You need to make a good first impression to shine online with potential customers, so should you do it through a landing page vs a website, or do you need both? Today we’re going to help you understand the difference between a landing page and a website and the specific purpose they provide to grab your customer’s attention.
Welcome to Marketing and a Mic. We’re here to give you a variety of digital marketing tips, trends, and useful guides to help your business get results. Landing pages and websites are both customized to cater to potential customers, but they serve two very different purposes. So, let’s first start off by explaining the basics between both
LANDING PAGE VS WEBSITE: THE BASICS
Here’s a chart to give you a good visual comparison between the two.
Number of Pages
A website contains five pages or more, whereas a landing page is a single page with an attached thank you or confirmation page.
Information
A website contains all the information customers need to know about your business. It serves as the online hub for your brand. A landing page provides information that pertains only to a specific item or offer.
Functionality
Websites are more robust and may contain multiple modules and functions. A landing page is very hyper-focused to contain relevant text, images, and a form about an item or offer
Navigation
Because a website contains multiple pages, all the pages on the site are easily accessible and interlinked with each other. Landing pages, on the other hand, have limited navigation and are not meant for you to leave that specific page.
Purpose
The purpose of a website is to explain or present your business to users. It’s also your online source to optimize your business through search engines via SEO. The purpose of a landing page is to sell or capture leads. They are specifically designed for higher conversions
This comparison table makes it clear to see that the objective and audience for both is different. Your website audience is for people to learn more about your business and what you offer. You want them to poke around, read your blogs or browse your online store.
Your website serves as an all-inclusive hub for people to use to get the answers they need. On the other hand, a landing page serves a more targeted audience. Once people have landed there, they already know what they are looking for.
For example, someone searching for a local residential painter might find your landing page in the search results. They will click on the link to send them directly to your landing page to book a consultation. They know what they want and are more likely to convert after visiting your landing page.
LANDING PAGE VS WEBSITE: WHICH TO CHOOSE?
Now that you have a better idea of the two, which one makes sense for your business? The answer comes down to what you are looking to accomplish.
Landing pages are ideal for:
- Capturing potential leads and customers through an online ad campaign
- Quickly launching a product
- Encouraging users to take a single action: claim an offer, subscribe to a membership, make a purchase
Your website is the ideal place to tell your brand’s story and explain the reasons why people should consider doing business with you.
Websites are ideal for:
- Explaining your business and what you do
- Displaying all the products and services that you offer in detail
- Building trust and credibility with potential customers. It’s also the best place to show off your expertise through FAQs, reviews, blogs, and so on
- Improve your search engine rankings and visibility
WHEN TO USE A WEBSITE
Your website is the best place for customers to get to know your business and your story. It gives you a lot more space for people to navigate through – and you want them to spend time on your website. Not only does it help visitors familiarize themselves, but it’s also a great signal to search engines that people find your content useful. How people discover your website is by the content within your site and the SEO strategy built around it.
When people are searching the internet for general terms such as “interior design” or “pest control,” chances are they need more information about those topics. This is where your website can be the ideal place to show them what you offer and encourage them to dive deeper to find what they need. Websites that include separate service pages, location pages, an online store, blogs, and so on make it easy for users to navigate through to find what they need. As we mentioned before, a website is a huge piece of your SEO strategy.
If you want to increase your brand awareness and online traffic and help people find your business through search results, optimizing your web pages through SEO is key. This is a significant benefit over landing pages. Landing pages are limited by a much more specific search/keyword. You can optimize your website to cast out a much larger net of potential customers through SEO.
You can do this by optimizing pages for:
Local Keywords: location-specific keyword search terms.
Product or Service Keywords: specific keyword phrases people use to find your product or service.
Question keywords: targeted questions or an FAQ section that targets related answers to questions people are asking. You can even hand-pick website placements that fit your target audience.
WHEN TO USE A LANDING PAGE
By far, the best reason to create a landing page is to coincide with any advertising campaign you are running. If you’re looking to create an online ad, people need someone to go to when they click on that ad. A dedicated landing page should be their landing spot to get all the information they need to drive them to convert. Your landing page should be an extension of your own website in terms of design, color, and layout.
Wherever your online ad is placed, there needs to be a CTA option to take them to the landing page. The biggest component to keep in mind with a landing page is that it needs to be designed as a lead magnet. High-performing landing pages contain a catchy headline and copy, a clear CTA button, or a form that captures valuable information your need. There should be minimal distractions and clear elements to direct attention exactly where you want them to look.
Can you use a landing page as your website? You might be thinking, if it’s so targeted, it should give me good results. While you technically can use a landing page as a website, we don’t recommend it. Your best bet is to have a dedicated website and use a landing page for your advertising campaigns
FINAL THOUGHTS
And there you have it! We hope that gave you a better understanding of the purpose, value, and differences between a landing page vs a website. And that this will help you determine what is best for your marketing strategy.
If you need any help with setting up a website, landing page, or any other way to drive more traffic to your business, we would love to help. Don’t forget that our podcast also goes live on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and you can catch the replay on Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more resources to help your digital marketing plan.