Do you want to know the difference between a landing page and a website?
Landing page vs. Website, both are used for different purposes. Many small businesses get confused about whether they need a landing page or a website to showcase their online presence.
Don’t worry, We’ll get you covered in this article. In this tutorial, we’ll show you what is the exact difference between a landing page vs. website and which one you should go with for your business.
What is a Website?
A website is a collection of internal web pages and sections that contain information about your company. They often inform potential clients about your company, what you do, and the products and services you provide.
A blog page, a WordPress login page, discussion forums, and other specialty sites may be included on your website.
A website’s basic purpose is to describe your business to potential customers and, in many circumstances, to sell a product or service.
There are multiple types of websites, each with its own set of pages dedicated to various aspects.
What is a Landing Page?
A landing page, on the other hand, is a single, independent web page meant to entice users to take advantage of an offer. This might be anything from free trials or demos to ebooks or discount vouchers.
It may also serve a specific function and achieve a defined goal. It’s a versatile tool that may be applied in lead generation, marketing, and advertising initiatives or as a coming soon website for a business.
Overall, the purpose of landing pages is to eliminate distractions that can lead users away from taking action and to give them all of the information they need.
Landing pages are created with the goal of increasing conversions. They contain distinct design features that enable doing the desired action easier for consumers.
This action could be anything from joining an email list to purchasing a product to filling out a form. ‘Call to action’ is the term used to describe these actions.
Difference Between Landing Page vs Website
When it comes down to it, there are three major distinctions between landing pages and websites.
The variances are due to the objective of the pages, the amount of traffic they receive, and the on-page navigation options available to users.
Landing Page vs Website: Goal
Landing Page
When the landing page or a website is created, they both have a goal, but their goals are completely different.
The goal of a landing page is to promote a single offer, like a book, a course, or any eCommerce product.
A landing page has only a single focus, that is to get leads. Let’s see this with an example from Shopify.
Shopify has kept it very simple. For example, the user-friendly headline is only a few words long that explains the trust of people they have.
Also, the page explains the trial facts, benefits, some FAQs, etc in a very clean way. You may have noticed that they don’t have any long paragraphs explaining the trial-related stuff.
They have kept it as short as they could and explained everything about their trial.
To get started with the free trial you just need to fill up a few fields. All of this makes it simpler for you to get to the point of using their service to sell online.
Website
The goal of a website is completely different from the goal of a landing page.
A website provides all the information that the users want to know about your business. It tells the story of your brand, describes your product and services, promotes engagement with the brand, etc.
Let’s see this with an example site Shopify:
The website tells you everything your users want to know like a complete roadway to get started, what industries it covers, the story of your brand, and the customer review.
There are many other points too, like a call to action button to get started in a few clicks.
So, a landing page promotes only a single offer while a website promotes the whole brand.
Now, let’s move to the 2nd point which is Conversion Rates.
Landing Page vs. Website: Conversion Rates
Landing Page
To explain the difference, let’s search for “Web Hosting” on Google, You’ll see some ads at the top.
Because each of those companies is paying for that ad space, it’s better to direct traffic to a landing page rather than the website.
And, apparently, it is exactly what Hostgator is doing.
Let’s click on the Hostgator ad and you’ll see the following page.
Unfortunately, the other companies shown in the search results are not using landing pages for the advertisements.
Offer: Use “WPSCHOLOR60” to get a discount of up to 60-65% on Hostgator which means you’ll get a free domain and super fast hosting for only $2.75/month, which usually costs around $7.95/month and a domain name costs around $15 per year.
Website
As you have seen in the search results, Hostgator is the only site using a landing page to get conversions and I am damn sure that they are getting more conversions than the others.
It’s because the traffic from Google ads to the websites, gets distracted by seeing other pages and they might not gonna buy the product or service because of seeing a lot of choices. For example: Take the above example of web hosting.
Let’s compare Hositnger and Hostgator.
Hostgator points the traffic to a specific page while the Hostinger points the traffic to their main site.
And as I said, the website describes everything about the brand while the landing page promotes a single offer.
So, it’s definite the Hostgator is gonna get more leads and conversions.
The key is that you should always direct ad visitors to a single-minded landing page with a clear conversion goal — this will result in a higher return on investment (ROI) (Return On Ad Spend).
This holds true for Facebook ads, Google ads, and any other sponsored traffic you may be driving to your site.
On the other hand, you should almost never pay for traffic to your homepage. Other non-paid sources of traffic for your homepage include direct visitors as you create brand awareness, organic Google searches, social media content shares, and so on.
