Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Basic Landing Page with React

Chad Phillips
May 28, 2023
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The digital era is characterized by rapid advances in web development technologies, with numerous tools and frameworks available to developers to build engaging and interactive websites. Among these, React, a JavaScript library developed by Facebook, has emerged as a leading choice. One area where React particularly excels is in designing landing pages. This article will explore how to use React for this purpose and why it makes a great choice.

Why React for Landing Pages?

React brings several distinct advantages to the table that make it an excellent choice for creating landing pages:

Component-Based Structure: React breaks down the UI into individual components, allowing developers to create reusable pieces of code. This component-based structure simplifies development and makes maintaining and updating the site more manageable. A change made to a component is automatically updated everywhere the component is used.
Enhanced Performance: React uses a virtual DOM (Document Object Model), which optimizes rendering and improves the website’s performance. This leads to quicker load times, essential for keeping visitors engaged on a landing page.
Interactivity: React is excellent for building interactive UIs. You can create complex features and animations with less code (within the world coding web based apps), improving user experience and increasing engagement, which is key for any landing page.
Strong Community and Resources: With a robust community, React offers extensive resources, including pre-built components, libraries, tutorials, and forums, that can help you set up your landing pages quicker and troubleshoot any issues you might encounter. If you can think of it someone has a solution posted for it. The community is wonderful to work with.

The Step-By-Step Guide

I think a fair disclaimer is that React at first may seem really complicated and hard to use. So if this is your first encounter with React, I would highly recommend reading the documentation and trying some of the examples out. Remember, to take breaks and ask questions, we want to sell you our services but we also want to help those who are trying to learn. If you are here trying something new, we applaud your effort and hope this guide is helpful. We are assuming that you are up to speed with HTML, CSS, And JavaScript. If you are not this might not be the guide you need.

Step 1: Setting up the Development Environment

Before we begin, you need to set up your development environment. Ensure you have Node.js and npm (Node Package Manager) installed on your machine. Once that’s done, you can install React and initiate a new project using Create React App by running the following commands in your terminal:

				
					npx create-react-app landing-page
cd landing-page

Step 2: Plan Your Landing Page

Next, think about the structure of your landing page. Common sections might include a header, a main content area, a call-to-action (CTA) section, and a footer. Each of these will be a separate component in React.

Now, you might be saying to yourself, “Why is this not the first Step?”. In reality, you should of spent a lot of time dwelling on your project. So Ideally you know exactly what you are trying to achieve. This is more of a stop, and think about it in the terms of components. What small parts of this page have to go together to make the entire page. Some people might have more complex needs that others.

Keep in mind we are not going to deep drive into file structure. Maybe in the future, we will have an article on just that. So all you big brains out there, this is for beginners not a deep dive into the best accepted practices. However, feel free to leave a comment on what you would recommend.

Step 3: Create a Header Component

To start, let’s create a Header component. Inside your src directory, create a new file named Header.js and add the following code:

				
					import React from 'react';
const Header = () => {
  return (
    <header>
      <h1>Welcome to Our Site!</h1>
      <nav>
        <ul>
          <li>Home</li>
          <li>About</li>
          <li>Contact</li>
        </ul>
      </nav>
    </header>
  );
}
export default Header;

This is a simple header with a title and a navigation bar.

Step 4: Create the Main Content Component

Next, we’ll create the main content area. This could include information about your product or service. Create a new file named MainContent.js in your src directory and add the following code:

				
					import React from 'react';
const MainContent = () => {
  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Our Product</h2>
      <p>Information about our product...</p>
    </div>
  );
}
export default MainContent;

Step 5: Create the Call to Action Component

A key element of any landing page is the call-to-action (CTA). Create a new file named CTA.js in your src directory and add the following code:

				
					import React from 'react';
const CTA = () => {
  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Get Started Today!</h2>
      <button>Sign Up</button>
    </div>
  );
}
export default CTA;

Step 6: Create the Footer Component

Lastly, let’s create the footer. Create a new file named Footer.js in your src directory and add the following code:

				
					import React from 'react';
const Footer = () => {
  return (
    <footer>
      <p>© 2023 Our Company</p>
    </footer>
  );
}
export default Footer;

Step 7: Put Together Your Landing Page

Now that we have all our components, it’s time to assemble them in App.js. Import all the components and arrange them:

				
					import React from 'react';
import Header from './Header';
import MainContent from './MainContent';
import CTA from './CTA';
import Footer from './Footer';
function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <Header />
      <MainContent />
      <CTA />
      <Footer />
    </div>
  );
}
export default App;

Step 8: Style It with a Little CSS

Although our landing page is functional, it might not look very appealing. You can add styles to your components using CSS. React supports both regular CSS files and inline styles. For instance, you can create a styles.css file in your src directory and link it to your App.js file:

				
					/* styles.css */
header {
  background-color: #f8f9fa;
  padding: 20px;
  text-align: center;
}
h1, h2 {
  color: #343a40;
}
footer {
  background-color: #f8f9fa;
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px;
  position: fixed;
  bottom: 0;
  width: 100%;
}

Then, import your CSS file in App.js:

				
					import './styles.css';

Step 9: Test Your Landing Page

Finally, it’s time to test your landing page. Run your app by using the following command in your terminal:

				
					npm start

Your application will start, and it should open in your default web browser. If not, you can access it by visiting http://localhost:3000.

React’s component-based architecture makes it a suitable choice for building landing pages, allowing for code reusability and easier maintenance. This guide provides a basic foundation, but React’s flexibility and rich ecosystem offer numerous ways to further enhance and customize your landing page, including adding interactivity with state and props, incorporating additional libraries for functionality such as forms and animations, and optimizing your page for SEO and performance.

Good luck and may the power of React serve you well on your next Landing Page.