Clients often ask why a landing page costs less than a full site build but sometimes more per-page than a homepage. From the dev side, the answer is scope discipline, not simplicity.
A landing page strips out everything a normal page has to carry — navigation, multiple CTAs, competing content blocks — and replaces it with a single conversion path. That constraint actually makes the build harder to get right, not easier. Every element earns its place or gets cut.
On the technical side, a few things matter more here than on a typical page:
Load time is non-negotiable. Ad traffic is paid traffic — a slow page is burning the client's ad budget on every bounce. I keep landing pages lighter than the main site: minimal scripts, no unnecessary plugins, image optimization done properly, not just "compressed."
Form logic needs to degrade gracefully. Whether it's a simple email capture or a multi-step qualifier form feeding a CRM, the form is often the only interactive element on the page — it has to work flawlessly across devices.
A/B variant structure should be planned from the start, not bolted on later. If a client wants to test two headlines or two CTA placements, building the page with that in mind from day one saves a full rebuild later.
I broke down real client pricing (by build method — DIY, freelancer, agency) along with a full build process and a real project example in this guide: https://amanurrahman.com/blog-post/landing-page-design-cost
Curious how other devs here structure landing page builds differently from full site pages — do you separate the codebase entirely, or keep it in the same theme/repo?