Splitting page layout

I'm working on a website for searching electronic projects.

I'm considering two options:

  1. A user visits the website and gets redirected to the landing page. The landing page explains what they can do on the website. Popular projects and newsletter inputs are shown with a footer. When they click the "Browse" button on the landing page they get redirected to a search page. On the search page there is an input field with ajax reloading and filters that update projects live based on user input.

  2. When the user visits the website they are immediately redirected to the search page. The landing page doesn't exist.

I'm worried that if I don't say what my site is intended for the user will leave. And if I have the landing and search pages separately, I'm afraid the extra step will be too much. And I need to optimize the search part so that a user can clearly see live updates based on their input.

Here is a quick mockup of my layout.