In digital marketing and advertising, landing pages are often confused with homepages. Although they’re both page types that marketers can use to direct users to take a specific action, these two-page types serve very different functions.
The key difference between a homepage and landing page is that you can only have one homepage because it’s the first page visitors see when they access your website.
A landing page is an alternative type of homepage specifically built to encourage users to take the desired action, such as signing up for your email newsletter or purchasing an item from your e-commerce site.
You might also hear marketers refer to landing pages as “lead capture pages” or “call to action (CTA) pages”. Let’s explore what these terms mean and how you can use them in your own marketing strategy.
What is a Homepage?
Homepages typically represent the main website page type that visitors see when they first arrive on your site. They’re usually the first stop for anyone who lands on your website — and they’re a key page type that SEO experts will tell you to prioritize.
It’s important to understand that every site needs a homepage — it’s the core page to which every other page on your site links. If your site has a lot of content, you may need several homepages to organize it all. For example, Amazon has several different homepages.
The first homepage that you see when you go to Amazon is the homepage for the entire site. You can also view a homepage for the Kindle Fire, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and even Amazon Fresh. Each of these homepages is tailored to the specific product or service housed on the site.
What is a Landing Page?
A landing page is an individual web page that is designed to attract visitors and prompt immediate action. This means that a landing page exists for the sole purpose of convincing website visitors to take a specific action.
This action might be signing up for a newsletter or downloading a free e-book. It could be making a purchase or booking an appointment. In some cases, it might even be making a donation. A landing page is usually associated with a specific marketing campaign.
You might have different landing pages to promote a new product or service or to encourage visitors to vote in an upcoming election.
A landing page is the core page of each of those campaigns — it’s the first page that the company directs visitors to when they access a website.
It’s important to note that a landing page is not the homepage. It’s a completely separate page type that exists for a specific reason and targets a certain type of user.
Key Differences Between Homepage and Landing Page
- A landing page exists for a single purpose — A homepage can have several objectives.
- A landing page focuses on a single call to action — A homepage has multiple calls to action.
- A landing page is focused on a single traffic source — A homepage can include traffic source information.
- A landing page is usually privately owned — A homepage is publicly owned.
- A landing page has no navigation — A homepage has navigation
- A landing page earns traffic from ads — A homepage earns traffic from many sources
- A landing page is different from a business’s website – A homepage is the first page of a business’s website.
Why Are Landing Pages Important?
Landing pages are often the first interaction visitor has with your brand. They represent your ideal customer’s first impression of your product or service — and they provide a critical opportunity to generate leads and increase sales.
It’s important to keep in mind that whatever you put on your landing page needs to be closely related to the content on your homepage. Your homepage acts as an introduction to your brand, but a landing page can serve as more of an in-depth product or service description.
Different pages have different objectives — and you need to make sure that your landing page is focused on the desired action. After all, the only thing that matters is generating leads and increasing sales. If you can’t do that, then you’ve failed as a marketer.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that landing pages are for lead magnets and not for content. They are designed to capture the attention of your ideal customers in a short amount of time.
The objective here is to create a lead magnet and to capture the attention of your ideal customers on the perfect landing page. When it comes to content, you can have as many landing pages as you want but the best content will be on your homepage.