Homepage, landing page, advertorial – where should you really send traffic?

Hey, it’s Arik.

I’ve been looking through a ton of ad accounts lately, just seeing what’s happening in the wild, where traffic’s being sent, and how it’s actually converting. And the more I see, the more I realize how big of a difference it makes when you get the destination right.

We all know good ads can make or break a campaign. But even the best creative will hit a ceiling if you’re sending people somewhere that doesn’t match the reason they clicked in the first place.

I’ve been studying patterns across different brands, different industries, different offers, and the results keep pointing to the same thing: the path you send someone down after they click is just as important as the ad that got them there.

Let me explain.

Homepages are conversion killers for cold traffic
I get why it happens. You’ve got your homepage looking clean, it tells your brand story, you’ve invested in design, and it feels like the safest place to send someone new. But when you actually watch how cold traffic behaves, it’s pretty clear they’re not ready for that level of wandering.

They just saw something that caught their attention. Maybe it was a benefit, maybe it was a problem they suddenly realized they had, maybe it was pure curiosity. They’re not looking to learn your entire brand history or browse through ten different menu links. They’re looking for the thing that got them to click in the first place.

I’ve seen sessions where 80% of people land on a homepage and leave within seconds because they have to do the extra work of figuring out where to go next. When you add up the spend behind those clicks, it’s a lot of money just… evaporating.

Homepages are fine for branded search and returning customers. For cold paid traffic, they’re usually a dead end.


Landing pages are where real scaling starts
When someone clicks because you promised them relief from heartburn, the first thing they should see on the page is exactly that.

A good landing page:
- Carries the same hook from the ad straight through the headline
- Shows the product early and clearly
- Handles objections with real social proof, UGC, or a short “why it works” section
- Keeps the CTA obvious and repeated
- Uses bundles or quantity breaks to lift AOV

I’ve watched brands with a $40 AOV go from 2% to 4% conversion rate just by swapping the homepage for a strong landing page. On a $2 CPC, that change doubled revenue on the same spend.


Advertorials are crushing in the right scenarios
This is one I’ve been paying close attention to lately. More and more media buyers are using advertorials to warm people up before they even hit a product page, and it’s working well in the right niches.

Think of an advertorial as a long-form article that tells a story, handles objections, builds authority, and educates the buyer so that by the time they reach the checkout page, the decision already feels made.

I’ve seen this perform especially well for:

- Products that solve a problem people don’t fully understand yet
- Supplements, wellness, and higher-ticket CPG where education matters
- Campaigns where you need to warm people up before a conversion ask

Basically anything where trust and understanding matter before you ask for a card swipe. It’s not for every offer, but when it fits, it can be the difference between a lukewarm click and a buyer who’s ready to convert.

Where I’d start if you want to see lift fast:

1. Look at your best-performing ad and pull the core angle. What problem is it solving? What promise is it making?

2. Open the page that ad is sending people to. Is that exact promise the first thing they see? Does the page feel like the natural next step in the conversation you started in the ad? If not, that’s your opportunity.

3. Start with a simple, single-offer landing page that keeps the focus on the reason they clicked. Strip away navigation, remove distractions, and focus on the hook, the proof, and the CTA.

4. If you’ve got a product that needs more context, test an advertorial. Use it to tell the story, add authority, and handle objections before asking for the sale.

5. Track conversion rate and AOV side by side. Watch what happens when you stop relying on your homepage and start giving traffic a direct path to buy.

The ad gets you attention, but the page makes you money. Getting this part right isn’t as exciting as launching new creatives or testing a new campaign structure, but it’s one of those changes that can change everything about how your paid traffic performs.

Meme of the Week: