Websites vs. Landing Pages: How to Use Each One Effectively.
Each one has their strengths and weaknesses, and together they’re a powerful strategy for driving your business online. Let’s take a look at how we can best optimize each one.
It can be quite the dilemma determining whether to build a landing page or a website. Some marketers suggest that you create a website for better SEO, and to better explain your products and services. There are also marketers that believe it's better to create simple landing pages with a clear call to action to improve conversion.
Both of these marketers are correct, but the real challenge is figuring out how and when you should build your website and landing pages. A lot of your web strategy comes down to the type of business you have and how you should be engaging your target audience.
First, what’s your goal or objective with your web project?
With any kind of web project, the first thing you'll need addressed is what objective you're going after and how success will be measured. Some products and services require a significant amount of detail to help customers make a decision, while others are primarily based on needs and urgency.
Websites are ideal for companies that have elaborate products or services that require explanation. Having multiple pages dedicated to different topics, products, and services allow potential customers to focus on particular areas of your business. All these pages work together to drive your customer towards making a purchase. However, your customers may get lost within your website if the user experience hasn’t been mapped out correctly.
Effective landing pages are great for companies that have a more simple product or service. Customers can quickly get the details of your product or service and make a purchasing decision immediately. However, it's worth noting that landing pages do not necessarily build brand equity, which means your customers will potentially treat your company as a transaction more than a relationship.
How important is it that you show up in search results?
No matter how much business you get from social media or word-of-mouth, there will be times you need to show up in search engines like Google and Bing. According to Semrush, about 66% of web traffic coming to a website originates from Google search results. This means the success of your web strategy depends on how you appear in search results.
A user-friendly website with high quality content can attract a significant amount of traffic to your website. Having multiple pages, such as blog posts and detail pages, allow you to go into greater detail about different products and services, which helps drive your rankings in search results. However, this depends on your website being well-organized and user-friendly. Given how often Google changes their algorithms, you may find yourself always chasing what Google is expecting to see on your website.
Landing pages are highly specialized, which makes them great candidates for high rankings in search results. However, it can be incredibly difficult to earn that ranking if Google's algorithm doesn’t see the value in your page. You may find yourself dependent on using digital marketing techniques such as Google Ads to attract customers. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since the landing page will have exactly what the customer expects when they click your ad.
Conversion rates play a significant role in which way you should go.
At the end of the day, the role that both a website and landing page serve is to bring in more customers and sales. Otherwise, it’s difficult for businesses to justify keeping them online. However, the value of your conversions will depend on whether you go with a website or landing page.
The purpose of a website is to help build brand affinity with your customers over time. The quality of your web content and its organization helps customers justify spending money with your business. The more your customers trust you and your brand the more likely they’ll become repeat customers for your business. This all may lead to more, higher value conversions over time.
Landing pages are built specifically for conversion. They have specific content, call to action, and flow that helps customers make a purchase. In fact, Hubspot reports that landing pages tend to see conversion rates as high as 23%. This assumes that the landing page is designed well and serves the exact information the customer is looking for.
Most of the time, website maintenance and cost is the primary factor in deciding which way to go.
It can be difficult for some companies to invest in a website or landing page. However, the value of a well-designed website and landing page can generate a significant amount of revenue. They become even better when paired with the right marketing strategies. If cost is a concern, here’s a strategy you can employ that leverages both a website and landing page.
Start with a simple landing page that goes over the main details of your products and services. Sometimes the most successful recipe is to follow a “Why, what, how” method. First, why should the customer care about you or your product/service? Second, what is your product or service about? And third, how do they sign up to try it out? Pair all of this with a reasonable amount of reviews and use cases, and you have yourself a potential winner in a landing page.
Once you’ve gotten the ball rolling with your landing page, start working on a customer journey map. If you had the ability to put together a full website, what would it look like and how would it function? Use that as inspiration, keep on tweaking the customer journey, and slowly build out your pages over time. Even though it may be tedious and slow, you’ll find yourself with a fully-functioning website in no time.
Thoughts and next steps.
Building a web presence is typically not as simple as whether you go with the website or a landing page. With a great marketing plan, you can leverage both a website and landing pages to optimize the customer journey. At a high level, this is the gist of what separates a website from a landing page:
- A website is great for long-term growth. It has huge potential for building SEO and brand equity over time, and should be your ideal end-state for your web project.
- Landing pages are great for marketing campaigns and focused content. They’re incredibly simple to create, and they allow you to take your business online quickly.
- Combining your website's long-term potential with a landing page's targeting ability can be very effective. This approach helps you attract loyal customers that are both valuable and have trust in your business and brand.
The best part, we can help you along your journey. We specialize in all kinds of website and landing page strategies that’ll drive value for your business. You can check out what we offer over here. Or if you’re ready, we can get ourselves scheduled for a free consultation today.
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