Blog vs. Landing page – what do you need?

“You need a blog!” – “No, all you need is a landing page!”

This could be a real conversation of two people discussing who is right.

But who is right?

What do you really need?

Today I’ll show you this.

But before that, I’ll explain more in detail what a “blog” and a “landing page” is.

What is the difference between a blog and a landing page?

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a single site on a website. It is a static page that doesn’t change regularly.

It will be used to either promote a product or to generate leads for email marketing.

Usually, a landing page for lead generation is very short while a sales page can be much longer. However, it can also happen that the sales page contains only a video.

Also, there is no navigation on a landing page.

You can also create a landing page with your CMS (e.g. WordPress). There are some themes which enable you to create landing pages. If your theme doesn’t have this feature you can use a plugin for that.

There is usually one single goal of a landing page. Either to create a lead or a sale. That’s why a landing page doesn’t have a navigation or a sidebar because the user should only focus on the landing page.

What is a blog?

A blog is a website which will be refreshed with new content regularly. Usually, there is a view with the newest posts on the top.

The length of these posts can vary. In an info niche, the length can be between 800-1500 words, in news niches there can also be short posts with 250-500 words.

In addition, a blog contains a navigation and a sidebar, sometimes two and sometimes none at all.

You can set up a blog with different CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress, Joomla, Drupa, etc. and you can code it yourself if you want to 😉

The goal of a blog is to generate readers and build trust to potential customers. In addition, you can generate leads for email marketing. Also, you position yourself as an expert in your niche.

So what do you need – Landing Page or Blog?

I think maybe you already know the right answer 😉

You should… wait for it 😉

… use both!

Use Landing Pages and a blog!

And that has several reasons.

3 Reasons for a Landing Page

Reason #1: You want to earn money online and for that, you need email marketing

Email marketing is your most important asset of your online business. So it really makes sense to start right away building your email list.

To get leads for your newsletter you need sign up forms. Of course, you can place sign up forms on the sidebar of your blog but the conversion rates of landing pages are much higher.

That means you can have more leads with the same amount of traffic on your landing page than on your blog.

Reason #2: The sales rate is higher on a Landing Page

In most of the niches, it is possible to create a digital product and sell it.

Of course, you can try to promote this on your blog but not many people will find your article and buy your product.

Also with the sidebar and the navigation, it is easy the user gets distracted.

On a landing page, it is much easier to explain the product and why it will help your visitor.

In addition, if you buy traffic (Google AdWords/Facebook PPC) it is much easier to measure the conversion rate of your product, as there is less distraction.

Reason #3: The signup rate is higher

Reason #2 also applies if you want to generate leads.

These are very good reasons for a landing page. So why should you use a blog?

3 Reasons for using a blog

Reason #4: Google loves blogs

With a blog, it is usually much easier to rank high on Google than with a landing page. One the one side, Google loves content. And on the other side, if you publish content regularly you have after some time a lot of content.

You wouldn’t find so much content on a long sales page.

That means, Google has more to index and you get better rankings with your keywords.

And that means more free traffic for you. Who doesn’t want to have that?

Reason #5: Nobody likes ads

If you publish helpful and interesting content on social networks it doesn’t look like an ad. If you publish instructions, tips, and ideas they will be seen as helpful content.

On the other side, landing pages are usually not welcome.

Reason #6: Trust is everything

With the help of a blog, you can position yourself as an expert in your niche and build trust to your reader (and potential customer). Your reader gets a lot of content from you and gets to know you and your brand better.

Think about it. When was the last time you bought an expensive digital product and from who? Have you found yourself a sales page without knowing the creator behind?

Or is it someone you already know longer and you visit his blog regularly?

Conclusion

Yes, you can live without a landing page. And yes you can live only with a landing page.

However, you are missing on some huge opportunities.

If you use landing pages and a blog you can have all the advantages of both!

Now I want to hear from you:

Do you use both, landing pages and a blog? Or maybe only one of it?

Or do you use nothing?

Let me know it by leaving a comment 🙂