During Covid, back in 2020—which feels like a lifetime ago—we purchased a travel trailer hoping to take our “large family” (nothing is designed for a family of six) to explore new places.

It’s the purchase I regret the most.

Not because we didn’t have great trips. We did.

Because we didn’t anticipate the future. Life when Covid was in the rearview mirror and we had four athletic kids playing every sport under the sun in every season. A travel trailer sitting unused in the driveway while we rushed from one practice to the next.

I mean, how are you supposed to predict that?

I mention this because I’ve heard similar stories from business owners who regretted how they set up their online presence when they started. They chose the quick, easy option without thinking about where their business was headed. And now they’re stuck with something that doesn’t work for where they are today.

I don’t want you to have that kind of regret.

It’s one of the reasons I started Creare—to help business owners like you make the right decisions about your website from the start. And it’s why we build every website on WordPress: it’s a platform you’ll never regret because you can always do more with it as your business grows.

So let’s talk about the decision you’re facing right now: Should you start with a landing page vs full website for your small business?

The answer isn’t the same for everyone. And honestly, anyone who tells you there’s one “right” answer for all businesses isn’t being straight with you.

Here are five questions that will help you figure out what’s actually right for YOUR business, right now.

Question 1: What Is the Goal of Your Online Presence?

This sounds obvious, but most people skip right over it.

What do you want your online presence to do for you? :

• Launch one specific offer or service? (A landing page might be perfect)
• Build credibility and showcase multiple services? (You probably need a full website)
• Capture leads for a single program or event? (Landing page)
• Educate potential clients about what you do and how you help? (Full website)
• Sell products or take bookings online? (Definitely full website)

Landing pages work best when you have ONE clear goal: Get someone to sign up, buy, book a call, or register. There’s no navigation, no distractions. Just one path forward.

Full websites work when you need to serve multiple purposes: Build trust, showcase your expertise, explain different services, provide resources, capture leads, AND convert them.

Here’s what I tell my clients:

If you’re a life coach launching your first group program, a landing page focused solely on that program makes sense. But if you’re a life coach who offers one-on-one sessions, group programs, workshops, AND a podcast? You need a full website that helps people understand the full scope of what you offer and find the right entry point for them.

If you’re a landscape architect who wants to attract high-end residential clients, you need a portfolio website that showcases your best work and builds confidence that you can handle their $75K project. A single landing page won’t cut it.

The bottom line: If your goal is singular and temporary, a landing page works. If your goal is to build an ongoing business presence that serves multiple functions, you need a full website.

Question 2: How Will You Be Sharing Your Online Presence With Others?

This is where a lot of people get tripped up.

Think about how potential clients will actually find you.

Are you:

• Running Facebook or Google ads to a specific offer? (A landing page is probably ideal)
• Getting referrals from networking groups who want to check you out? (Full website)
• Speaking at events and handing out business cards? (Full website)
• Asking satisfied clients to send people your way? (Full website or Landing Page, depending on your service)
• Being vetted by architects, builders, or other professionals before they refer you? (Definitely full website)

Here’s the reality: When someone gets referred to you or meets you in person, they’re going to Google you. They want to see what you’re about, read about your background, maybe look at testimonials or case studies.

If all they find is a single landing page for one specific offer, it can feel incomplete if it’s not exactly what they are looking for. Like you’re not a real business yet. Or worse, like you’re hiding something.

An Example Scenario to Get You Thinking:

An architect you’ve worked with before gets asked, “Do you know a good landscape architect?” She says your name and the potential client looks you up before reaching out.

You Have a Landing page: One offer for spring landscape consultations. But it’s November. And they’re looking for someone to design a complete outdoor living space, not just a consultation.

You Have a Full website: Portfolio of past projects, clear service offerings, process overview, and contact information. They immediately see the quality of your work and that you handle exactly what they need.

The bottom line: If you’re relying on referrals, local networking, or building a professional reputation, you need a full website. Landing pages work when you’re driving paid traffic to a specific, often time-sensitive offer.

Question 3: How Does Your Website Need to Connect With Your Business Systems?

This is the question most people don’t think about initially, but thinking ahead can save you both time and money in the long run.

Ask yourself:

• Do you need to capture leads and add them to an email marketing system?
• Do you take payments online?
• Do you need clients to book appointments?
• Do you manage inventory or sell products?
• Do you need forms that integrate with your CRM?
• Will you need to add a client portal or member area in the future?

Landing pages are often designed for simplicity: Capture a name and email, maybe process a payment. They’re simple and tell a story in order to get you to take action signing up for whatever your offer is.

Full websites—especially WordPress sites—can integrate with almost any business system you need:

• Email marketing platforms (our fav: FluentCRM)
• Scheduling tools (our fav: Fluent Booking)
• CRM systems (our fav: FluentCRM)
• Payment processors (our fav: Stripe)
• Membership platforms (our fav: Fluent Community)
• And hundreds of other tools (I bet you can tell what we really love around here though…)

Here’s what happens when you don’t think about this upfront:

You start with a landing page and a basic form. Then you have to manually transfer leads into your email system to stay connected with them. You have no idea which lead purchased, and you have no way of tagging or organizing your leads to properly market to them.

Don’t be penny-wise and pound foolish.

Really think about what your future will hold. Set-up some of the systems now, even if they are on a landing page, then they’re in place when you’re ready to build out your full website. At that time you’ll be able to expand on what you’ve already started, and it won’t feel like fully starting over.

Question 4: What Is Your 5-Year and 10-Year Business Plan?

I know. You might be thinking, “I’m just trying to get my business off the ground. I don’t have a 10-year plan.”

That’s okay. But answer this instead: Where do you HOPE your business is in five years?

