If you don’t know much about domains and subdomains, it can be pretty overwhelming to try and build a website and a landing page. Especially if you need multiple landing pages on one domain.
If you take a bit of time to understand the technical aspects of building a website, it’s not so scary. Knowing how and when to use a landing page subdomain will help you manage your website more effectively.
Subdomains act as an extension to a website. This is useful when a certain section of your site needs to work differently from the rest. When you add a subdomain, the structure can be different.
Below we will go over some landing page subdomain examples.
You probably know what domains and subdomains are. But just in case, let’s breeze over the basics.
A domain is essentially a placeholder for an IP address. Before we used domains, people had to type out the entire IP address to reach a website. This is a very long list of numbers, and it would be hard to remember the IP address of every one of the thousands of websites we each use in today’s times.
Think of your domain as a virtual plot of land. It’s where your website lives. When people come looking for you, your domain name is what they use to find you. They make the internet a lot more user-friendly.
Brands spend a lot of time choosing the right domain name, as well as the right extension, like .com, .org or .net The domain name influences how consumers perceive a brand before they have even seen the website, so you need to buy a domain name that reflects your brand. There are many platforms that can help you make the process of securing the perfect domain straightforward and convenient, like Hostinger and others.
Subdomains are like add-ons to your root domain. We use them when a website needs to serve more than one function or an additional function. This could be because you want your root domain and your subdomain to be managed separately. It could also be because your root domain doesn’t offer the functionality that you need.
Subdomains are normally written as subdomain.domain.com. Let’s go into more detail with some landing page subdomain examples.
You might own a cafe in London. You decide to register the domain mycafe.co.uk. This is where you will put all of your retail outlet information, like your operating hours, your menu, and your brand narrative.
Perhaps, after time, you would also like to sell your coffee beans online directly to consumers. You would create a subdomain like shop.mycafe.co.uk.
If your cafe and online store are both doing well enough, you might decide to franchise. A part of your marketing strategy could be to produce more content. You could then start a blog about the coffee culture under the subdomain blog.mycafe.co.uk.
mycafe.co.uk - Domain Name
shop.mycafe.co.uk - Subdomain Name
blog.mycafe.co.uk - Subdomain Name
A subdomain can effectively function as a different website. It serves a different purpose to your root domain. But it still needs to operate under your root domain, because it’s a part of your brand.
People will still visit your root domain when they want to read your blog or buy your coffee beans, and once they are there, you will direct them to your subdomain with easy-to-navigate links.
A landing page is a page a consumer lands on when they’re visiting your website. They could be directed there by an advert, or by performing a search with their browser. A lot of marketers direct their PPC traffic to home pages, but that isn’t a smart play.
Landing pages are typically optimized to drive conversions. Do you want people to sign up for a service? Do you want them to buy something? Do you want them to fill in a landing page lead form?
Related: What are the Key Components of a Landing Page?
In the case of offers.mycafe.co.uk subdomain example, the landing page would be optimized to drive sales. The landing page would present a good offer on coffee beans, such as free delivery for orders above a certain amount, or a money-back guarantee for consumers who don’t like the coffee.
In the case of news.mycafe.co.uk subdomain example, the landing page would encourage users to signup for My Cafe’s newsletter. This way, you will be able to send the consumer your news and other marketing material directly to their inbox.
Landing pages often need to function in a different way to the rest of your website. This is because their function is to drive conversions. This is why subdomains are very handy tools to use when making a landing page.
Let’s look through some more landing page subdomain examples to demonstrate these points.
Let’s look at some more landing page subdomain examples to understand the different types of subdomains.
These types of subdomain landing pages are ideal for websites that service different geographical areas. To make life easier, the subdomain is geo-fenced. This means that whenever a user goes to your root domain, they will be automatically forwarded to the subdomain in their area.
Let’s work through these landing page subdomain examples.
Craig’s List operates all over the world. But only area-specific content is relevant to Craig’s List users. So in these landing page subdomain examples, you will be automatically forwarded to the subdomain of the area you are in. You would be forwarded to london.craigslist.org or bristol.craigslist.org subdomains.
IT at Craig List’s will be able to using subdomains separately. They can manage content on one subdomain without it affecting another. People in Bristol won’t be given information about listings in London.
You can normally have an unlimited amount of subdomains for every domain that you own. This means you can get every area specific. All these subdomains will function in the same way. Landing page subdomain examples like this are easy to manage.
