Landing Page Or Website: Which One Is The Best For Events?

Landing Page vs Website for Events: Which One Do You Need and Why?

Should you use a landing page or a website to hit your conversion goals for an event? How do they differ from each other? The terms can be confusing, and both pages are similar. Each is great for its purposes and can boost awareness about your events and draw more traffic to the website.

In this article, we’ll overview the definitions and differences between a dedicated event website and a landing page and establish which is better for the event business.

Spoiler: you need to build a consistent online presence and draw attention to your events. But your current goals should determine where your main focus, budget, and efforts go.

What’s an Event Landing Page

An event landing page is a separate page created specifically for your marketing needs. Its main goal is to draw leads and increase conversions, getting more people to register to attend your event.

On landings, visitors see loud headings, calls to action, reviews for social proof, and buttons and fields to click on or fill in to convert. A landing can be your lead capture page, grabbing the audience’s attention and generating interest in the upcoming event.

Here are some reasons why a landing page may be useful in online marketing:

• It’s campaign-oriented (for example, promoting one event, not your whole business).
• It’s a standalone page that isn’t included in the navigation menu of your site.
• You can see where the traffic to the landing page comes from.
• It’s aimed at making a person take the focus action.

Here’s an example of a great event landing page. Thinkific has created a minimalist landing page design that is elegant and contains essential information, a clear targeting for female entrepreneurs, and compelling media content showing diverse speakers.

The page has powerful messaging and CTAs likeYou don’t want to miss this, encouraging women who want to break free from the “sameness in online space” to register for the event.

Neat, bright, diverse, and inspiring!

What’s an Event Website

Your event website may be similar to an informational video, event resume, or the whole business. Your audience will eventually end up on the homepage, whether from social media, a landing page, a search engine, etc.

A website is necessary to fit all your event(s) information on one page. Cramming all the data onto one page would be too long and confusing. It’s easier to create a multi-page website where the user can find all the needed info, from the story of your company and contact information to upcoming events, photo reports from past events, and a blog with useful articles.

Aside from the landing page, which can be temporary, the website will always be there, so it must always be relevant. It’s a major part of all stages of the customer journey, where customers form a first impression of your event or business, subscribe to your emails, and register for events. Also, make sure you use a free email verifier in your email campaigns so that your subscribers trust your emails.

If it is a computer game, the site's home page will be the title screen where you see the name of the game and all the navigation options like “Play” and “Settings”. In the Settings, the audience can find information about your events, and the Play button is there to register as an attendee.

Here are some features to include on the website's main page:

• Wide audience targeting
• Aimed at providing information
• Everlasting (you can update it, but it’s always on the root domain)
• Accessible from any other page on the site

To ensure users reach your website, you need to optimise it to rank high in search results. This can be done through various SEO (search engine optimisation) approaches, such as keyword research, content marketing, on-page optimization, guest posting opportunities, SaaS link building agency, link-building, tracking keyword performance and technical improvements. After you have done your optimisation, make sure to track its performance using Google Analytics, with its embedded analytics capabilities to track its traffic and user behaviour and SEO tools like the keyword position tracker to monitor your keywords and their positions.

If you're looking to build a website without having the hassle of coding, consider to explore various AI website builders on the market, which will help you to create a site in less than 5 minutes.

However, the website builders may not facilitate you with all the custom functionalities you desire to have on your website. For that, you can think of interviewing some of the excellent web design companies to add advanced engaging elements.

Here’s an example of what a great main event website page looks like. Eventflare offers event suggestions based on location and type of activity. The search bar is easy to see, but if you need some help, you can click on the bright button“Ask a venue expert”.

The website has a clear structure; it is packed with information yet isn’t crowded with content. Everything is very convenient, which creates a pleasant first experience.

Due to great navigation, you can easily find company information, resources like blog articles and expert recommendations, social media links, etc. Such a website is a perfect example of how to engage visitors and be helpful in decision-making.

Websites vs Landing Pages for Events: Differences

Now that we know what an event website and an event landing page are, let’s define the differences:

• Purpose – a landing page aims to increase conversions (e.g., get more people registered for your event). Landings may have various focuses like gaining leads, expanding the email list, with more verified email addresses and your email marketing efforts, garnering downloads, etc. On the other hand, a website can have several purposes, some of which are informational and related to marketing.
  
  
• Traffic generation – your marketing efforts greatly depend on the traffic source your page needs to attract. Event websites will generate all types of traffic (organic, direct, and referral). Landing pages can do the same but require much more effort to start generating traffic. You’ll have to choose specific keywords to optimise the page due to a narrower audience.
  Also, you may want to target PPC (pay-per-click) campaign traffic (the people clicking on that “Ad” link in Google search, for example). using paid search engine intelligence software can be highly beneficial in this approach. For landing pages, this option is better.
  
  
• Calls to action – CTAs differ by the goal of the page. The event homepage aims to provide information; the landing page aims to make people take action. The calls to action differ accordingly. The main page can have CTAs likeStart now orLet’s get started! While the landing page should be more specific:Book your ticket now! orBecome one of the first 10 attendees to get a discount!
  
  
• Navigation – your website needs clear navigation to inform visitors about your business and events. Your landing page should have few, if any, exit links, meaning that if a visitor lands there, they either register or close the page.

Yes, the lines are blurred regarding these two types of pages. However, we see some distinct differences.

Which Option Is Better for Events?

The choice depends on your event's frequency, your event’s frequency goal, and many other factors. The first thing to remember is that there’s no better option because both are effective in their own way.

If your event requires handling complex financial transactions, incorporating software development for fintech can enhance security and user experience, making either a website or a landing page more robust and efficient. Let’s see when you should use a website for events: when you want to boost your SEO, share contact info and social media links, or arrange a wide brand campaign; and when it’s best to use landing pages: for targeted marketing strategies, PPC campaigns, or social media promotions.

Let’s see when you should use a website for events:

• When you want to boost your SEO. Don’t direct such efforts to the event landing page.
• When you want to share contact info and social media links, putting these on the landing page will distract people from the CTAs and registration.
• When you arrange a wide brand campaign using general or no CTAs. If you promote on TV, radio, online streaming services, etc., and want to reach a large audience, direct the people to your website.
• When you have an annual event and want to create a community around it to ensure stability, you'll encourage more people to join this year by including information about previous events, pictures, stories, etc.

And here’s when it’s best to use landing pages with or without lead magnets:

• Creating a marketing strategy for a new event or messaging is like a playground where you can see how your target audience reacts to new things.
• When you create a PPC campaign, both on social media and search. The lander has clear, targeted messages and CTAs, which will work more effectively.
• When you promote through social media, banner ads, email marketing, etc.

Both websites and landing pages are relatively universal for launching a new business. While preparing and optimising your website and optimising your website for Google, create and test landings to find and attract your target audience quickly.

Start Building a Powerful Presence Online

Choosing between an event website or anding page depends on your goals and the event you want to advertise. You can use both, especially if it’s a new business, but if you have to choose, analyse your goals first.

If you want to launch a PPC campaign and promote through email marketing or social media, leading people to the landing page is usually better. Also, a lander is a good option if you want quick results or a new event or messaging for your business.

Suppose you want to promote an annual event, improve organic search optimisation, share contact info and social media links, and establish consistent messaging. In that case, a site may be the best option.