Ask HN: How to create an awesome landing page?

I've see a lot of startups announced on HN. Many with really nice landing pages. It seems like the landing page is critically important to a startup's launch since it's the first thing prospective users see. It's like a clickable elevator pitch.

My business partner and I are getting closer to launching our own startup. I'm a software developer and my partner is an EE. I feel like between the two of us we have a long list of diverse talents but graphic design and marketing are not on that list.

We have sufficient capital but not enough that we can afford to blow it on an expensive marketing firm. We used 99-designs in the past and got a logo we are quite happy with but I'm hesitant about trusting a handful of random designers with a landing page as it is not only about graphic design but also marketing. I'm also hesitant about trusting it to a marketing firm which may or may not understand tech startups.

So, HN, how should we go about creating a landing page that will help us knock it out of the park, with out breaking the bank?