Website landing page Vs Home page

Landing page is not synonymous with home page. It's true that landing pages look identical to the home page, but there are some subtle differences between the two. The purpose, traffic source and purpose of your landing page is markedly different from the home page of your website. Yes, they are both designed to attract audiences and boost your business overall, but they each do it in their own way.

Simply put your website's home page is the main virtual representative of your business as a whole. It gives you an overview of your trade at a glance. The landing page is strictly dedicated to a particular product or service or aspect of your business. It's the page where your traffic arrives (read lands) after clicking your online ad.

In other words:

• The landing page is the "response page" and conversion is the immediate goal here.
• The home page inspires your audience to learn about your business in general and to go to other pages for more information. Conversion is not an immediate goal, but a gradual one here.

Without further ado, let's take a quick look at the main differences between the two:

Who’s knocking?

First of all, the landing page and the home page are made for two different categories of audience. As mentioned above, there are subtle differences between the purpose of the two pages. And this is reflected in the type of audience that each individual page invites, inspires or receives. Let's break down the types of audience.

Landing Page Audience

The landing page specifically targets viewers who clicked on your ad – the ad itself redirected those viewers to a page containing information about the advertised product/service. For example, let's say you're a fashion accessory seller and you've placed an online ad for a cool bag. Now, every time a person clicks on that ad, they will be redirected to the landing page that features the details of the bag and also offers the option to purchase. So, in this case, the audience of a landing page are those who want to know about a certain product and also have the intention to buy it. That way, these visitors are already in your sales funnel and have higher and faster chances of immediate conversion.

homepage audience

As discussed above, those who visit your homepage have the primary intention of "exploring" your website or getting to know your business. Most of them do not intend to buy anything right away and their main purpose here is to gather information about their trade. They might convert into your customers later on, but unlike a landing page, conversion isn't the immediate effect here.

Landing pages focus on a single goal: converting traffic.

In contrast, a homepage needs to juggle multiple features. You should present information about your business in general, the customers you serve, the USP of your business/website, etc. Also, the homepage should allow people to search and explore different pages or sections of the site. In addition, the page will also contain social buttons that will lead visitors to the company's profile page on social networking sites.

Difference in link volume:

Based on the discussion above, your homepage will always have multiple links to help visitors interact with your site in a variety of ways.

However, this is not the case for your landing page. In fact, too many links on the landing page will only leave visitors distracted and perplexed, which can hurt your conversion goal. An ideal landing page offers visitors only 3 options:

• Convert
• Sign in
• Leave page

The idea is to offer minimal options so they don't get confused and can make quick decisions without being distracted. Don't risk driving your audience away from your landing page.

Let us better define the situation with a simple example.

Let's say your company page on social media is getting an increasing number of likes. You might be tempted to put your social page links at the top of your landing page to show off your glorious social proof. You may think that it will be a great promotion for the business and could inspire more conversions.

But, this is an unwise thing to do.

If you put these links on your landing page, your visitor might be intrigued to visit your social page first. Do not forget that social networks are full of a lot of random things. Therefore, when a visitor (from the home page) lands on social platforms, he is likely to be inundated with all sorts of information, notifications and entertainment presented there. In the meantime, you might forget about the landing page and run out of conversion chances.

Where does the compass point?

Navigation is again another important difference parameter between landing page and home page.

The home page leads to many roads.

The home page allows easy and fluid navigation throughout the site. Whether you want to check the "About Us" section or fill out the contact form or scan the different products/services on offer, your home page is always the home page. It's because, once again, visitors who land on the home page want to explore your site in its entirety. Therefore, the home page should be categorically designed to allow convenient navigation to any page or section of the website.

The landing page limits traffic to the same page

The landing page does not allow navigation to other pages on your site. The page is driven by a single motto: convert the visitor into a customer. We've already given an example of what can happen if you put links from social media pages at the top of your landing page. The main idea here is to keep visitors focused on your specific product on the landing page. If you give them the ability to check out other links, they might forget to come back to the product.

What’s in the pie?

The content type alone differentiates a homepage from a website homepage.

The homepage hosts numerous content

Your homepage's job is to provide an overview of your business. Naturally, the page will load with a wide variety of content. There will be a menu bar, a search bar, information about the company, its industry, as well as the services or products it offers. There could be a small section on "Why choose us?". Some home pages also include customer testimonials. Then, of course, your homepage will include contact details, a peek at the "About Us" section, and social media buttons.

It's all because the homepage gets organic traffic and visitors don't usually come for a "specific" purpose. Most of them come to your homepage just to see your business while browsing the web.

Landing page hosts specific content

The landing page's motto is "cut the chase bro" and "get to the point".

The page doesn't serve the random organic traffic a homepage receives. Traffic redirected to your landing page has seen your ad and is now only interested in learning about and possibly buying your featured product. Naturally, your landing page content should contain information specifically related to that product.

For example, suppose you are a florist and you sell various types of flowers. Now, you have made beautiful bouquets of flowers and placed them in online advertisements. So you have ads about rose bouquets, orchid bouquets, etc. But let's say a potential customer is looking for a bouquet of roses. Search for "bouquet of roses" online and your ad will appear. When they click on your ad, it shouldn't take them to your homepage, but to that specific landing page that features a bouquet of roses. Upon entering the page, you receive all the necessary information about the chosen red bouquet (number of flowers, delivery conditions, customization options, etc.) and no other unnecessary information.

The CTA or Call-To-Action is intended to inspire quick action on the relevance of the page where it is embedded.

CTA is mandatory on landing page

A landing page is incomplete without a clear CTA guide. It's because this particular page is mostly action oriented. We have mentioned repeatedly that the main purpose of the landing page is conversion. And conversion is never possible unless page visitors take a certain action. The CTA tab inspires them to take the necessary steps to "convert" them into customers. Top examples of landing page CTA buttons are: "Buy it now", "Try it for free" or "Buy it now and get 20% off", etc.

No CTA required on home page

Your home page may or may not have a call to action tab. It is because the main objective of the page is not the conversion. Rather, it serves more as a resource or information page through which visitors get an idea about your site. And if they want to see other sections of your site from the home page, they already have the menu bar or search bar on the page. They will not require a CTA tab for this.

Food to go

The bottom line is that while the landing page and the home page are part of a website, these two serve two different purposes. The home page is packed with a variety of links, sources, and information to guide visitors to different aspects of your overall business. Instead, the landing page is especially about the conversion goal. As a result, it only emphasizes facts and details that are relevant to the offer presented on the page and can lead to conversion.

Let's close with 5 pro tips on how to optimize your landing page like a boss:

1. The landing page must especially present information about the product/service presented in the advertisement that redirects to the page.
2. The content of the page must be rich in keywords relevant to the online advertisement.
3. The information presented must be accurate, authentic and direct.
4. There should be multiple images of the product/service featured.
5. Be careful with the clarity and title of the image.
6. The CTA button should be easy to find.

Shirsendu and Team ( https://shirsendu.com/ ) is a web design and development company based in Kolkata, India.