There’s a reason that websites have home pages and there’s a reason that they have evolved to look the way they do. Good home pages are designed to provide a formal introduction to your company and help triage the different types of people that might visit your site to the content areas that are most relevant to them. Think of the home page as your virtual “maitre d,” greeting visitors, assessing their needs and leading them where they need to go for the appropriate service.

It’s exactly the type of experience that we would want to provide someone who is experiencing our business for the first time. “Good evening, sir/madam! I’m so glad you are dining with us! Do you have a reservation? Would you like a table this evening or shall I lead you to the bar? We also offer service on our patio if you enjoy dining al fresco.”

But that song and dance is completely unnecessary for “regulars.” In a dining setting, regulars appreciate and expect special treatment. A regular would be understandably irritated walking into their favorite restaurant without being recognized and led to their favorite table.

That’s why it’s so important that we make our friends feel special on our website. In the age of WordPress and other simple content management platforms, custom web pages or landing pages can be created on the fly. So why not create a landing page and send it to your client or prospect as a follow-up from your meeting or phone call? Why not attach one to your social media profiles, email blasts or targeted direct mail campaigns?

It’s a great way to make your visitors feel a little more special and an easy trick to increase return on these types of efforts.

Hold on, you say — but everyone says that I need to use landing pages for my AdWords and online advertising campaigns… We’re marketing to strangers there, why not send them to the home page?

Your AdWords prospects ARE strangers, but they are strangers who have already told you what they are looking for. Imagine walking into a car dealership knowing the exact model and color of the vehicle you want to buy. But when you ask to see one, the salesman instead gives you a full tour of the showroom, explaining the features and benefits of all their cars. You’d be annoyed and would probably take your business elsewhere. Using landing pages for these types of customers is just good customer service.

Embracing landing pages and using them effectively is a great step towards realizing more return from your website and online marketing activities.