Proper way of establishing custom landing pages in WordPress

reference
WordPress Codex on Templates

A quick, safe method for creating a new page template is to make a copy of page.php and give the new file a distinct filename. That way, you start off with the HTML structure of your other pages and you can edit the new file as needed.

To create a global template, write an opening PHP comment at the top of the file that states the template’s name.

<?php /* Template Name: Example Template */ ?>