Say you search for “how to create a logo” and are led to a web page that tells you the benefits of a cutting-edge logo design software and then guides you to sign up for a free trial. What you’ve arrived at is a landing page: a distinct, standalone page designed for a specific marketing goal, such as signing up for a newsletter, starting a free trial, or downloading an app. In other words, a landing page is a single web page that serves a distinct purpose for an online business.
This page is part of a website, and while websites often serve multiple purposes—educating viewers, selling products, explaining a brand’s vision—landing pages are geared toward encouraging a single action.
Learn more about the differences between landing pages and websites and the specific business goals each can help you achieve.
Landing page vs. website
What do landing pages and websites do? Here’s a breakdown of each:
Landing page
Capture customer information
A landing page is often a single web page designed to collect visitor information, such as email addresses or contact details. After you capture these leads, you can keep them in a database and utilize them for services like email marketing campaigns or sales pitches.
Serve one goal or CTA
Businesses create landing pages to pursue specific business objectives. Each landing page addresses one of these objectives with a single call to action (CTA), such as encouraging visitors to sign up for a newsletter or purchase a product.
Have a streamlined design
Landing pages eliminate unnecessary navigation and extraneous information to keep visitors focused on the desired action. Contrast this with the main website homepage, which may contain different messages vying for visitors’ attention.
Drive conversions
Each landing page is optimized for targeted marketing campaigns, aiming to maximize conversion rates for a particular product or service. Many businesses simultaneously use different landing pages for different campaigns, each aligned with a specific conversion goal.
Website
Feature multipage navigation
Websites feature navigation menus and search bars that help you explore various sections like individual product pages, company history, customer reviews, and contact pages.
Serve as a central hub
A website acts as a central online location for all company information, facilitating engagement with customers. Some websites include a regular blog, where visitors can learn about products and leave comments for site administrators.
Tell your company story
A website communicates the brand’s history, values, and mission to build trust and credibility with visitors.
Provide product and service information
An ecommerce website offers detailed information about products, services, and company policies. This information may turn up in online search results, or users can visit the site directly and explore from there.
Aid search engine optimization (SEO)
By leveraging content creation (e.g., blog posts), you can make your website rank higher for multiple search keywords. This helps search engines drive organic traffic to your site. You can also optimize a landing page for search by adding popular keywords, meta tags, and headers. However, it may be simpler and more natural to add these elements to other areas of your website—especially if your landing page has a limited life span.
When to use a landing page
Although a website is essential for providing comprehensive information about your business and showcasing your products or services, a landing page is preferable for specific, goal-driven marketing campaigns. By eliminating distractions like navigation menus, you can create focused experiences for visitors. This can result in high-converting landing pages that achieve your intended goals, whether that’s lead generation or customer conversion.
Here are some use cases for landing pages:
Paid ad campaigns
A well-designed landing page is a great way to engage potential customers during a marketing or advertising campaign. Whether you’re building a new site or adding to an existing website, you can use a landing page as a dedicated space created specifically for a campaign, with one CTA to drive visitors toward. This provides users with a clear, singular message without the distraction of an entire website to navigate.
Audience targeting
Landing pages let you target specific audience segments with tailored messaging. Unlike a website serving a broad range of visitors, a landing page can target a niche group. Many marketers set up several pages for such efforts. One landing page might have a discount code for new prospects, while another might contain educational content for loyal customers. Marketers can link these pages to specific campaigns.
For instance, you might run an ad campaign on news sites that goes to one landing page while you run a different campaign via social media that directs to a different landing page. These multiple pages achieve their goals by targeting different audience demographics, even though they are part of the same marketing efforts.
Sales and product launches
Sometimes, landing pages are product pages. As part of your marketing strategy, you might want to guide visitors directly to your online store and showcase a new product. You could also link to a sale page that features multiple discounted products. The key difference between this type of landing page and others is that you’re not trying to establish a brand identity or obtain specific information about your customers; you’re trying to get an immediate sale and boost your conversion rates.
Lead generation
For some products and services, there usually are multiple steps between brand awareness and a sale. Your landing page can target the beginning of the customer journey, focusing on generating leads. You can do this by populating landing pages with user-friendly forms that request a visitor’s name and contact information. In exchange, you might offer a free download, webinar access, or discount code.
A/B testing
Landing pages are perfect for A/B testing different versions of a marketing message, design, or CTA. By creating two or more landing pages with slight variations (e.g., different headlines, images, or button colors), you can compare performance metrics like conversion rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates. If one landing page clearly outperforms the other, your A/B test has served its purpose and you can apply your learnings to future landing pages.
Landing page vs website FAQ
Is a landing page better than a website?
A landing page is neither better nor worse than a website. It is simply a page within a broader website that serves as an entry point and delivers a curated message.
Can a landing page act as a website?
Yes, some websites consist of one single web page. In this case, a landing page and a website are one and the same.
When should I use a landing page?
You can use a landing page when running a specific marketing or advertising campaign to generate leads, promote product launches, or drive event registrations. You can customize a landing page to match your target customer’s demographics, like age, location, and relationship to the brand.