In other landing page subdomain examples, the landing pages might need to work differently. In a different scenario, a brand might rely on a network of retailers to sell its product.
If a company produces a product but doesn’t sell directly to consumers, it can publish landing pages under the domains of its retail partners. As the parent brand, they still have control over the landing page, but they rely on the traffic of their partners to make sales.
**Related: **Landing Page vs Product Page Debate: Which is Better?
Landing page subdomain examples like this will look different.
If you started the company Quality Linens, you could approach vendors in the home decor industry to stock your product. If you know the network well enough, you wouldn’t need to set up your own stores.
You would rely on your network of vendors for sales. You could still set up your own landing page and publish them on your retailer’s root domains.
Your Subdomain URLs would look something like this:
https://promos.houseandhome.co.uk/qualitylinens
http://promos.bestbedroom.co.uk/qualitylinens/
http://promos.awardwinning.co.uk/qualitylinens/
These landing page subdomain examples are the reverse of the previous examples. This is a different way to leverage a large retail network while publishing landing pages for your brand.
In the previous example, we said that the landing page subdomain examples were published under the root domains of their various vendors. But this time, the brand publishes subdomains for each individual retailer under its own root domain.
The Subdomain URLs would look something like this:
http://houseandhome.qualitylinens.co.uk
http://bestbedroom.qualitylinens.co.uk
http://award-winning.qualitylinens.co.uk
We can see using subdomains come in handy with the above examples. But let’s talk more about why landing page subdomains are so handy.
As you can see from the above landing page subdomain examples, one of the most common uses of using subdomain is to create an online e-commerce store. Your landing page subdomain can function differently from your root domain, which is what you need in this instance.
It is useful to use a subdomain for your e-commerce store because you can include extra, complex functionality to handle transactions. Handling transactions require a lot of security because the consumer is providing sensitive financial information.
Landing page subdomain examples like this need to be secure, but the root domain doesn’t have to be. So using subdomains allow you to focus your resources more efficiently.
However, e-commerce stores are not the most common use of subdomains.
Often, developers will test new plugins and updates on a subdomain staging site. You can password-protect your subdomain so that it is not accessible to the general public.
The power of a subdomain is that you are able to manage the different parts of your website separately. From a technical aspect, this is very convenient. You can manage each subdomain individually, without affecting the others.
This means that you can manage your landing page subdomains without needing to touch your root domain. The best part is that however, many subdomains you have, they will appear uniform to your prospects and customers.
Marketers can also publish content on subdomains without needing assistance from IT (aside from the initial set up process, which usually is setting up a CNAME or A record).
Another pro of using a subdomain as a landing page is that you add additional content around your brand without cluttering your root domain. And, if you choose a good subdomain name, you can entice prospects before they even start reading your landing page content.
A landing page does not necessarily need its own domain. While having a unique domain for a landing page can be beneficial in some cases, it is not always required. A landing page can also be created using a subdomain or even a directory within an existing domain.
Using a domain for a landing page can provide a dedicated web address that is distinct from the main website, making it easy to share, promote, and track. It can also give the landing page a sense of independence and professionalism.
On the other hand, using a subdomain or directory within an existing domain can save on the cost of registering a new domain and can also maintain a sense of association with the main website. For example, if the main website is “example.com”, a landing page can be created as “landing.example.com” (subdomain) or “example.com/landing” (directory).
Ultimately, whether a landing page needs its own domain depends on the specific goals, branding, and marketing strategy of the campaign. It’s important to carefully consider factors such as branding, ease of use, tracking, and budget when deciding whether to use a domain, subdomain, or directory for a landing page.
At Apexure, we specialize in creating inspirational landing page designs that drive conversions.
We combine expertise, industry knowledge, and design to get you and your company results.
If these landing page subdomain examples seem like they could apply to your company, you should take a look at our landing page design services.
We have been building landing pages for over a decade, and have worked with over 300+ customers globally.
If a subdomain is right for you, we’ll be the first to tell you.
Talk to us today about these landing page subdomain examples to find out if this could help us drive up your conversion rates.
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Founder & CEO of Apexure, Waseem worked in London’s Financial Industry. He has worked on trading floors in BNP Paribas and Trafigura, developing complex business systems. Waseem loves working with Startups and combines data and design to create improved User Experiences.
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