There are a huge number of websites today, and it is growing every second. For better understanding the current trends in Internet business development, we have made for you an understandable classification of popular types of sites.
All sites differ in their functionality, tasks performed, purpose and other technical and not only technical characteristics. Of course, any classification is impossible to create since the sites of seemingly different types can often have some similarities. Moreover, it is not uncommon to find combined websites. Thus, the blog can contain online stores, personal websites can function as business cards, and so on.
Depending on the solution of the tasks you need, choose the site format. If you want to leave a minimum of information and contact details on the Internet, pay attention to the business card site. It is suitable for small companies that have just entered the market, individual entrepreneurs, lawyers, doctors, psychologists.
If you are going to give on the Internet full information about the company, its services and products, achievements, current offers and news, a multi-page corporate website will help. It will cope with the task of attracting customers and partners. And if you need to sell several groups of goods and place an order on the site, make online stores.
A landing page is best suited for selling one product, a narrow group of products, one service, or an information product. You can move on by the same principle: for someone, a bright promo website with an abundance of animation is suitable for promoting a product, and for someone — a site focused only on text content. This could be a blog, news portal, or content project. After all, direct sales are not used to monetize them.
One more serious task is to choose a software engine that allows you to update information on the site without unnecessary complications. There are quick fixes like working with Tilda and Readymag, they are website builders and design platforms of a new generation which are flexible, but limited in functionality. They are suitable for creating landings, simple corporate sites, online stores with basic functionality and a limited quantity of goods. Pay attention to WordPress, it is suitable for working with corporate websites, blogs and news portals, simple online stores (up to 1000 products, without complex warehouse account integration and complex filters). Shopify is one of the most popular engines for online stores. This engine is suitable for uncomplicated online stores. We wrote about the website engines more detailed earlier.
Please, note that any type of site may include features of some others.
Business card site (Homepages)
These are usually one-page sites that include your business information, social media profiles, and contact information. The homepage sets the tone for the business’ image, so it should tell a story about who you are through images and words. It serves as the face of a brand. Being that most people come to you through your homepage, this is where design matters most.
A homepage can take on many different forms, and it’s important to remember the purpose of the homepage as the main navigation and point of interest for your visitors. Make it clear what your business is and offer a unique proposition.
Brochure Website
The brochure website is a multi-page web resource that contains information about the company or a specific person. This is an advertising image that is perfect for small businesses and private entrepreneurs. Often, this site is created by individuals performing a variety of services. The main purpose of creating a brochure site is to introduce customers to the company.
The brochure doesn’t provide the client with comprehensive answers to all questions, it focuses on providing accessibility. In general, the brochure causes positive emotions, increases the company’s credibility of the new customers, and provides loyalty among the existing ones, aiming at promising cooperation.
Landings
A landing page is a specific page type created for a marketing campaign that drives visitors to take a specific action. The content on a landing page should be limited and point toward the call-to-action you’d like the user to take.
The landing page is a web page that encourages the visitor to do something. For example, you need him to buy your product, to request a discount, or to download your presentation.
First of all, the landing page should lead the visitor to the exact place with the target ad. The purpose of landing is to convert a simple website visitor to a potential customer.
Business/Corporate website
A business website is any website that’s devoted to representing a specific business. It`s a high-quality and complete presentation of a company on the Internet. Its main goal is to attract new customers or partners (or strengthen existing partnerships), develop a business by revealing the company’s advantages, a detailed description of its activities, services or goods. The purpose of creating a corporate website depends directly on the wishes or needs of the company itself. It can be the capture of a new niche or an entry into the international market as well.
Nowadays every business out there should have a website. The main value and distinction of a corporate website is that it can perform several other tasks that are no less important for the company. In particular, with the help of certain functions, it can maintain round-the-clock communication with customers or partners, be file storage and a tool for conducting a workflow by company employees, their internal communication. In addition, a corporate website can sell and advertise the company’s activities, becoming a fairly effective advertising platform.
E-commerce website
An e-commerce website is a website people can directly buy products from. Any website that includes a shopping cart and the way for you to provide the credit card information to make a purchase falls into this category.
If you want to start a website for your business and plan to sell your products through the site, this is the type of website you need to build. But creating an e-commerce website is associated with some additional requirements. To implement this project you have to invest in e-commerce software and get your SSL certificate to ensure your customers can pay securely. And you want to make sure your web design is created with the site’s main goal in mind: making sales.
E-commerce websites can be an extension of a business you already have, or become something you build new business around.
Informational Website
The informational website is a large web portal, organized as a multi-level integration of various resources and services updated in real-time. The informational website contains an enormous amount of unique content. Sites of this type have a complex structure and navigation and contain various interactive services. Informational websites are designed for a large number of visitors.
The informational websites help users to find the necessary information on a specific topic. Due to the special website functions, all the data available on the website is easy to structure and systematize. In this case, the informational website acts as a user’s guide on the Web, which, compared to search engines, greatly simplifies the search for thematic materials.
Personal websites
Not all websites exist to make money in some way or another. Many people find value in creating personal websites to express themselves, promote their business or talents, and put their own thoughts into the world. This category includes personal blogs, vlogs, and photo diaries people share with the world.
Building a personal website is easier than most of the other websites on the list since the goal has lower stakes. You just want to make it look like you want, rather than worrying about driving sales or making ad money. Some simple templates or an easy-to-use website builder should be all it takes to get something up that satisfies your desire to share.
Blogs
A blog features regularly updated articles, photos, and videos. Blogs started with more casual, personal content, compared to magazines. But since then, the lines have blurred, and now it’s extremely common for major brands and businesses to have their own blog. Adding expert content improves the overall credibility of a company or an individual. Blogs also provide material for social media posts and email campaigns.
However, a blog can also become cumbersome for some smaller companies. Make sure you have a team and strategy in place to keep content fresh before you consider launching one. Otherwise, it’s actually better not to have a blog; offering a few videos or guides is more effective than having a hopelessly outdated blog.
Non-profit Website
Non-profit websites are projects that are not assigned to increase the profits of a company or organization. Such websites belong to the authorities, educational institutions, social institutions, partnerships, foundations.
These websites are mostly created to ensure the company’s presence on the Web, and mostly, these sites are informational.
The first consideration in creating your first website is you must be very clear on the type of website that you want to build. Every website has its own peculiarities, its own specificity. Therefore, understanding the features of your web site is the first and most important, but often ignored part of selecting a proper template.
The technical part of the creation of your website.
After you have determined the goals and have chosen the type of site that suits you, you should move on to more specific and technical challenges. You need:
This content was originally published here.