UI/UX Design

Landing Page vs Website: What Every Business Owner Should Know

Andy Gibson
Andy Gibson
Calender Img
Landing page vs website

When starting out with establishing your business’s online presence, you might hear terms like “landing page” and “website” thrown around.

To put it simply, a website is a collection of web pages while a landing page is a single web page with Call to Actions (CTAs) to turn visitors into customers.

Let’s dig deeper and learn everything you need to know about landing page vs website.

What Is a Landing Page

A landing page is a webpage whose purpose is to direct a visitor to a certain action usually through a call-to-action (CTA) button which is desirable for the website owner.

Landing pages are usually used by businesses to collect contact information of potential customers or to direct them to a particular offer or sales discount in hopes of enticing a sale.

What Is a Website

A website is an interconnected network of pages on the internet that serves different purposes based on the intentions of the creator. Businesses usually use them to provide information about their brands or to sell products or services.

Landing Page vs Website: How Do They Differ?

This chart shows the differences between a landing page and a website at a glance for your convenience.

Landing pageWebsite
Number of pagesA landing page is a single pageA website can have multiple pages of any number
PurposeTo direct the audience to take a certain actionA variety of purposes ranging from conventional to unconventional uses. For a business, it is usually to inform target customers about the company or to sell a product or service
NavigationUsed to navigate in one intended directionCan take the user to any page on the site
PresentationDesigned to direct the attention of a visitor to one particular thingEverything is presented in a way that informs users of all the available content present
TargetingUsually targeted for a section of your audienceTargeted for a wider audience
LifetimeTemporarily set up for any type of campaignMeant to last for as long as it is beneficial, which can be up to years

How to Make the Best of Your Landing Pages?

Advertising

Using your landing page in sync with your advertising posts is a great way of getting conversions.

Since many visitors’ exposure to your site will be through ads, what better way to get some conversions than to present them with your landing page? Use your landing page for the following:

  • PPC ads
  • Social media ad posts
  • Banner ads

Selective audience targeting

With the option to have multiple landing pages, you should create different groups within your audience with landing pages with a number of offers and designs. This will give you more customization options to cater to different segments increasing your chances of getting returns.

For example, if you have a website that sells posters, you can have landing pages created for separate groups with promotions of posters that cater to them. 

You can promote sports posters on a landing page which you are promoting to sports fans or you can do the same with band posters for fans of those specific bands.

You can also design seasonal offers based on various events like New Year’s, Christmas, and many more along with your usual ones. This way, you can capture leads from a diverse group of people.

Lead magnets

Lead magnets are the process of offering something free to a visitor in exchange for their contact information. Using landing pages is a great way of utilizing lead magnets to create a potential customer list to send promotional emails and campaigns to.

Lead magnets are a great way of capturing potential leads. Promoting lead magnets through landing pages is more commonly known as a lead capture page.

Some lead magnets you can offer are ebooks, exclusive articles, free trials, etc. You can get creative depending on the type of website you are running. 

For example, if you have a food service website, you can offer visitors a free recipe in exchange for their contact info. Think outside the box and try to give something that makes customers want to return for more.

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A/B test your ideas

Ideally, you will want multiple landing pages for your pages. So you should always A/B test your pages for the optimal designs.

A/B testing is the act of deploying multiple strategies and comparing them to see which works. For landing pages, you can test out different designs to see which ones are effectively attracting customers to engage with them.

This way, you can optimize your landing pages and effectively raise your conversion rates for greater returns.

Notifying customers of anything

Landing pages are not just used for conversions, you can also use them to make announcements. You could notify customers about new products, new branch openings, maintenance downtimes, or even give seasonal greetings.

Notifying customers of anything

This is an example of a landing page that notifies users of an update to their website and LinkedIn page.

How to Make the Best of Your Website?

Website is one of the must-have elements in the current business landscape. Some effective ways of using it are given below.

Spread brand awareness

Your website is a crucial part of your branding, especially today when almost everything is done through the Internet. Your website is one of the biggest advertisements of your brand elements which in turn will raise the effectiveness of all of your promotional campaigns.

Do not forget to put your brand elements throughout all your pages to boost your brand awareness.

Present an idea of your company

Most people will seek out the company website if they become aware of any of your products or services outside of the Internet. Your website will be the first point of contact between a big percentage of your target audience and your company.

Make sure to present your website in such a way that any customer will be crystal clear about what you are about within seconds of visiting. Have a clear visual design, list all of your products and services systematically, and provide all of your contact information in a readable format.

Increase your online presence

With the internet being as popular as it is today, and the number of users growing at an exponential rate, any business needs to increase its online presence to stay relevant, especially if it plans to expand to a large scale. 

A website plays a huge role here. While social media is also helpful in this regard, a website gives the owner much more freedom on how they want to show off and not have to adhere to rules set by social media.

How to Design a Good Landing Page?

