The short answer
A website covers your whole business. A landing page has one job, like getting calls or bookings. If you need results quickly, start with the landing page.
People ask us this on almost every first call, usually in a slightly embarrassed way, as if it's something they should already know. It isn't. Web people use the two words loosely, and plenty of "websites" are really landing pages and the other way round. So here's the plain version, and a way to decide which one you should pay for first.
The one-sentence difference
A website is the whole shop. A landing page is the shop window, dressed for one thing.
A website has several pages: home, services, about, contact, maybe a blog. It's there for anyone who wants to know about your business, whatever brought them. A landing page is a single page built around one goal. Someone clicks an ad, a link in your Instagram bio or a QR code on a flyer, and they land on a page that asks them to do exactly one thing: call, book, buy or sign up.
What a landing page is for
A landing page earns its keep when you know what you want people to do and you're sending them there on purpose. Some typical moments:
- You're running ads for one service and want the clicks to turn into enquiries, not wander around your site.
- You're launching a product or an offer and need a page for it by Friday.
- You're filling an event, a class or a workshop, and every spot counts.
- You're a trade business (a plumber, an electrician, a cleaner) and the only thing that matters is the phone ringing.
Because a landing page has one job, everything on it points the same way. The headline says what you offer. The next few sections answer the doubts someone has before they say yes: what it costs, how it works, whether you're any good. Then the same button appears again and again. There's no menu inviting people to go and read your "about us" page instead.
What a website is for
A website is for people who arrive with different questions. A new customer wants your prices. A returning one wants your opening hours. Someone who found you on Google wants to know if you cover their area. A potential hire wants to know what it's like to work for you. A website gives each of them a page to find their answer, and a menu to get there.
It also does something a single page can't do well: it gets found. Each page of a website can show up on Google for a different search. A page about kitchen fitting can rank for "kitchen fitters near me" while a page about bathrooms ranks for bathroom searches. A landing page usually targets one phrase at most, and many landing pages aren't meant to be found by search at all, because the visitors come from ads.
How to pick between them
Answer these honestly and the choice usually makes itself.
- Do you sell one main thing, or several? One thing leans towards a landing page. Several leans towards a website.
- Where will visitors come from? Paid ads and social links suit a landing page. Google searches suit a website.
- How soon do you need it? A landing page can be live in about two weeks. A website takes a little longer, usually two to three.
- Do people need to trust you before they buy? If you're selling something expensive or personal, like renovations or therapy, a website with more depth helps.
- Will you grow into more services soon? If yes, a website saves you building twice.
If you answered "landing page" to most of those, start there. You can always add pages later, and the words you write for the landing page will be reused on the website anyway.
What goes on a landing page that works
A good landing page reads like a short conversation with a doubtful customer. Each section answers the next question they'd ask. The order we use most often:
- A headline that names the outcome, not the service. "A leak fixed today" rather than "Plumbing services".
- One line that says who it's for and where, and the main button.
- Proof, straight away: a photo of real work, a short review, or the number of years you've been doing it.
- What's included, in plain words, so nobody has to guess what they're paying for.
- How it works, in three or four steps, from booking to done.
- How pricing works. A price, a starting point, or at least an explanation of how you quote.
- The worries: guarantees, timing, what happens if something goes wrong.
- The button again, with a line that makes clicking it feel easy.
Not every page needs all eight, but if yours skips straight from the headline to the form, it's asking for a decision before it has earned one.
What each one costs and how long it takes
A landing page is usually the cheaper of the two, simply because there's less to write, design and build. It's one page, although a good one is longer than people expect, often eight or nine sections top to bottom. A website multiplies that work by the number of pages, plus the menu and the connections between them.
In time: we have most landing pages live in about two weeks, and websites of up to five or so pages in two to three weeks. What slows things down is rarely the building. It's waiting for photos, logos and details from the business. If you have those ready, everything moves faster.
Running costs are similar for both. You'll pay for your domain name (your web address) every year, and for hosting, which for a small, fast site is often very little. Whoever builds it should tell you these costs before you start.
Can you have both?
Yes, and a lot of businesses end up there. The website is the permanent home. Landing pages come and go around it, one for the summer offer, one for the new service, one for a trade show. They can sit on the same web address (yourbusiness.com/summer) so they share the trust your main site has built up.
What we'd avoid is the halfway house: a website with a dozen pages, all of them thin, and no single page that makes a strong case for anything. That's the most common thing we're asked to fix.
Mistakes we see all the time
- Sending ad traffic to the homepage. The homepage has to talk to everyone, so it talks to no one in particular. Send ad clicks to a page about the thing in the ad.
- Putting a full menu on a landing page. Every link that isn't your main button is a way out.
- Asking for too much in the form. Name, email or phone, and one question. You can ask the rest on the call.
- Writing about yourself first. Visitors care about their problem. Start there, then explain why you're the one to fix it.
- Hiding the price question. You don't have to publish prices, but say how pricing works, or people assume the worst.
Where to start
If you're not sure, start small. A single, well-written landing page will teach you what your customers ask and what makes them say yes. That's exactly what you need to know before you build a bigger site. And if you sell products rather than services, read do I need a website, or just a Shopify store? before deciding anything.
When you're ready, our website and landing page service covers the writing, design and build, and we'll tell you honestly on a free call which of the two you need.