Landing Page vs Website: On-Page Navigation
Landing Page
One thing you might have noticed is that all the example screenshots of landing pages we have seen, don’t have any navigation or menu bar.
If you are building a landing page then, you should not use any navigation bar and have a very clear-cut goal.
According to ConversionXL, Hubspot has seen a clear and consistent boost in conversion rates after removing the navigation bar from its various landing pages.
According to Relevance, when AmeriFirst Home Mortgage removed the navigation bar and simplified their landing page, they experienced a 30–40% increase in conversion rate…
Website
A website is browser-friendly and always allows users to navigate to other pages on your site.
A website may have as many pages as the administrator wants. For example, some sites have more than 50 pages while some have only basic pages like Homepage, About Us, Contact, Services, and Blog page.
What is Needed to Make a Landing Page vs Website?
If you are making a landing page or even a website, there are some common things you’ll need to build any.
You’ll need a domain name which will be the address of your website or the landing page.
A domain name is what the users will type in their browser to access your site or landing page. For example, wpscholor.com is a domain name. It usually costs you around $15/year.
The 2nd thing you need is web hosting, it is the place where the files of your landing page or a website will be stored.
Monthly hosting rates start at $7.88(usually paid annually). If you’re just starting out, this is a considerable sum.
Fortunately, Hostgator, one of the leading hosting companies has agreed to give the users of WPScholor a special offer.
The offer includes a free domain with a hosting plan that starts from $2.75 per month. Use promo code “WPSCHOLOR60” during checkout.
If you are building a blog site then this guide How to start a Blog can to get some assistance.
You’ll also need a Page builder to build your site and landing page easily and smoothly.
So, we’d prefer Elementor Pro, it is one of the most used and easy-to-use WordPress website builders or a landing page builder. It also has a free version but with various limitations.
The pro version only costs $49 per year for one site, It’s a bit expensive but it is worth it.
When To Use a Landing Page vs Website?
From the above discussion, it is clear that the site gives the brand details and the landing page is for promoting a special offer.
Let’s see a bit more closely when to use a website and when to use a landing page.
When To Use a Landing Page?
Advertising
A landing page is a dedicated page created to convert visitors who have clicked on a specific Facebook PPC ad.
It’s a good idea to link your ad to a landing page when executing any type of marketing campaign for your business with adverts.
When someone clicks on your ad, they’ll be taken to a landing page with all the information they need to make a decision.
To guarantee a consistent user experience, keep your landing page’s design and branding similar to your ad.
Take this Facebook Ad example
And the landing page is
You can use landing pages for different ad campaigns like PPC(Pay Per Click Advertisement), Social Media, and Banner Ads.
Lead Magnets
Lead magnets are attractive pieces of content that are presented to website visitors. In exchange for a free piece of content, users fill out an opt-in form with their name and email address.
Lead magnets are a great technique to convert website visitors into qualified sales leads. As a result, your lead magnet landing page could also be referred to as a lead capture page.
The headline, copy, form, and call-to-action are all important components of high-converting lead magnet landing pages.
Landing pages are more focused than websites, and you may customize them for different offers. This implies that for each promotion, you won’t have to alter your entire website.
You can offer an ebook, free trial, or webinar.
User-Friendly Notice
Landing pages aren’t simply for sales anymore. You may require a user-friendly page to inform customers about anything vital, such as the fact that your website is under construction or that you are temporarily unavailable for maintenance.
What you may not realize is that events like this may be used to generate leads and engage your audience.
You can make a 404 page, login page, coming soon page, and under-construction page.
When To Use a Website?
Brand’s Story Telling
Your website is an excellent way to share your brand’s story and explain why you’re selling certain items or services. It’s also the greatest spot to respond to any consumer questions regarding your company.
This is far easier to perform on a website than it is on landing pages. The material would be pushed onto a single page with a landing page, and many users would not scroll all the way down.
Search Rankings Improvement
Any business website’s search engine optimization (SEO) is essential. It improves the visibility of your website in search results by optimizing your web pages and blog posts with keywords and phrases that users are looking for.
This is a huge advantage of websites over landing pages, as landing pages can only target a limited number of search phrases, whereas websites may target a large number.
You can use tools like SEMRush to improve SEO.
Conclusion
Now, you know the clear and understandable difference between Landing page vs Website and When to use each.
If this article really helped you understand the landing page vs website difference then please join our family on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also join the YouTube Channel Community for WordPress video tutorials.