Website vs Landing Page: Which Do You Need?
When building a new website for your business, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is whether or not to go with a full-fledged website or to use a landing page instead. The decision you make can affect your SEO strategy, your conversion rates, and more.
So let’s take a look at how each works, what its benefits are, and which type of site you should create.
What is a Website?
A website is a collection of related web pages, images, videos, or other digital assets that are hosted on at least one web server. It is a computer file system that contains the website’s content.
The term “website” usually refers to the collection, rather than an anyone Web page.
The Web is composed of millions of individual Web pages, which are often known as “Websites”.
A website owner or operator maintains a website.
A single website can have several pages, often with different domain names pointing to the same content. This is known as domain squatting. Every website is assigned a unique numeric address called an Internet Protocol address (IP address).
The IP address gives the exact location of the server hosting that particular site on the Internet.
A website’s URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is analogous to its street address and can be either public, using a domain name where anyone can register for free, or private, using a domain name with registration available only by permission of an ISP or other organization that owns the space.
There are also sub-types of websites based on how they are accessed: Web pages can be accessed via a browser on a desktop computer or mobile device, or by special software used by disabled people.
What is a Landing Page?
A landing page is a webpage that is dedicated to promoting an event, product, or service.
Landing pages are typically used in conjunction with marketing campaigns, to promote products or services by collecting visitor information.
Landing pages are often used when advertising online because when someone clicks on an ad, they are taken to that landing page instead of the regular website for the business.
This allows businesses to track statistics like how many people clicked on their ad, how many people viewed a particular landing page, etc.
Landing pages can be used for lead generation and customer support.
What is The difference between them?
1. Audience
The first major difference between your website and your landing pages is your audience.
Landing pages are exactly what they sound like. It’s a “page” someone “lands” on after clicking on one of your ads.
You can target certain demographics who are more likely to convert. This means your landing page needs to be tailored to this type of audience.
They are less likely than organic traffic to be simply exploring your website, so your landing pages should only show them the information and content they are going to need to push them to convert.
2. Links
Landing pages only have one goal: convert traffic. websites, on the other hand, have multiple goals.
For example, on a typical website, there is usually some sort of navigation bar. There might also be several more website links in your footer or social media links on your blog. You need all of these links to help your visitors get to where they need to go or interact with your site in the way you want.
On your landing page, however, you shouldn’t have any of these links. Keeping your viewers on your landing page until they convert is your main goal, so you should try to avoid these potential distractions.
It’s best to find ways to give your audience the information they need without taking them off the page. For a long page, you can have a navbar that scrolls them to the correct section of your landing page or show off your social media follower count directly on the page.
3. Content
Although you might use some of the same information you put on your website, a landing page should only have content that is specific to the offer, product, or service that you are trying to promote.
Unlike organic traffic to your website, you know what ads and search terms brought your visitors to your landing page. As a result, your landing page should be specific to those searches or ads.
For example, you are a company that sells all types of fruit. Someone searches for “bananas” and clicks your ad. Now, instead of taking them to your website where you are showing off the many types of fruits you offer, you should be pointing these ads to a landing page specific to bananas. Why are your bananas the best? What type of offer do you have for banana sales specifically?
Ideally, your landing pages should be set up so that someone who clicks on your ad arrives at your page and thinks, “Yes! This is exactly what I was looking for!”
4. Call-to-Action
One of the biggest differences between the website and a landing page is that a landing page is action-oriented. In other words, landing pages should have some type of Call-to-Action (CTA) that encourages your viewers to convert.
A CTA can be anything from filling out a form to calling a phone number or even plain buying your product. But, regardless of what your CTA is, it needs to be obvious and straightforward. For example, “Get Your Free Ebook!”, “Call Us Now!” or “Get Started Today”.
In contrast to landing pages, your website likely does not have a strong and prevalent CTA (which is perfectly ok) because it’s mostly used as a resource. Landing pages, however, should set themselves apart by visually and verbally driving your viewers to convert.
Conclusion
After reading this article, now you have the knowledge to choose what is right for your business – a landing page or a website, or even both. Your website has lots of info, lots of sources, and lots of links.
The purpose of your business website is to provide plenty of information and resources to your potential customers.
A landing page has a specific message, relevant content and is tightly focused.
Its purpose is to convert, whether that means generating leads, prompting phone calls, increasing sign-ups, or initiating an online chat with potential customers.
Interested in designing a high converting website for your business, click here or leave me a comment below!
If you liked this post share it on Facebook or Pinterest and join my newsletter for more interesting articles.
