ICO Initial Coin Offering Website Template – 28 Elements to Consider
Initial Coin Offering Website Template – what’s the perfect format?
If you’re running an ICO there is only ONE thing you should be focused on – getting email addresses.
Facebook likes, YouTube subs, google listings, retweets and so on all have value, but they don’t belong to you, so you’re effectively renting them and, with FB and Google clamping down on ICO advertising, you have no control over them.
When you have an email list, you own your business, instead of renting it. This is why you should direct ALL of your energy into building that list as fast as you can.
We put together the template for an upcoming ICO for the brilliant blockchain idea behind Hip Interactive Property (otherwise known as simply as HiP).
THIS is your number ONE objective. Seeing lots of these in your inbox:
Here’s a breakdown:
1. Page Title:
“title>HiP ICO (Initial Coin Offering) – Token Generation Event – Earlybird List”
Essential for SEO – although there is some ickyness around the word “ICO” because of all the scams and legal shennanigans, it’s still by far the biggest keyword in terms of search traffic, so it has to be in there. TGE or Token Generation Event my be gaining popularity, but it’s got a long way to go in terms of traffic.
It’s also important that people find you in google when they look for your ICO, like HiP:
2. Meta Description:
“meta name=”description” content=”Click here to get in on the HiP ICO (Initial Coin Offering) Token Generation Event – sign up NOW for special discounts. Join the blockchain property revolution.”
Here, we include:
– CTA (call to action – tells people what to do, helps CTR, increases rankings. In this case, “Click here”
– Branding (HiP)
– keywords: ICO, Initial Coin Offering, Token Generation Event
– Incentive “sign up now for special discounts”
– mission statement “join the…”
3. UX Header:
4. Here, we are making it 100% clear what we want people to do, with NO DISTRACTIONS.
5. No social media links (why oh why would you want people to leave after you’ve spent so much effort getting them to your page??)
6. Logos added for TRUST (subconscious)
7. BIG GREEN BUTTON (which goes straight to the email form which in turn adds them to a Mailchimp database. Aweber is cheaper, Infusionsoft is confusionsoft, you make your own choices here). It doesn’t have to be green, by the way – just make it stand out if you can.
One thing on this part of the page we argued about was the whopping great big video – this is great for branding (HiP is mapping out the world in a gamified 3D landscape to make property truly interactive), but the size of the file can slow down loading times. I.E. this is a compromise.
8. Next up, we distill what HiP is all about in a way that will appeal to a crypto investor as clearly as we can:
9. Then we expand on this to show it’s real-world application (with another CTA button):
10. Then we pull the application of the technology even more into the real world:
11. Then we explain what the token sale is and what it’s for:
12. Then we add some video content of the founder, Kai, speaking at some illustrious events to gain more credibility with the visitor:
13. In fact, we’ve produced a wide-range of over 50 videos with HiP so far. This was considered super-important for transparency, building trust, and letting the story of the business unfold as we go along.
14. Then, and this is super-important, we add in bios of the team that HiP has assembled, which is world class. It’s also important to add in links to Linkedin profiles so potential investors can validate that these people are real and have proven track records in their fields of expertise..
15. Next, there’s the roadmap – people want to know how you got to where you currently are. You should be getting by now that the key thing when launching an ICO, as with any type of investment pitch, is trust. Your story so far shows you’re serious about your project, and people want to see what you’ve achieved up to this point – it gives them tons of confidence that you are going to be a good bet for the future..
16. Then, more confidence building – Awards? Regulated? Registered? Real? Don’t be shy. You’re trying to raise money here!
It all piles on the trust (as long as you’re telling the truth!):
17. Now they know who you are and where you’ve been, tell them where you’re going and what your plans are (without giving anything too confidential away, obviously):
18. Then, the whole purpose of your ICO website – getting the data! In HiP’s case, they are asking for first and last names so the emails can be personalised, the email address for obvious reasons and also a public key (optional). It’s optional because some people might not want to give that info at this stage of the proceedings, but it can save some time validating your potential investor list when it’s time to collect the investment money. You’ll also notice some GDPR gubbins here from Mailchimp (personally, I don’t like this or feel it’s necessary, but it hasn’t affected the conversion rates so no harm staying the right side of your email software provider).
19. Blog posts – having these excerpts from a regularly updated blog also adds trust, shows you’re active and keeps the page fresh in Google’s eyes, which means the Google spiders will check back on you more often, which is always good for traffic and rankings.
It’s worth noting that most ICO websites have a short lifespan (usually less than 12 months) and are built on new domains, so building up SEO collateral is often difficult because you don’t normally have the time to build the off-page assets, so this has to be a well-thought out strategic decision.
20. One thing we did do with HiP is produce content based around long tail ICO related questions to help us rank for keywords that we know are only going to be entered by potential investors:
This helps us get some nice longtail rankings and targeted traffic in Google:
21. The footer is the place for you legal stuff and distractions like social media buttons. They add some credibility, but keep them down here out of the way. Also, make sure you include important stuff like a GDPR compliant privacy policy, and a full postal address (Google loves these).
Other important things to consider are
22. Being secure. Google hates non-https sites, so make sure you’ve got this sorted.
23. Being Mobile Friendly. The Big G is actively penalising sites that are not. Check yours here:
24. Being fast to load (HiP is borderline with this because of the video as mentioned above, but do your best to keep it nice and light). Check your on GTMetrix.
25. Get some translations on there into the languages of whatever country you are targeting. It doesn’t actually matter if they are perfect or not. As a long standing crypto friend and CEO said to me – “Especially if you’re targeting Asia, they just see it as a sign of respect”. HiP went the extra mile and got professional interpretations (much better than simple translations), but that’s your judgment call.
26. Make sure your site is indexed in Google here. Also do this for new blog posts as you publish them.
27. Send some social signals to your landing page and to your blog posts as soon as you publish them as well, especially if they are keyword optimised.
Notice anything missing?
28. The Whitepaper
The keen-eyed among you will have noticed that there’s no Whitepaper here – an essential for any business wishing to raise funds through an ICO.
Well, HiP is not ready to release theirs yet, and that’s their prerogative. Despite this, they have managed to build up a very healthy email list of investors from all over the world since this web page launched just before Xmas 2017.
Obviously, we can’t share sign-up rates, traffic or anything else confidential, but we hope you found this a useful breakdown of the essential elements for any ICO website. Feel free to add comments below or contact us if you need any help with your ICO marketing.
Whatever you do – best of luck with your ICO – we hope you help the blockchain make the world a better place with your project 🙂
