A landing page is a web page built to get the visitor to take one single action, for example filling in a form, booking a call or buying. People usually reach it from an ad, an email or a social post. Compared with a website's home page it has fewer menus and fewer distractions, with one message from start to finish.
The name comes from the idea of landing: it is the page you land on after clicking. In this guide we look at how a landing page is built, how it differs from a website, which types exist, when it pays off and when it is a waste of time. At the end you will find a hypothetical example, the steps to create one and the questions people ask most often.
What does a landing page look like?
A good landing page has few elements, all serving one goal. According to the guides from Hostinger and GetResponse (both in Italian), these are the ingredients that come up most often:
- A headline that says right away what the reader gets, written as a benefit rather than a description of the company.
- A subheadline that spells out the offer in one sentence.
- A short text that answers the most common doubts: how much effort it takes, what happens after the click, who the offer is for.
- An image or a video that shows the product or service.
- Trust elements, such as real reviews or logos of real clients. If you do not have them, leave them out rather than invent them.
- A call to action (often shortened to CTA), meaning the button or invitation that asks for the step: "Book a call", "Download the guide".
- A short form with only the fields you really need.
The call to action is repeated at the right points of the page, so someone who is convinced halfway through does not have to scroll back up to find it. Any element that does not lead toward that button is a candidate for removal.
What is the difference between a landing page and a website?
A website is like a shop with several windows: it has a home page, service pages, an about page, contacts and often a blog. Visitors can wander, compare and read. A landing page is the counter at the entrance, where a person who already has a specific need finds a specific answer and one path to follow.
In practice four things change:
- The purpose. The website presents the whole business, the landing page pushes toward one action.
- The navigation. The website has a full menu, the landing page has a reduced one or none.
- The audience. The website welcomes people from many sources, the landing page is written for people coming from one specific source, for example an ad.
- The measure of success. For the website, visits and reading time matter. For the landing page, what counts is how many people take the requested action.
The two can live together: a landing page can sit inside your site or on a separate address. If you are still deciding where to start, the choice depends on what you want to achieve. A business that needs to become known needs a website, while a campaign with a precise goal calls for a custom landing page.
What types of landing page exist?
Classifications vary, but the ones met most often (both GetResponse and Hostinger mention them) boil down to this:
- Sales page: presents a product or service and leads to a purchase or a quote request.
- Lead page: offers something useful, such as a guide or a booking form, in exchange for contact details.
- Sign-up page: asks essentially for one piece of data, usually the email, for an event or a newsletter.
- Thank-you page: appears after the action is completed and can suggest the next step.
- "Coming soon" page: builds anticipation before a product or service launches.
According to Hostinger, splash pages, the ones that appear for a notice or a check, are not landing pages. By "conversion" we mean the moment the visitor does what you wanted: writes, books, downloads, buys.
When do you need a landing page?
You need one when you have a precise goal and an audience arriving from a precise channel. Among the most common cases, the ones the Sarabi.Cloud services page lists for landing pages:
- launching a product or service;
- an advertising campaign, for example on Google Ads or Meta;
- collecting contacts with a guide, a discount code or another incentive;
- event sign-ups;
- testing an idea before building the full product.
Advertising deserves a few more words. Google Ads documentation says the destination page should match the ad and the keywords closely, offer useful and original content, and be quick and easy to use on a phone. Google ties it to landing page experience, one of the components of Quality Score. Sending people who click an ad to the home page of a generic site, in practice, means giving up a page built for that ad.
Then there is seasonality. Ahead of Black Friday in late November, several guides urge businesses to prepare their store and offer pages in good time. A landing page dedicated to a promotion, ready early, is the simplest way to avoid last-minute improvising.
When don't you need a landing page?
This is the question that saves you the most money, so it is worth being direct. You do not need a landing page, or at least not yet, in these cases:
- You do not have a site yet and nobody knows who you are. First you need a place to present your business, with services, contacts and basic information. The landing page comes after.
- You have no precise offer to promote. A page with a single goal works if you know what that goal is.
- You will run no ads and send no emails. If traffic comes only from Google search, a good page on your site about the single service can do the same job.
- Your customer needs to compare a lot of information before deciding. In that case a multi-page site guides them better than a single page.
In those cases, start from an essential site and build landing pages when you have a campaign to support.
