Praying Through Acts Book Landing Page

I agreed to take on a project last month that not just made me step past my level of comfort, but figuratively cross the line altogether and dance all over it.

And I’m a pretty bad dancer.

Most of the projects I take on are web-based, but I recognized an opportunity for Foursquare to create a book based on a year-long series of it was posting online throughout 2011. The basic idea was to compile the posts into a single collection with additional content (such as study questions, a forward and updates). My imagination envisioned the final product looking something like the phenomenal A Book Apart series, which I clamor over with every new release.

The book is a great idea for a company like Foursquare that rarely creates its own materials, because repurposing content offers a chance to reach people that wouldn’t have otherwise seen it on a website. However, I realized the reason Foursquare rarely creates its own resources: there is no one to own the creation of them. At least, that’s what I learned when my boss asked me to lead this project.

I’ll be excited to show off the book when it’s done in February of next year, but until then, I’ve been working on a strategy to promote the book after it releases. Although we’re still in September and have four months to look forward to, I’m laying down the foundation that will get the word out so we can hit the ground running right at launch.

One of the various ways we’ll be promoting the book is online (surprise, surprise), but rather than use it in the traditional marketing sense (e.g. buying AdWords) we’re going to use a landing page as the central hub for all sales. That’s right. No brick and mortar. No phone number. No email.

Just a landing page.

The inspiration comes from advice that Penelope trunk published early this year when she released her least book and claimed that no one cares about a book title or a cover any more. Rather than spend the time and effort to create those, use it to create a stunning and helpful landing page that anyone can link to easily. Books travel by word-of-mouth, Trunk says, and that happens most effectively online when people have something to link to.

Penelope used a service called Unbounce to create her landing page. But since I have the time (kinda) and the skill (sorta) to do it myself, I went ahead and took a stab at it.