Landing Page vs. Website: Which Do You Need and Why?

Do you want to establish your online presence, or are you just starting your online journey? Regardless of where you are, you have a few options to choose from. One of the most important decisions you'll have to make is whether to create a website or a landing page. To choose the right one for your specific goals and needs, you should first learn about the difference between the two and their advantages. Whether you're just starting online marketing or looking to optimize your existing efforts, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of landing pages and websites is crucial to your success.

What Are Websites and Landing Pages?

A website is a collection of web pages that are interconnected and accessible via a unique domain name. It typically serves as a hub for all your online activities, providing information about your business, showcasing your products or services, and enabling customers to contact you.

A website encourages people to learn more about your brand and provides all the necessary information about your niche and the services you offer in one place. If you have been thinking about creating a website for your online business, you should know your niche first. To do that, you can use tools like the SERP Checker by SE Ranking, which allows you to check your main organic competitors for your keywords. With the help of a comprehensive analysis, you’ll clearly understand what kind of page and content you should have to compete with your rivals. It also includes an analysis of various on-page metrics, so you’ll see what exactly you should do to stay competitive.

A landing page is a standalone page designed to convert visitors into leads or customers by offering a specific product or service. It is focused on a single call-to-action (CTA) or conversion goal. Usually, it is designed to invite visitors to claim an offer, discount, or free trial. Landing pages are designed to be simple and straightforward, with minimal distractions, so as not to detract from the primary conversion goal. Thus, by creating landing pages tailored to their campaigns, businesses can increase their chances of converting visitors into leads or customers.

Website VS Landing Page

The Objective

Navigation

Traffic source

When do you need a website?

A website is an essential tool for almost any business. It helps establish your online presence, educating people about your brand, services, and products, and encouraging them to explore your business. Let’s look at the main benefits of having a website for your business:

Consistent branding

There is no better way to establish a consistent brand identity than having a website. Consistent branding includes visual elements like colors, logos, fonts, tone of voice, etc. You can use all those elements on your website to make your brand unique and easy to remember. Businesses use consistent branding to build their credibility and establish a strong brand reputation.

Essential for local business

According to the statistics of 2021, 46% of all searches on Google include local intent. This means that a website is essential for capturing your local target audience. Moreover, according to the same statistics, 86% of customers use search to find a local business, and over 28% purchase an item after a local search.

Improve customer service

A website is also a great tool for improving customer service. First, you provide the user with easy access to relevant information. Second, you make the website intuitive and easy to navigate. As a result, people can find everything they need by themselves, without having to contact customer service and wait for a response. Additionally, a website can offer customer support features like chatbots, FAQs, and contact forms that allow customers to get the help they need quickly and easily.

Educate your audience

You can use a website to educate your audience on topics related to your niche. This can include blog posts, podcasts, articles, videos, and other media that demonstrate your expertise and provide value to the customer. In doing so, you can build trust and establish yourself as a reliable authority in the industry.

Attract organic traffic in the long run

A website is the best solution if you want to gain organic traffic in the long run. Unlike social media and other online platforms that drive traffic short-term, optimizing your website can help improve your search rankings and attract more traffic over time.

When do you need a landing page?

Websites are great for establishing an online presence, but landing pages have a different goal – to convert visitors into customers. Let’s look at what is so great about landing pages:

Running paid ads campaigns

If you want to run a successful paid ad campaign, you need a landing page. By creating a landing page, you maximize the effectiveness of the campaign and convert more visitors into leads and customers. Moreover, landing pages allow businesses to track the success of their campaigns and optimize their marketing strategies.

Promoting

You can use a landing page to promote a campaign, product launch, or event. All you need to do is create a landing page that is tailored to your specific needs, thus maximizing your chances of attracting a bigger audience and achieving your goal.

Lead magnets

A landing page is a great way to generate leads. You can do so by offering valuable lead magnets like webinars, e-books, and podcasts. When you create a landing page with a lead magnet and ask a visitor to fill in their personal contact information in exchange for a resource, you can build an email list of contacts and nurture those leads over time.

Testing new ideas

Finally, you can use landing pages to test new ideas. For example, if you want to try a specific strategy and see how the audience will interact with it, you can create a landing page and gather valuable data and insights for your future marketing strategies. You can try creating multiple landing pages with different designs, calls-to-action, or content and see which one converts the most leads and analyze why.

Summary

In conclusion, whether you are starting an online business or want to expand your current one and increase your online visibility, it is essential to compare the differences between landing page vs. website. In some cases, your best choice would be to focus on creating landing pages and generating more leads, especially if you have already established your brand online and want to focus on expanding it.

However, if you are starting a new business and your goal is to educate people about your services or products, a website would be a wiser choice. Thus, it is important to consider the objective, navigation, and traffic sources before choosing a landing page or website. On the whole, a well-designed website or landing page can be a powerful tool for establishing your online presence and driving conversions.