For business success, we know that a website needs to be uniquely branded. We easily recognize brands and some of those elements. Not as well-known are two website elements; the difference between home pages and landing pages. What is the difference? And why is it important to have effective home and landing pages? Before we answer that question, let’s define what they are.
Home Page
A home page is what viewers see when they first go to your website, i.e., serffcreative.com. The home page should be like the front entrance to your home. You want the entrance to your home and your company website to feel warm and inviting. Guests enter your home in just seconds. Studies show that on average, visitors to your website spend less than 10 seconds on the home page. So your home page needs to intrigue them enough to click to another part of your website.
Landing Page
A landing page is where viewers go to get more information on your company services or products. Additionally, it is a place where you can get more information about your prospect.
What goes where?
To clear up any confusion about what belongs where, effective home pages should have these elements:
- A succinct, yet comprehensive overview of your business and its products and services
- Inspiration for the visitor to go to another page to learn more about a product or service
- Information about how to further connect with you: email, phone number, and social media links
Landing pages, rather than having general information for your services, it should:
- Receive traffic from other sources such as an email campaign, a downloadable case study, or ad
- Achieve a specific goal
- List targeted, individual services that prompt the user to take a specifically defined action
- Focus on a single topic or offer and get right to the point
- Prompt the user to want more information about the product or services your company offers.
Are your pages successful?
A good pass or fail test for a homepage is when a viewer, who knows nothing about you or your business, can view it for 10 seconds or less and give you basic information about it. Landing pages should be designed as a response page, which will pass or fail based on getting conversions. A good rule of thumb to indicate if your homepage is effective, are your analytics. Does it receive multiple clicks to your landing pages? You also want responses to your website ads and downloads to case studies.
Use your Home Page and Landing Pages to your advantage
An overwhelming majority of new customers use your webpage to first learn about your business. When that is effective, clicks to your landing pages are absolutely critical to your business success. Get the results you want with a great design.
