Hey - it’s Fiona

Welcome to the final Marketplace Minute of 2024! With my birthday just around the corner, I’m wrapping up work a little early this year and heading up north to Cheshire, UK, to celebrate with family and friends.

There’s so much more marketplace design advice coming your way in 2025, so stay tuned! But for now, let’s dive into this week’s issue, where I’m covering:

• The difference between a homepage and a landing page

• When to use landing pages

• How to build landing pages in Webflow 

Enjoy the read, and see you in the new year!

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

Following on from one on my previous newsletter, a reader got in touch to ask me what the difference is between a homepage and a landing page.

I feel like there’s a lot of confusion about this. The two terms get thrown around a lot, and they’re often used interchangeably.

Homepage: The central hub (or the “home”) of a marketplace. It provides an overview of the business and jumping-off points for users to explore products, services, or categories.

Landing page: A focused page targeting a specific audience or purpose within the marketplace, such as showcasing listings in a particular location or attracting a specific user group.

The purpose, structure and design of these two pages are therefore very different. As I’ve talked a lot about the design of a homepage in my previous newsletters, today I’m going to dive deep into landing pages.

—> Click here to learn how to structure and design your homepage.

Types of landing pages

Landing pages are often the first touchpoint for visitors who arrive after clicking on a paid ad (e.g., from Meta, Google, TikTok, etc.). These ads usually target a specific niche within an audience, so it’s essential for the landing page to reflect that niche.

Here are the common types of landing pages we see in marketplaces:

1. Geography-focused: Targeting users based on location (e.g., "London").

2. Vertical or Category: Highlighting a specific service or product type (e.g., "Wedding Photographer").

3. Geography + Vertical: Combining location and category to capture a more precise niche (e.g., "London Wedding Photographer").

4. Supplier Sign-Up: Encouraging service providers or sellers to join the platform (e.g., "Become a Wedding Photographer on Snappr").

Now that we’ve identified the types of landing pages, let’s take a look at how to design them effectively.

The anatomy of a landing page for marketplaces

Marketplace landing pages are designed to connect specific audiences with the exact services or products they’re searching for. Whether targeting a location, category, or user group, an effective landing page should include these elements:

Hopefully, this gives you a clearer understanding of the difference between a homepage and a landing page, and helps you decide if it's time to introduce landing pages to your own marketplace.

—> ✉️ Reply with your questions and I’ll answer them in a future issue.

Examples of awesome landing pages

Showcasing inspiring designs and delightful features that other marketplaces have added to their websites.

1. Airbnb

This Airbnb landing page focuses on a single vertical (cabins) in a specific location (Joshua Tree, California), and from a design perspective, it’s one of the best examples I’ve seen.

The simplicity is what stands out. The hero section combines clear, concise copy with a stunning image, instantly confirming to visitors that they’re in the right place. I particularly appreciate the pre-filled search form, which makes it effortless for users to view all relevant listings.

As you scroll, you’ll find a short benefits section that highlights the key value propositions, followed by four popular, high-quality listings that perfectly match the category and location criteria. The page finishes with five FAQs, addressing common questions.

This goes to show that landing pages don’t need to be lengthy or overly complex to be effective.

2. DoorDash

DoorDash, a food delivery and takeout marketplace, has created location-specific landing pages targeting potential delivery drivers (their supply side).

The top section of this landing page is excellent. In fact, I can’t fault it. The copy is clear, mentions the location (Honolulu, Hawaii), and features an engaging image of a delivery driver, reinforcing the idea of earning money through food delivery.

Below the hero section is a persuasive benefits section, designed for easy scanning. It’s visually appealing, making great use of colour and branded icons to highlight key advantages. This section does a great job of communicating why someone should sign up to become a driver.

However, the rest of the page could be improved. While it includes details on how to apply and a strong call-to-action (“Sign up and start today”), the layout could benefit from clearer headings to improve scanability. Finally, an FAQ section would help address common questions and provide more depth for potential drivers.

3. HouseKeep

HouseKeep is a UK-based marketplace connecting people with house cleaning services. Like Airbnb, they’ve developed multiple category-specific (e.g., carpet cleaning) and geography-specific (e.g., Manchester, UK) landing pages.

Since Housekeep is not as well-known as some larger marketplaces, they’ve prioritised building trust with prospective customers. Right at the top of the page, they display their TrustPilot score and recognisable brand logos to establish credibility. Scrolling further reveals numerous reviews from other happy customers, reinforcing their reputation through social proof.

While the page does a great job of fostering trust, I personally think it’s a bit too long and think it should focus more on the specific category and location being targeted. That said, their How it Works, Why Choose Housekeep, and FAQs sections are particularly well-done, providing clear, helpful information that answers key customer questions and makes the service more approachable.

4. Zillow

For my final example, I wanted to highlight something a bit different. Zillow, a real estate marketplace in the US, has a landing page dedicated to helping users find out how much their home is worth.

Zillow has clearly identified this as a highly searched query, and they’ve strategically designed this page to capture potential sellers early in their journey. People curious about their home’s value are likely considering selling soon (and sellers are often buyers too). By addressing this need, Zillow brings users into their ecosystem at an early stage.

The design of the page is incredibly simple. The hero section prominently features a clear input field where users can enter their address, making the process straightforward. Beneath that, there are just six concise FAQs, and that’s it.

The simplicity is intentional. Zillow avoids distractions to keep user laser focused on the next step. This clean approach ensures users quickly engage with the service. I love it!

Quickly build landing pages in Webflow

One of my favourite tools for building multiple category- or location-specific landing pages at speed is Webflow.

Webflow is a no-code website builder, similar to Wix or Squarespace, but far more powerful. It’s affordable at $168/year and offers incredible flexibility.

The standout feature of Webflow is that you only need to design a single landing page template. Once that’s done, you can create as many variations as you like by populating it with content from the CMS. This makes it ideal for marketplaces that need to scale their landing pages efficiently.

If you fancy giving it a go, take a look at this build a landing page guide from the Webflow blog.

Pro Tip: If you’re new to professional web design tools or no-code platforms, Webflow might feel a bit intimidating at first due to its steep learning curve. However, they’ve got you covered with Webflow University. They have the BEST training videos I’ve ever seen. These tutorials are easy to follow, packed with humour, and make the learning process genuinely enjoyable.

Alternatively, if you’d prefer to outsource this task to someone who knows what they’re doing, feel free to give me a shout! I’d be happy to help.

—> ✉️ Send me your favourite tools and I’ll feature them here. 

Fiona Burns

Find me on LinkedIn or Book a 1:1 call

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