Still, debating about landing page vs website?
This article breaks down the differences between a landing page and a website. It will help you decide which choice is best for your business goals.
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You may have heard the term “landing page” floating around the digital marketing world. Many times, it’s used interchangeably with terms like website and home page.
But the truth is landing pages and websites are two distinctly different marketing tools. Although they might look the same on the surface, they each have individual goals and serve a unique role within your company’s marketing plan.
Keep reading to understand and make a decision between landing page vs website. By the end of this article, you’ll have a better idea of which one is right for you.
Above all else, the goal of a landing page is to generate leads.
They are built, designed, and written in a way to turn cold traffic – usually from PPC ad campaigns – into new leads.
Normally, landing pages are launched by companies when they need to bring in new business.
They are ideal when you want to offer new services or sell more of one specific product in your catalog.
Because the goal is lead generation, a landing page lacks many of the website elements such as an about page, services, or even newsletters.
This is not an accident.
By narrowing the scope to one goal, landing pages increase the likelihood of visitors entering their contact information (rather than getting distracted by other pages).
Another advantage? The leads are “qualified.”
Because they’re specific to one offer, landing page leads are more likely to convert into sales than website leads (which may be responding to any number of products or services).
If your number one goal is generating more leads, you should be using a landing page.
Unlike landing pages, websites are more of a “home base” for businesses and brands.
For service-based businesses, usually contain Home Pages, About Us sections, and Service Pages.
These are designed to introduce the brand to the customer (rather than generate a new lead).
Websites also serve long-term marketing goals like nurturing and authority building.
For instance, a career counseling company’s blog might have pages of articles explaining hiring trends, best practices, and other career advice.
Here the goal is to establish the company as an expert and win your business by helping answer your questions.
Many websites also encourage users to sign up for newsletters, watch free content, and download ebooks or other marketing materials.
Because they’re trying to accomplish all these small goals, websites are less likely to turn visitors into new sales leads.
Instead, they’re really only serving as a hub for your content and products.
Bottom line: if you just need a “home base” for your business or brand, you should be using a website.
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When you visit a landing page, you’ll notice it doesn’t contain any navigation links.
There’s a simple reason behind this: leaving the page means you’re less likely to convert into a lead.
A landing page does everything in its power to keep you on the page. Because if you leave, chances are you won’t come back and enter your information.
And that means a business spent money on a pay-per-click ad, didn’t capture your information, and potentially lost a sale.
In fact, the only time you’d ever leave the landing page is when the pop-up form requesting your name and email address appears.
For this reason, landing pages usually aren’t linked to websites.
Often, they are hosted on their own server with a unique domain name and link.
A landing page is one single page and is separate from your website.
Websites, on the other hand, contain multiple pages with lots of different content.
E-commerce sites might have seemingly endless pages of items and product categories.
And websites for service businesses usually have anywhere from 4 to 5 pages as well.
Usually, these serve as brand builders.
The pages might direct you to social media accounts, show off the company’s past products or highlight the business’s history on an About Page.
Because websites are filled with so much content, they can become distracting to visitors.
This is why many businesses launch landing pages in addition to their websites when they need to generate new leads.
A website is a collection of pages hosted together in one place.
Because the ultimate goal of landing pages is a conversion, they feature only one call-to-action (CTA).
What is a call-to-action?
The call-to-action is the one commitment a landing page asks you to make. It could be downloading a white paper, submitting your information for a callback or entering your email for a free ebook.
So why just one CTA?
Because when you begin offering people too many options, you water down the landing page’s message and conversion power.
By adding a second or even third CTA, your landing page becomes more like a website.
And as you know, when your website tries to do a million things, it’s impossible to do one thing well.
This is why it’s a non-negotiable best practice to keep landing pages to one call-to-action.
But remember, just because you have one CTA doesn’t mean you can’t use it more than once.
Usually, the call-to-action appears as a button.
And the best landing pages place the call-to-action at moments where the reader is emotionally primed to reach out.
Landing pages drive the visitor to complete one action, usually resulting in a new lead.
Unlike landing pages, websites are less focused and often have multiple CTAs.
When you visit a website, you could see anywhere from 3 to 5 (or even more) CTAs on the home page alone.
You see, whereas a landing page is more like one specific dish, a website is like a buffet.
When it comes to home pages, they want to make it as easy as possible to find what you need…which could be anything.
You might want to see what services are offered, what blog articles are posted or get a free ebook.
And there’s nothing wrong with this approach.
In fact, it’s actually the right strategy for a website’s home page.
But every single website page will have a separate call-to-action enticing you to find out more.
So when it comes to lead generation, it’s not the best option for generating conversions.
Websites offer multiple CTAs to visitors.
When it comes to PPC campaigns, make no mistake: landing pages are the clear winner.
The reason why?
Landing pages are specifically designed to capture those conversions.
You see, “cold” traffic – visitors completely new to your brand – is the hardest to convert.
That’s why landing pages are so different from websites.
They cannot afford to lose the visitor’s interest – or else they lose the lead and are unprofitable.
Every aspect of the landing page from the images used to the copywriting and color scheme are meticulously crafted to get visitors’ information.
And because they are narrow in focus – offering one specific product or service offering – they are more likely to convert a visitor who clicks on an ad.
Essentially, landing pages give you the best chance possible to turn an interested web searcher into a paying customer…all within a matter of minutes.
Google Ads produce more leads when they direct visitors to a landing page.
By now, it should be no surprise that websites don’t convert cold Google Ads traffic as well.
They have too many options, lots of distractions, and no specific goal.
But even more importantly?
They can’t be A/B tested.
Unlike landing pages where every single element from button colors to the font can be tested and tweaked to increase conversions, websites aren’t built for A/B testing.
What is A/B testing?
Simply put, A/B testing pits variations of one element against one another to see which converts more.
For example, headlines are often split-tested. Two different headlines can be tested by your landing page designer. The page that generates more conversions becomes the “champion” and can undergo further testing.
This doesn’t apply to just headlines.
You can split test images, body copy, CTA, and just about every other element on your page.
Google Ads produce fewer leads when they send visitors to a website.
By now, you should have a better idea of the differences between a landing page and website.
Even better, you should know which one is right for your business and future marketing goals.
Want a landing page that converts? Lifted Metrics specializes in conversion-focused landing pages and Google Ad campaigns.
If you want to keep your pipeline full of leads and convert more visitors into customers, contact us below.
Want a landing page that converts? Lifted Metrics specializes in conversion-focused landing pages and Google Ad campaigns.
If you want to keep your pipeline full with leads and convert more visitors into customers, contact us below.
