How to Build a Landing Page on Carrd

Register for a free account at Carrd.co to access your dashboard. You can launch your first website on a free subdomain to test functionality before committing to a custom domain. The free tier provides full access to the builder, though upgrading to Pro ($19/year) unlocks custom domains and advanced features.

From your dashboard, click New Site and choose from numerous free templates organized by category, including landing pages, portfolios, profile pages, and coming soon pages. Templates are recommended as starting points, especially for beginners, as they provide pre-designed layouts tailored for specific purposes. Alternatively, select a blank page if you prefer to build from scratch. Preview templates before selecting to ensure they match your vision.

Once you've selected a template, you'll work within the Canvas, which displays a live preview of your site. The Canvas allows you to move and arrange elements directly. When you hover over elements, a sidebar appears where you can upload images, change appearance, and customize properties like text color, font, size, and animations. You can close this sidebar to return to the main view of your website.

Using the drag-and-drop builder, add and modify elements including text boxes, images, videos, sections, links, audio, and forms. For text, you can edit content, choose heading or content styles, set text color and font, adjust size, and add animations such as smooth appearances or tilts. For images, upload your files through the sidebar and adjust width and height (set height to Auto for responsive scaling). Use spacing and section breaks to organize content for better readability and flow.

Customize the two base elements found on every Carrd site. For the Background, choose a solid color, gradient, custom image, or video. You can also add patterns or textures to create depth and personality. The Page element is where all other site elements live and can be repositioned and styled in various ways. These foundational elements set the visual tone for your entire landing page.

If building a lead generation landing page, add a form element to collect emails. Insert a form block and configure fields for email capture. Connect the form to your email marketing platform (such as GetResponse, ConvertKit, or similar services) through Carrd's integrations. This allows you to automatically add subscribers to your email list when they submit the form. Configure the thank you page that appears after form submissions to confirm receipt and set expectations.

Click the mobile phone icon in the builder to switch to mobile view and verify how your landing page appears on mobile devices. Carrd creates responsive, mobile-ready websites automatically, but you should manually check that text is readable (18-24px base font size recommended), images aren't cut off, buttons are appropriately sized, and containers are properly aligned. Make adjustments to padding, margins, and font sizes as needed to ensure a polished mobile experience.

Before publishing, thoroughly test all functionality including form submissions, button links, navigation elements, and any embedded content. Click every button to ensure it links to the correct destination (e.g., 'Learn More' buttons should scroll to relevant sections). Test form submissions to confirm they trigger thank you pages and send data to your email service. Use the View Site option to preview the live experience and identify any broken links or unresponsive elements.

Once satisfied with your design and testing, publish your page. Give your site a title and choose your publishing option: use the free Carrd subdomain (e.g., yourname.carrd.co) or connect a custom domain. If using a custom domain, ensure proper DNS setup with CNAME records pointing to Carrd. The publishing process typically completes within seconds, and your landing page becomes live and accessible to visitors.

After publishing, monitor how your landing page performs. Track form submissions, visitor engagement, and conversion metrics using your email service provider's analytics. Gather feedback from early visitors and make iterative improvements to copy, design, and calls-to-action. Carrd allows you to edit and republish changes instantly, so you can test variations and optimize based on real-world performance data.