Key takeaways
- A website explains your whole business. A landing page does one job: turn a visitor into an enquiry.
- If you run ads or promote one offer, send that traffic to a landing page, not your homepage.
- Most growing businesses end up needing both, with landing pages doing the heavy lifting for campaigns.
"Do I need a new website or a landing page?" is one of the first questions business owners ask us. The honest answer depends on what you want the page to do. Here's how to decide in a few minutes.
What's the difference?
A website is like a shopfront. It has a menu, several pages and something for everyone: your story, your services, your team, your blog. Visitors browse.
A landing page is like a salesperson who meets one customer at the door. It talks about one offer, answers the objections that stop people buying, and asks for one action. There's usually no menu, because every link away from the page is a chance for the visitor to leave.
| Website | Landing page | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Explain the whole business | Get one action |
| Navigation | Full menu | Little or none |
| Audience | Everyone | One type of visitor |
| Best traffic | Brand searches, referrals | Ads, campaigns, specific searches |
| Measured by | Visits, time on site | Conversion rate |
When a landing page is the better choice
Choose a landing page when you know exactly who is arriving and what you want them to do. That covers more situations than most people think:
- You're running ads. Sending paid clicks to your homepage makes visitors hunt for what the ad promised. Many give up. A page that repeats the ad's offer keeps them moving.
- You're promoting one service. A page about emergency plumbing will beat a general plumbing homepage for someone with a burst pipe.
- You're launching something. New services, seasonal offers and promotions all deserve their own focused page.
- Your site gets traffic but no calls. A landing page is often a faster fix than rebuilding the whole site.
When you need a full website
A website still matters. Customers who already know your name will look you up, and they want to see the full picture: all your services, who you are, where you work. A website also gives Google and AI assistants more to understand about your business, which helps with SEO and AEO.
You need a full website if you don't have one, if yours is slow or hard to update, or if it no longer reflects what you sell.
Why not both?
For most growing businesses, the answer is both. The website is home base. Landing pages are where campaigns land. They share the same branding, but each landing page is stripped back to one job.
The quick test
Ask yourself one question: do I know what I want this visitor to do? If the answer is "call us about this specific thing", build a landing page. If the answer is "learn about us and decide what they need", that's a job for your website.
Not sure which you need? We'll look at your current site and traffic in a free 30-minute audit and tell you honestly.