Homepage vs. Landing Page: Which One Do You Need?

If you’re new to building a website, all the names and terms might get mixed up and confuse you. It’s normal, though, and you’re in the right place. We’re going to talk about the difference between homepage vs. landing page, and which one your business might need.

But first, there’s one myth we need to debunk:

Homepage vs. Landing Page: They Are Not Interchangeable

After working with a number of newly established small business owners, we found that many people think homepage and landing page are one and the same. No, they’re not. It’s a myth.

If somehow you have been suggested to create a landing page for your business, while your business doesn't have a website, forget that suggestion because that is completely wrong. A homepage is part of a website while a landing page can be a standalone page. Other than that, they also serve different purposes and even have different layouts or interfaces. Let’s check them out below.

What Is a Homepage?

Imagine your website is a hotel building. Your homepage is the main lobby. From here, visitors can move to other ‘rooms’ or pages such as:

• About Us
• FAQ
• Product
• Case Studies
• Contact Us
• And many more.

Of course, visitors can go back to the main lobby anytime they want. All they have to do is click on the Home menu or the company logo, which usually also redirects visitors back to the homepage.

What Are the Differences Between Homepage and Landing Page?

Let’s continue with the same analogy. A hotel has multiple entrances, right? The food vendors enter through the kitchen door. The office staff uses the back office door. On a website, these doors are the landing pages.

Each landing page serves one specific purpose to get visitors to:

• Sign up
• Subscribe
• Download
• Book a call
• Purchase
• And others.

Since one landing page has one objective, it shouldn’t have a navigation bar or menu that could distract visitors from the objective. In other words, visitors can’t go to other pages from the landing page. It’s a single-entry room. The only ways to leave a landing page are by closing the page, clicking the Back button, or clicking on the CTA button and becoming a lead or customer.

Homepage vs. Landing Page: In a Nutshell

In short, here are the different purposes between homepage and landing page:

Homepage

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A homepage is mandatory for a website while landing pages are optional or seasonal.

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A homepage serves as the very front page of your website. It also works as the information center of your business. Anyone can access your homepage, as long as they have the link.

The main purpose of a homepage is to help users get to know your business, products, and services. It also helps users decide whether or not they trust you. To do so, you can show your trustworthiness by displaying social proofs, testimonials, awards, company profile, and many more.

Landing Page

One page. One objective. One CTA.

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Meanwhile, a landing page is usually created for a specific campaign that you’re running or testing.

The URL to a landing page is usually very long and complicated, so people can't accidentally land on your landing page. Only targeted users can arrive there, and they usually come through an ad, email, or notification. Once they're on the landing page, they are quickly presented with the specific offer, some short explanation, and driven to convert by clicking on the CTA button.

Normally, a landing page doesn't stand alone. It is followed by a thank you page, to which users are redirected after the conversion.

Between homepage vs. landing page, now you get the idea of which one you might need for your website. We're sure you already have a homepage, now you just need to find out whether your marketing campaigns need to have a dedicated landing page. When they do, a landing page lives or dies on how well it is built for a single action. Here are the ten elements of a high-converting landing page, and our Conversion System puts them to work.