Marketing is very important for purchasing and selling goods. To do good marketing, companies target their audience and advertise the products to them so that their sale can increase. With the coming of digital marketing, it has become very important that your services and products should reach a wide range of audiences. But not every company is successful, and many of them fail.
Here comes the role of landing page and website. Both of these terms are very different and should not be confused with the other. Landing pages vary from company to company and business to business. They can’t be the same.
Landing Page vs Website
The main difference between a landing page and a website is that a landing page is an individual homepage that is meant for companies and businesses to call for action, drive the sale and capture the leads. A website is a collection of pages that tells the users about everything they want from that particular company. On a website, all the pages are accessible to the users if it is one the public domain. While on the landing page user has limited navigation.
A landing page is an individual homepage that comes when users search for the result on a search engine optimized in response to it. It can display online advertisements, marketing promotions, or marketing emails. Visitors visiting the landing page will take what action determines the conversion rate of the advertiser. The landing page may be a part of one microsite within the company’s main site. So it depends upon the company to the company about how they design their landing page. They are used for lead generation that is leading from one page to another.
Website is a collection of all the pages related to the content. The website consists of a domain name, and it should be available and published on at least any one of the web servers. Some of the examples of websites include Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Amazon, Bing etc. All the websites that are in the public domain constitute the world wide web. Many websites are private, like any company’s website. Such websites are accessible via private networks only for the company’s employees.
Comparison Table Between Landing Page and Website
| Parameters of Comparison | Landing Page | Website |
| Purpose | Sell or attract leads and sales. | Target the audience and explain the business. |
| Content | Image, call to action, forms, text etc. | Unlimited |
| Navigation | Limited | Accessible |
| Audience | Interested in offers. | Interested in general. |
| Pages | 1 | +5 |
| Types | References and Transactional | Static and Interactive |
What is Landing Page?
The landing page originated in the year 2009 when there was a need to streamline the process and simplify the sales. This had failed miserably when Microsoft Office failed to do it. So IT Departments anted to come with a solution which can fasten the process and would not be boring. So in 2009, with various startup companies like Unbounce and the rise of e-commerce, cloud computing made the ideal conditions for a landing page to flourish. Since then, depending upon the requirement of the customers landing page with different integrations like email marketing, lead nurturing, and customer relationship management systems came into existence.
The format of the landing page is very simple. That is, they should be concise, have action-oriented headlines and be clear. A landing page becomes good when the page presents a clear picture of the value of products and services and clearly explains them. Any type of form on the landing page tells its value it. For example, if any newsletter or form asks for only an email address, then it may have less value, while a high-value landing page will ask about all the relevant details regarding the visitor. The landing page is of two types References and Transactional.
A reference Landing page is something that only provides the information relevant to the visitor. It may include texts, images and other links from different websites. The main aim of the Reference landing page is to isolate the user from all the other things and to make available all the information about the products so that they can get captured and take action. The second landing page is transactional, which means that before doing anything, it persuades the visitor to complete the transaction on the page. Then only it will become accessible. It is done by providing the form and filling in all kinds of necessary details. The goal is to make the visitor a customer.
What is Website?
The origin of websites goes back to the time 1990 when World wide web was created by Time Berners Lee. After three years, when the World wide web became free and was accessible to anyone, then everybody started contributing to the web by making different types of websites. Websites can be of any kind, from personal to government to companies or an organization. Websites can be created by a group of people, individuals or by a company/. They serve to provide information on the specific topic. Websites can consist of many hyperlinks, linking them to any other website. Some of the websites can also be paid for and can be accessed via subscription or registration.
Examples of paid websites include many message boards, web-based email, business sites, news websites, academic journal websites, gaming websites, file-sharing websites, social networking websites, websites providing real-time stock market data, as well as sites providing various other services. Hyperlinking of the website starts from the homepage. Visitors and users can access the websites from any device like laptops, tablets, desktops, and smartphones. The application via which these websites or pages are accessible is called web browsers.
Earlier when websites were launched, they consisted of only texts. But with advancements, images, audio, videos were used on websites through plug-ins. There are two types of websites, i.e., static and interactive. Static websites are where information is stored and can be accessed. But the engagement between the author and the audience is not allowed. While in interactive websites, there is an interaction between the owners and the user. It is a part of the Web 2.0 community. There are varieties of sites like crowdfunding, humour site, online gambling, blog, online dating, social networking etc.
Main Differences Between Landing Page and Website
- The purpose of a landing page is to sell the products, drive leads and attract sales. The purpose of a website is to target the audience, explain and present the business.
- The content of a landing page consists of an image, call to action, forms, text etc. The content of a website is unlimited.
- Navigation of a landing page is limited. While navigating, all the pages of websites are accessible.
- The audience of a landing page is interested in the offers. The audience of a website has a common interest in the business.
- Landing Page has only 1 page. The website has more than 5 pages.
- References and Transactional are two types of landing pages. Static and Interactive are two types of websites.
Conclusion
The landing page consists of only one page. So sometimes, the owners or companies are forced to put all the information on one page. While in websites, there are lots of scopes and room to tell about your brand’s story, about your brand, contact, FAQ etc. When anyone wants to do an advertisement, the best option is to link your advert. to the landing page. Because when visitors will click on an advert. Then they will automatically go to the landing page.
To test any new ideas, it is best to do it on a landing page than on a website. Landing pages are targeted for specific purposes. While websites are for general purposes to attract the audience. Landing Page can be used to create a website. But there is a difference between the two, and the user may not get the desired results.
References
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=IcVVXipLzyQC&oi=fnd&pg=PT19&dq=Landing+Page+and+Website&ots=AVii2eAW8Z&sig=ebbdMmgiKxX-lb4Hz4nBm1-eQJM
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=f8-7pWbn9KEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Landing+Page+and+Website&ots=g5GQREA_mw&sig=_oaw5UyyP08voI8Q09z9Zns3S2s