What’s the Difference Between a Landing Page and a Homepage?

May 25. 2021

Surprisingly or not, this is a frequent dilemma people encounter, and it makes sense why. The difference between a landing page and a homepage is sometimes not that easy to grasp. In most cases, they seem to be similar, interchangeable pages that introduce the visitor to your website. However, the differences between a landing page and a homepage are clearly demarcated – and for obvious reasons.

It all boils down to the purpose the home page and the landing page are designed for. In other words, the essential difference between the two stems from the way in which they each make your website the best marketing tool. So, the landing page and the homepage focus on completely different needs of the visitor, thus increasing the conversion rates according to your needs. 

Some website owners even go so far as to brand their WordPress website particularly because of its conversion potential – sales, signups, leads, or whatever your goal may be. In that sense, it is usually the information on the landing page that achieves the highest conversion rates in comparison to all other sections of the website. 

What is a landing page?

As opposed to homepages, which are primarily used for the exploration of the website, landing pages are specifically designed to present a specific promotion, campaign, or offer to the visitor. Landing pages are accessed by clicking on a link on other websites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and similar online websites, or by following a link in an email. 

So, here the focus is not so much on presenting the variety of products or services that you offer on your website. Instead, the landing page guides and presents a single ‘call to action’ to the visitor. This means they are specifically designed for converting the website traffic into paying customers, which is great news for small businesses’ and their website pages. 

How do landing pages lead to conversions?

A good landing page will be cleverly thought-through with the aim to capture the visitor’s attention. Hence, the landing page focuses on several factors that make up the visitor’s experience. Let’s take a look at what they might be.

The landing page should present only a single call to action

We have discussed this already, however, it is important to keep your landing page focused. The point of the landing page is to lead the visitor toward a definite call to action – keep this in mind at all times. 

Reduce the distractions on the landing page

Hence, you should not add unnecessary information or multiple calls to action to your landing page. You cannot expect the visitor to, for example, buy, sign up, and share your website all at the same time. 

Match the design and the message to the landing page campaign or advertisement

Basically, you want your landing page (and website) to be easy to find, read, understand, and remember. And easy to look at. So, simple SEO-optimized information with simple, effective graphics will guide the visitor straight to the point. Consider a few SEO optimization points before building your website. 

Audience targeting

Knowing your target demographics is perhaps the crown jewel of successful landing page marketing. The content presented on the landing page might even differ depending on the visitor’s preferences. This makes landing pages the perfect tool for fine-tuning your advertising strategies. In other words, you can present different promotional landing pages to different visitors.

What is a homepage?

As the first page the visitor has access to, homepages, on the other hand, serve to provide general information about your services. Their purpose is to engage the visitors and stimulate them to explore different sections of the website further. 

Remember, first impressions are important, which is why you need to be concise, but also informative. Furthermore, be sure to speak to the widest audience possible – here you should focus on presenting everything your business has to offer to the visitor, regardless of who they may be.

Aside from this, you may also provide information about your expertise, recommendations, awards, and customer testimonials. Of course, this information should not be overwhelming. It is there to attest to your business’s reliability, but should not be the main focus of the landing page. For this reason, be sure to place this kind of info in the corners or on the bottom of your homepage.

What does a homepage do?

So, the focus here should be on the brand of the business and all of its services, products, offers… You can also include contact information somewhere on the sides of the homepage. So, although homepages are highly informative, they are not exactly promotional in comparison to landing pages.

In the world of online marketing, exploration is a distraction. So, the visitor can get easily distracted since there are a lot of links, buttons, drop-down menus, and other types of information all on the same page. 

This means that if you have invested in an ad that leads to your homepage, the visitor might easily stray away from the conversion goal (e.g. from buying one of your products) and end up on the about us page instead. Hence, it makes more sense to direct the visitor to the landing page so that you do not waste those advertisement coins in vain.

Why do landing pages convert traffic better than homepages?

Basically, it is not a neat page design that instigates the visitor to purchase something from you. It is the entire experience. So, it is not only the landing page that should draw in the customers. You also have to have a good ad, or a good email campaign, or a good social media presence. Therefore, all of these elements should be optimized and customized with that goal in mind.  

All in all, the main difference between a landing page and a homepage is the purpose they serve. Hence, the homepage should inform and direct traffic, acquaint the customer with the brand. On the other hand, landing pages serve to convert traffic into sales, leads, customers, shares, etc.