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With any new project I expect to be a "long haul" type site (versus a simple TGP site or whatever), I create a few different entrance pages with different looks as separate PHP pages. I set my index with the headers/metas, then PHP INCLUDE the different pages to appear evenly, and track conversion from each of them. It's transparent to a first-time visitor, and you can then decide for yourself.
There are, as you say, many many different approaches you could take, and what works for one kind of site may not work for another. All kinds of factors may affect that, such as where your traffic is coming from, what kind of visitor you're attracting, what your vertical sales goals are, etc. The best thing to do is test for yourself -- and be sure to track every detail that might affect the outcome.
With this knowledge, if it is a big project, you can even go on to key different entrance pages specifically for different ad campaigns or referral sources. But, this can get pretty advanced and time consuming, and may only be something you care about if you're getting large volumes of traffic.
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