Landing pages and websites are two different things, each with a specific and valuable purpose. A website is a place where you can get into great detail about the history of your brand, explain the features, and highlight the benefits of the services that you provide. It’s a hub for your communication and social media connections. A website is not a conversion tool, it’s an education and validation tool to establish credibility. It is the center of your marketing universe.

Think of your website as the Grand Central Station of all your carefully crafted public-facing information and communications. Think of a landing page as a specific rail line with a single destination. It’s a more elegant and simplified website that communicates a refined message to a targeted audience. Users are directed to your landing page after clicking on an ad or link for your site. A landing page creates the opportunity to drive a certain response, making it an effective tool for conversions.

You will boost your brand’s performance by using a well-crafted landing page as part of your inbound marketing strategy. The average landing page has a conversion rate of 2.5% across all categories. The very best landing pages have a conversion rate between 5 and 11%. That’s why choosing an agency with both experience and high-quality creatives matters. Whether your goal is to sell products, generate leads or collect data, by sending your audience to a targeted landing page you are leading them to a place of conversion.

Grand Central Station vs. Single Rail Lines

If a website can be thought of like Grand Central Station where all trains both arrive to and depart from then a landing page can be thought of as a unique vehicle of communication that takes your prospects on a brief journey with a specific result in mind. If you’re trying to grow your email list, drive traffic to your e-commerce store, or trying to recruit patients for a clinical trial then a landing page would be your vehicle of choice.

A landing page is a stand-alone webpage or a single-page extension of your main site that offers a single value proposition with one conversion and a simplified call to action. A website offers too much information for it to be as effective as a landing page at driving specific conversions.

Avoid Overdoing It

When creating a landing page, avoid giving too much information away or asking more than one call to action from visitors. Too much information dilutes your message and obscures your ask. A landing page is the one opportunity where you can boldly tell the public what you’re offering and then directly ask for a specific response. It’s a call-and-answer routine. One that you want to repeat as many times as necessary. Yet too much clutter will reduce your success rate significantly.

Less is More

It’s very tempting to try and say everything about what you have to offer on one landing page. However, as the name implies, a landing page is meant to guide the visitor to a safe landing spot that delivers on the basic promise stated. It’s necessary to provide only the information that allows the end-user to come to an immediate decision. When it comes to landing pages, hiring an agency that provides a high-caliber creative and digital strategy is a must. When it comes to execution, less is more.