• Still doing exactly what you’re doing now, same services, same way? (Landing page may work)
• Growing your team, adding services, maybe creating courses or group programs? (A full website is in your future)
• Establishing yourself as the go-to expert in your area? (Full website)
• Building passive income streams or scaling beyond local clients? (Depends on exactly what you’re doing)

Here’s the thing about that travel trailer: We bought it thinking about the present (pandemic, need for safe outdoor activities) without considering the future (four kids in competitive sports with no free weekends).

Your website decision should consider where you’re going, not just where you are.

Think about this:

Right now, you might only offer one-on-one coaching sessions. A landing page could work.

But in three years, you might want to:

• Offer group programs
• Create an online course
• Write a blog to establish thought leadership
• Host a podcast
• Build a resource library for clients

So you start with a landing page, in three years you may use that one-on-one landing page as a landing page for online ads. You’ll then build a new website, still on WordPress that shows everything else you do. As long as you were collecting your leads in a CRM and tagging them appropriately, your new venture will be able to naturally grow from where you started.

The bottom line: If you see your business evolving, growing, or expanding in any way in the short term your answer is probably to invest in a full website now. Think of it like buying a house with room to grow instead of renting a studio apartment and moving every time your needs change.

But, that does bring us to our last, and maybe most important question…

Question 5: What Is Your Budget?

Let’s be honest about money, because this is where a lot of people get stuck.

Landing pages are cheaper upfront. We can typically build you a simple one-page site for $2,400 (which is based on it taking both Nic & I one full day of work).

Full websites cost more upfront. A professionally designed WordPress website typically runs around $5,400 for what we call a brochure website which is popular with many service-based businesses. For more complex businesses like ecommerce websites where you’re managing inventory and selling products, or professionals who need robust portfolios and integrations into different systems you’re looking at an investment ranging from $8,400 – over $20,000 depending on your needs.

We get it. When you’re just starting out or you’re bootstrapping, that difference feels massive.

But here’s what you need to consider: A landing page won’t save you a ton of money when you go to add on to your website later.

• A lot of the cost is based on time, sure some design aspects will be in place if you have a Landing Page, but you should still expect to spend another $3,600-6,000 to build a proper website once you’re ready
• Lost momentum (your Landing Page doesn’t show exactly what you’re doing for a period of time while you’re in transition)
• Lost opportunities (potential clients who visited during that transition and left because your landing page didn’t speak to what they were looking for)

Plus, there’s the hidden cost of NOT having a full website:

• Clients who don’t take you seriously because your online presence seems incomplete to them
• Opportunities you miss because you don’t have a blog or resources that could have brought in organic traffic

Here’s my honest recommendation based on budget:

If you have less than $2,000 to spend right now:

• Start with a landing page that asks for a very specific conversion
• Put a plan into place to invest in a full website within the next 6-12 months
• Use your landing page to validate your offer and generate some revenue
• Then reinvest in the website you actually need

If you have $3,600+ to invest:

• Build a proper website from the start
• Work with someone who understands both business strategy AND design
• Get it right the first time so you can focus on growing your business and expanding your website, not fixing it!

If budget is genuinely tight:

• Think about what you’re spending on other marketing that’s not working
• Calculate what your time is worth when you’re trying to DIY something you don’t understand

The bottom line: A landing page is more affordable upfront but could cost you more in the long run. A full website is an investment, but it’s one that grows with your business naturally.

So, Landing Page vs Website for Your Small Business—What’s Right for You?

Choose a landing page if:

• You have ONE specific, time-sensitive offer to promote
• You’re driving paid traffic (ads) to a single conversion goal
• You’re testing an idea before fully committing
• You plan to build a full website in the next 6-12 months and need something temporary

Choose a full website if:

• You’re building a long-term business
• You rely on referrals, networking, or word-of-mouth
• You offer multiple services or products
• You need your website to integrate with other business systems
• You want to establish credibility and thought leadership
• You see your business growing or evolving over the next few years

Why We Build Everything on WordPress (And Why That Matters to You)

I mentioned earlier that we build every website (and landing page) on WordPress with Breakdance. Here’s why that’s important for this decision:

WordPress gives you options.

Start with a simple five-page website today. Add a blog next year. Create a members-only area the year after that. Integrate with your email platform, your scheduling system, your CRM. WordPress can handle all of it without requiring you to rebuild from scratch.

It’s the difference between buying something that only works for today versus building something that adapts to tomorrow.

WordPress is owned by you.

When you build on platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or proprietary landing page builders, you’re renting. If that company changes their pricing, shuts down a feature you rely on, or goes out of business, you’re stuck.

With WordPress, you own your site. You can move it, expand it, or work with any developer you want. You’re not locked in. (Although of course we hope you love us and want to continue working with us!)

WordPress is the most widely used platform in the world.

That means there are endless resources, developers, and tools available. You’ll never be stuck with a platform no one knows how to work with.

Still Not Sure? Let’s Talk About It

Look, we know this decision can feel overwhelming. You’ve got a business to run, clients to serve, and a million other decisions to make. Figuring out if a landing page vs website for your small business is right shouldn’t keep you up at night.

That’s exactly why we offer discovery calls. Not to pressure you into anything, but to actually listen to where your business is now and where you want it to go. Then we’ll tell you honestly what we think you need—whether that’s working with us or not.

Because here’s the truth: The right website decision isn’t about what’s trendy or what some blog post told you to do. It’s about what actually serves YOUR business and YOUR goals.

Book a free discovery call and let’s figure out what makes sense for you.

Frequently Asked Questions: Landing Page vs Website for Small Business

Ready to make the right choice for your business? Book a discovery call and let’s talk through what actually makes sense for where you are and where you’re going. No pressure, just honest guidance from someone who’s helped dozens of York County Maine and Seacoast NH small business owners make this exact decision.