Digital business card landing page best practices: how to lay out your profile, and what goes first
By Online Business Cards Editorial Team | Published | Updated | Setting up your card
Most people open your digital card on a phone, seconds after meeting you. The order of what they see matters as much as what is on it. Here is how to lay it out.
Our checklist of what to put on a digital business card covers the contents. This guide is about the order. Two profiles with the same details can work very differently depending on what someone sees first, how many choices they are given, and how easy it is to act on a small phone screen.
Start from how people open your card
Picture the moment someone opens your profile. They have usually just met you or read your email. They are on a phone, possibly on mobile data, and they have a few seconds of attention. They want to answer two questions: who is this, and how do I get back in touch?
Everything about the layout follows from that. Put the answers to those two questions on the first screen, and put everything else in the order this person is most likely to need it.
The first screen
The top of your profile, before anyone scrolls, should hold:
- Your name and photo or logo. A clear, recent photo helps people match the card to the conversation.
- One line on what you do. Plain words, not a slogan: "Residential lettings in north Leeds" says more than "Making moves happen".
- A save contact button. This is the one action almost everyone needs.
- Your main action. One more button for the thing you most want people to do next.
If the first screen is crowded with icons, banners or a long introduction, the important buttons slide out of view.
Choose one main action
Decide what you most want people to do after saving your details, and make it the most prominent button. Typical choices are:
- Book a call or appointment for consultants, coaches and services sold by the hour
- Send an enquiry or ask for a quote for trades, agencies and anything priced per job
- Call or message when speed matters, such as emergency trades or lettings
- Visit your website or shop when the sale happens there
You can offer the others further down, but one clear first choice works better than six equal ones. Bookings and enquiry forms are part of the Business Plan; on Brand Presence, a call, message or website link does the same job.
Order the rest by who is looking
After the first screen, order sections by what your audience is likely to want next. Some examples:
Role | Suggested order after the first screen
Tradesperson | Area served, gallery of recent work, reviews, enquiry form, opening hours
Consultant or coach | Services, booking, testimonials, LinkedIn, articles
Estate or letting agent | Phone and WhatsApp, link to current listings, valuation enquiry, branch details
Exhibitor or event speaker | Brochure, enquiry form, social links, website
Freelancer | Portfolio, services, testimonials, contact form
Brand Presence includes visibility and order settings, so you can hide or reorder any section as your work changes. That is useful before and after an event, when a brochure or offer becomes relevant and then goes out of date.
Links: fewer, labelled and in order
- Keep the list short. Include the places where you actually reply. An inactive account looks worse than no account.
- Put your main links first. Most people look at the first few and stop.
- Label them clearly. "Book a 20-minute call" is more useful than an unlabelled icon.
- Check they work. A broken link on a business card undoes the good impression. Our guide to common digital business card mistakes has more of these.
Proof that holds up
Testimonials, reviews and examples of your work help people decide to get in touch, but only if they are real. UK advertising rules require testimonials to be genuine and you should be able to show where each one came from. Ask permission before using someone's name, keep quotes short, and do not add star ratings or customer numbers you cannot back up.
Make it readable for everyone
- Use enough contrast. Light grey text on white, or text over a busy photo, is hard to read outdoors.
- Keep text out of images. Words inside a picture cannot be read by screen readers, cannot be copied, and blur on small screens.
- Write descriptive link text. "Download our price list (PDF)" tells people what will happen; "click here" does not.
- Use sensibly sized photos. Very large images make your profile slow on mobile data. A photo cropped and resized for the web looks just as good on a phone.
Our guide to customising your digital business card covers photos, colours and templates in more detail.
Test it the way other people will see it
Before you share your card widely:
- Open it on your own phone with Wi-Fi turned off, so you see it as someone on mobile data would.
- Scan your QR code from another phone, at the size you will print or display it.
- Press the save contact button and check the contact that appears: name, number, email and job title.
- Try every button and link.
- Ask someone who does not know your business to tell you, after ten seconds, what you do and how they would contact you.
Keep the layout current
Set a reminder every few months, and after any change of role, service or price, to look through your card from top to bottom. Move seasonal items out of the way, update the first-screen line if your focus has changed, and remove anything you no longer offer.
Read next: Digital business card design trends for 2025, and the accessibility basics behind them and Paperless business branding. You can also browse all our guides, or see how an online business card works.
Frequently asked questions
What should be at the top of a digital business card?
Your name, a clear photo or logo, one plain line on what you do, a save contact button and one main action, such as booking or sending an enquiry. Keep everything else below that first screen.
How many links should a digital business card have?
As few as you need, usually the places where you actually reply. Put the most important first and label each one so people know where it goes.
Can I change the order of sections later?
Yes. Brand Presence includes visibility and order settings, so you can hide or reorder any section whenever your work changes.
How long should my profile be?
Long enough to answer who you are, what you do and how to get in touch, plus the proof and links your audience needs. If a section is not likely to help someone decide to contact you, hide it.
How do I check my card works on a phone?
Open it on your phone with Wi-Fi off, scan your QR code from another phone, test the save contact button and every link, and ask someone unfamiliar with your business what they understood in the first ten seconds.