changes with phones, browsers, screen sizes, banners, and accessibility settings. An agency should not approve it from one desktop screenshot.
Its job is orientation: confirm that visitors reached the right place, communicate value, and offer a reasonable next action.
What it should connect
The first screen needs continuity with the ad, email, search, or link that brought the visitor. If an ad promises audit content across five clients, the landing page should not begin with transform your digital future.
Review:
- Audience: is it clear who this is for?
- Problem and outcome: is the promise specific and credible?
- Proof: does it use real evidence rather than invented logos or figures?
- Action: does the CTA describe what happens next?
- Hierarchy: does it work without relying on a decorative image?
- Continuity: does the next section answer the remaining question?
An agency approval workflow
- Strategy defines audience, traffic source, and objective.
- Copy proposes the message and CTA before layout is finalized.
- Design prepares mobile and desktop with real content.
- Development checks loading, focus, zoom, and responsive behavior.
- Account management consolidates client feedback on one version.
- Analytics records the event, baseline, and learning criterion.
In Polimake, the brief, copy, screenshots, visual assets, and approved version can remain in one project. Code belongs in the CMS; the creative decision and its traceability do not need to be split across files and chats.
Test without inventing causality
State a hypothesis: explaining the deliverable beside the CTA will increase qualified requests. Change one meaningful direction, agree the metric, and retain context about period and traffic. A conversion improvement does not prove that the fold alone caused it.
Do not force everything onto the first screen. Price, process, cases, and questions may sit below the fold when the opening provides a clear reason to continue.
To prepare approved editorial assets before layout, see how to publish without blocking design.