What is the Difference Between a Landing Page and a Homepage?
The key difference between a homepage and a landing page is focus. It all comes down to what they’re designed for – sales, signups, leads, or whatever action you want visitors to take.
Why Landing Pages Are So Effective For Marketing
It all comes down to one word. FOCUS.
Homepages and websites are designed for exploration whereas landing pages are customized to a specific campaign or offer and guide visitors towards a single call to action (CTA). Basically, landing pages are designed for conversion.
A landing page’s focus applies to several elements of a visitor’s experience:
- One goal, or call to action
- Minimal distractions on the page
- Messaging and design matched precisely to a campaign or ad
- Audience targeting
- A tiny test by host koala
What a Homepage Should Be
Homepages are great for providing general information and encourage visitors to explore. It should provide a high-level introduction – must speak to the broadest audience—including those who may have never even heard of the company, let alone know what it does, and why it’s valuable.
As the main gateway to a website, a homepage acts as an introduction to that business’s brand, product, services, values, who and what it’s for, who to contact, you name it. It’s meant to set a “first impression,” encompass all that a company has to offer, and direct visitors to learn more throughout different sections of the site.
All of this makes for relatively generic messaging, multiple page goals, and a many links, buttons, and navigation for visitors to take various actions.
Although that’s perfectly aligned with a homepage’s goal of exploration, it’s not so effective for marketing.
Exploration = distraction. When it comes to marketing, it’s the distraction that erodes your campaign’s focus by diluting messaging, competing links, and options to stray away from a specific conversion goal.
The Elements Of Focus That Give Landing Pages Their Conversion Power
Landing pages zero in on one chosen conversion goal – a single goal, or call to action (CTA).
Imagine a pail or bucket full of water. A landing page pail/bucket has one hole drilled into the bottom, so the water naturally flows through that specific hole (CTA) and can be directed to a spot you’ve chosen.
A homepage pail or bucket has multiple holes – in the bottom, around the sides. You can choose where the water is sourced from, ie. social media, email, a Google Ad, etc.. Once the water starts to fill up the pail or bucket, you can’t choose which hole it’ll flow through or where it will land.
Those multiple holes are conversion “leaks.” Landing pages zero in on one chosen conversion goal, giving you more control over where traffic flows, and ultimately, where your marketing efforts and ad dollars go.
Components of a Landing Page
No two landing pages are the same. There are five core elements that every high-converting landing page must have:
- A unique selling proposition (USP)
- A hero image or video
- The benefits of your offering
- Some form of social proof
- A single conversion goal (or your call to action)
During our live online coworking session on February 14, LYP40 Ready to Launch Mentor, Stephanie Thompson shared some tips on what to think about when writing content for your landing page.
Why me – What’s in it for me (why should I sign up)
Why this – What is that you are giving? Is it a course, 20 point checklist (describe your freebie)
Why not – Why work with you
TIP: Add a QR code to simplify how your share your information. QR Code Generator is a very simple to use application that generates QR Codes as well as V-Cards. More about V-Cards vs Digital BusinessCards soon.
This is an example of one of Stephanie’s landing pages.
This is an example of a QR Code from Stephanie. Go ahead and grab your phone, enable the camera and click!
What to Keep in Mind
A landing page will have limited navigation but its simplicity will keep the visitor focused on the goal rather than being distracted by multiple links taking them away from the page.
So, if you are promoting a single offer (including freebies), it is more likely that a site visitor will become a customer.
To your success!
Celine
Meet the Founder of LOVE Yourself Project
Celine
Founder of LOVE Yourself Project
I created this platform as a way to share transformative ideas that inspire change through cross-cultural learning, purposeful gatherings, and shared products and services.
Enjoy!
