When To Create A Landing Page vs Web Page

Knowing when to create a landing page or a web page sounds complex, but it will be more clear after reading this post. When trying to decide landing page vs web page, understanding the basics of each can go a long way.

The goal of a landing page isn’t the same as a web page even though a landing page is technically a web page also. Any page a visitor can land on is technically a landing page. Though a landing page is a web page, it doesn’t have the same purpose from a marketing standpoint.

The different between a landing page and a web page comes down to the goals they’re meant to meet.

Goals

When deciding what to use, landing page vs web page, the technicalities of the words or meanings aren’t important. The goal you’re trying to meet will decide which one you use.

Landing Page

Landing pages have one goal. The goal of landing pages is more focused because it guides and convinces visitors to follow through with the goal you’ve set. All landing pages have one call to action and one way to complete the goal. Landing pages are often confused with microsites but are a different beast.

Here’s an example of a landing page goal: if I wanted a visitor to receive my new eBook by signing up for my email list. I want to use a landing page for that goal because I want visitors to take one action. A landing page will make sure there’s no distractions for visitors.

Web Page

A landing page may have a goal but it’s not usually to get a visitor to take an action immediately. The goal of a web page is either to give visitors information or provide visitors a logical way of getting somewhere else on your website. A web page goal could even be to bring a user to a landing page such as a targeted link inside a blog post.

There can still be a single goal on a web page but it’s not as focused as a landing page. An example of a web page with a single goal is the Exprance work with us page. The goal is to have a visitor fill out the form. The goal with the page isn’t to convince someone to fill out the form though, it’s to give them the opportunity to ask for information from me.

Looking at a landing page vs web page helps explain the difference beyond what their goals are.

Landing Page vs Web Page

All landing pages are web pages but not all web pages are landing pages. Landing pages aren’t usually a regular part of your website. Because landing pages have a single goal and need to stop distractions, they often don’t have navigation to the rest of the website.

The only place you might find landing pages in a site navigation is in a site map or relevant places in blog posts. Other than that they aren’t meant for the regular flow of a website. Visitors are often brought to a landing page from an ad and not navigating to it for information. The ad could be paid for or be a link inside a relevant blog post.

Example

This website has a lot of web pages that interlink with each other with a main navigation that helps link everything together. It also has a few landing pages that float out there not interlinked with other pages through the main navigation.

The landing pages I create don’t have any navigation, they only have information about why a visitor should sign up (or a lead magnet such as a downloadable file) and a form to sign up with. I still have links on my web site that go to landing pages but the links only occur in specific, targeted situations.

If I link to a landing page on my web page I do so by opening a new tab essentially treating the landing page as an external page to my website. This is because the page doesn’t have navigation and is a website made up of one page that only goes to one place (essentially a dead-end). Knowing when to use a landing page vs a web page is important to know so your website will have a logical flow for visitors.

Which To Use

For the most part you’ll be using web pages on your website. There are only specific situations where you’ll want to use a landing page. It’s also worth mentioning that most web pages on your website you’ll want to make sure are search engine optimized thoroughly. Landing pages, though, aren’t nearly as important for optimizing in this post.

Always create a web page if you’re not sure you need a landing page. A web page is your go to method for creating a new page on your website.

If you are going to run an advertisement to bring people to your website or are using a lead magnet (eBook, whitepaper, email course, etc.) to get visitors to sign up for your email list, a landing page is necessary. In other words, if you want to collect targeted leads for your business using a lead magnet and are bringing people to that page with advertising, a landing page is your best bet.

Getting It Right

Using the right type of page is important for your website. If you use a landing page instead of a web page, you risk breaking your website navigation for your visitors. If you break your website navigation, visitors won’t have a good experience with your business.

Your website and visitors user experience relies on creating the right type of page. There are pages that every web site needs, everything a website needs requires web pages and not landing pages. Landing pages are a special purpose web page that aren’t as common but are still just as important to driving customers to your business online.

Whether you’re looking for an awesome web designer to create a website or landing pages that convert, we’re a Sacramento web design agency that designs with purpose.