Direct customers to a clear goal

Before you design a website, you need to define a clear goal as to what you want to achieve through it. That way, you will be able to design an appropriate page that will guide a visitor to your goals.

If you want to use landing pages for collecting contact information, highlight the benefits or lead magnets to incentivize them. And if you want them to buy something, The product should look attractive and show off the value it offers.

Minimum distractions

Make sure not to put any unnecessary details not related to the purpose of the page or any jarring visuals that can distract the customer from what you want to show them.

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This is an example of a landing page with too many details and a lack of direction. Most users will feel overwhelmed by the amount of information presented and will not understand where to proceed due to a lack of a strong CTA. Avoid making these types of landing pages.

Powerful headlines

Write an attention-catching headline so that customers feel compelled to check out your offer. Make it short, use an assertive tone, and show what value you are offering.

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An intriguing headline like this will guarantee a good number of clicks. Write your headlines the same way for the best results.

Display social proof and accolades

Nothing shows more validity to a sales pitch than it being backed up by testimonials and awards. Display them prominently on your landing page so that customers feel trusted if they decide to proceed with your offerings.

Display social proof and accolades

Use precise CTAs

Your CTAs should tell exactly what they are asking of customers and make it precise.

Use assertive language for your buttons like “Get it now!” or “Sign up quick!”. Assertive language tends to work more than just just putting regular words.

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How to Design a Good Website?

Minimum load times

Load times are some of the worst aspects of using anything so make sure customers do not get annoyed waiting on your website. In fact, about 53% of users leave a site if the load time is more than 3 seconds. Optimize your site so that customers do not have to sit around for things to load.

Good presentation

According to a study by Stanford University, 75% of people judge the legitimacy of a website by how it presents itself to the viewer. This not only includes the content, but the visuals and presentation too.

As we mentioned earlier, infuse your branding elements into the design and make it distinctive. Keep all the design elements and content aligned in a way that is pleasant to look at and keep your font size just right for ease of readability. 

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This website has a clear branding element that effectively communicates what it is about. Try to follow these types of clean presentation styles with your own spin on it.

Optimize your site for mobile users

You will also need to account for mobile users and their experience since 59% of users will be using their mobile devices to visit your site. 

About 70% of searches made by mobile phones lead to conversions. When designing your website, make sure that it is also easy to use on mobile. Obviously, you have less space to work with here than on a desktop. Take that into account and design your pages such that they can be easy to use on a smaller screen.

Getweb Inc - Full-Cycle Web Design and Development Services
Getweb Inc - Full-Cycle Web Design and Development Services

Take a look at how Etsy handles its website and mobile versions. They are appropriate for the device they are being used on.

Easy navigation

A good website is one where people can easily get to where they want to go. There should be clear menus and navigation buttons and the transition between two pages should be pleasant. If users can’t find what they are looking for easily, then they will leave your site for somewhere else.  

Detailed information

You want all your information available on your site so that audiences have the option to fully inform themselves about you. Do not haphazardly put down incomplete details so that visitors do not get confused when they come to your site.

Multimedia integration

With the attention spans of general Internet users going down as time passes, you should focus on visuals alongside your written content. You can do that by implementing photos, videos, and infographics throughout your website.

Conclusion

We hope you were able to learn the differences between a landing page and a website. This distinction will help you use both these factors effectively for your benefit. 

If you are not sure about how to implement them, do not hesitate to contact us. We at Getweb have dedicated teams that work with clients in the creation of both landing pages and websites. We can provide you with the utmost guidance that will bring you the results that you wish for.

FAQs 

Q. Can you use a landing page as a website?

Ans: On a technical level, yes you can use a landing page as a website. But we advise you to not do that as that will not give you the results you may think it does. Remember the intent and structure between the two are very different and they serve very different purposes. 

Landing pages are meant to fixate the visitor on one thing while a website is meant to be more elaborate, guiding the audience’s attention to all aspects present in it. Mixing both accomplishes none of their goals while wasting your efforts for nothing.

Q. Should I put many links on a landing page?

Ans: While you can put many links in one landing page, it is not advised as it will distract visitors from the main goal of the landing page. Instead, make separate landing pages for all the links you want conversions for better results.

Q. Can I create a landing page without having a website?

Ans: Yes, you can have a landing page without having a website, and it has practical uses. If you only have a specific need or anything that does not require a website, like collecting a mailing list or a contact list, you can definitely create a landing page without having to create a website. It is an objective-driven tactic commonly utilized for temporary campaigns.


Andy Gibson
VIP Contributor
Andy Gibson
WordPress Developer

Andy began using WordPress since its inception. He has worked on numerous projects designing, coding, and operating WP sites for over a period of more than 14 years.

Andy has a knack for developing a complete platform from just an idea and enjoys optimizing complex integrations so they run for years on their own requiring little or no maintenance. He also crafts features based on what the job at hand calls for; rather than using pre-existing plugins and themes for an easy way out.


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