What mistakes make a landing page useless?
The most frequent mistakes are few and almost always predictable:
- Too many goals on the same page. If you ask people to sign up, buy, follow your socials and read the blog, they do nothing.
- Links that lead away. Links to social networks or to the rest of the site distract from the main action.
- Forms that are too long. Every extra field is a reason to leave. Ask only for what you need for the first contact.
- A headline that does not match the ad. Someone who clicks on "free quote" and lands on a generic page leaves.
- Slow loading or a page that is awkward on a phone. GetResponse and Google Ads both stress speed and mobile use.
- Fake urgency. A countdown that resets every day burns trust.
- No privacy notice next to the form. If you collect personal data, people must know who handles it and why. Get advice from a professional on the correct wording.
How do you know if a landing page works?
The main measure is the conversion rate: how many people take the requested action compared with how many visit the page. If in one week the page gets 200 visits and 10 people fill in the form, the rate is 5%. This is a hypothetical example of the calculation, not a real result.
For a reference point, GetResponse publishes a benchmark that gives an average of 5.62% for landing pages in Italy. It is a figure from the vendor of a landing page tool. The page does not describe the sample or the period, so read it as an order of magnitude, never as a promise. What matters more is the comparison with yourself: your page today against your page after a change.
To compare two versions you use an A/B test: half of the visitors see version A, half see B, and after enough visits you check which converts better. Change one thing at a time, for example the headline or the button text, otherwise you cannot tell what made the difference. You also need tracking, meaning the setup that records the actions taken on the page. With few visits the results are noise: wait until you have enough before deciding.
A concrete example (hypothetical example)
Imagine a physiotherapist opening a new practice who wants to fill the first appointments. She already has an introduction page on her site, but she decides to run a local ad for the first visit.
The ad points to a dedicated landing page. The headline says "First assessment visit in your neighborhood", the subheadline explains in one line what happens during the visit, a short block answers the typical questions (where we are, how long it lasts, what to bring). The page ends with a form asking for name, phone and preferred time slot. There is no site menu and there are no links to social networks.
The advantage is that every person who clicks sees exactly what the ad promised. The physiotherapist, looking at the numbers, quickly sees whether the ad brings requests. If nobody fills in the form, she knows to change the message rather than the rest of the practice.
How to create a landing page, step by step
- Define the goal in one sentence: "I want people to book a first visit".
- Write down who arrives and from where: ads, newsletters and social posts call for different tones.
- Write the headline and the CTA before everything else. If you cannot, the goal is not clear yet.
- Add only the blocks that answer real doubts: benefits, how it works, frequently asked questions, genuine trust proof.
- Build the form with the minimum fields and put the privacy notice next to it.
- Check the page on a phone and test the loading speed.
- Connect tracking, publish and watch the numbers for a few weeks.
- Change one thing at a time and compare.
You can do it yourself with a page-building tool if you have the time and the will to learn. If you would rather not lose weeks, Sarabi.Cloud builds custom landing pages: the service page explains that the copy is written together (you bring the content, we turn it into a clear message), that the page is set up for campaigns with conversion tracking, and that A/B tests can be set up on headlines, images and buttons.
Frequently asked questions about landing pages
Does a landing page rank on Google? It can appear in results like any web page if it is well made. Its main job, though, is to convert people arriving from a specific channel. To be found steadily in searches you generally need content pages on your site, like this guide.
How much does a landing page cost? It depends on the work involved: copy, graphics, tracking, the number of versions to test. We have not listed prices on our service page, so for an estimate you need to describe the project. Be wary of anyone who gives you a number without knowing what you need.
Can I use my site's home page as a landing page? You can, but it usually performs worse. A home page has to serve different audiences with different goals, while a landing page speaks to one person with one request.
Want a landing page for your business?
If you have an offer to launch, a campaign coming up or contacts to collect, write to us at info@sarabi.cloud. Tell us in two lines what you want to achieve, where you are now and which channel people will come from. We will reply with the right questions to work out whether you really need a landing page. In the blog index you will find more guides on websites, automation and digital tools.
Sources: GetResponse, Landing Page: guida completa; Hostinger, Che cos'è una landing page; Google Ads, destination page help; Sarabi.Cloud, landing pages.
Have a similar case or a doubt? Write to us at info@sarabi.cloud.