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Yiming Xuzhou
Developer
May 19, 2021
10 Most Popular Types of Websites You Can Launch
The internet is like a sea of websites. Each website owner competes for a share of the attention people use surfing the web. When you are launching a new website, it can be difficult to wrap your mind around the size of the internet. However, it can be helpful to understand the different types of websites that typically exist online.
Each category or type of website is created to accomplish something different. When you are looking to build a new website, you should make sure to understand the ins and outs of every website type.
Of the 1.7 billion websites that exist online, a majority can be categorized into 10 types. Here is a list of the 10 most popular types of websites and why.
Table of Contents
#1. Business Website
A business website is a website that’s designed to represent a specific business. In 2021, almost every business has a website for number of reasons. First of all, consumer behavior has evolved to prioritize online experiences. About 75% of consumers admit to making judgements about a company’s credibility purely based off of the company’s website design.
Additionally, the attention span of your average consumer has been decreasing as more businesses open up. Today, it takes about 1/20th of a second for a user to form an opinion about a website. In this split second, they will decide whether they want to learn more about your business or leave. For these reasons, businesses spend a lot of time, effort, and money on optimizing their websites for consumer experience.
Business websites can be in the form of Ecommerce websites, lead generation websites, product landing pages, or more. We will get more in detail on these website types later in the article.
#2. eCommerce Website
An eCommerce website is the best way to allow people to purchase products directly from your business. It is basically a website that functions purely as an online store. You have probably interacted with many eCommerce sites before. Most large brands have a eCommerce site and many small businesses operate purely with eCommerce.
An example of a huge eCommerce site is Amazon.com. Sites like these typically allow consumers to fill a virtual cart with products and checkout using credit cards or PayPal.
If you want to learn how to create an online store and sell products through an eCommerce website, there are website builders specifically tailored for this. You would have to invest in an initial software purchase and website security to create your online store, but eCommerce websites tend to pay for themselves. Alternatively, you could use WordPress for a fully customizable site and implement an eCommerce plugin like Woocommerce to turn it into a store.
#3. Portfolio Website
A portfolio website is a place to display examples of your work. Many people who work as freelancers, service providers, or students create portfolio websites to showcase their past accomplishments and skillset. Portfolio websites are a lot easier to build than business websites because they don’t require extra pages and they are focused on a single task: showcasing work samples.
#4. Educational Website
Educational websites include websites run by institutions (like universities and high schools) and websites that offer online courses. These websites often contain resources or information that you can use to acquire knowledge, or to achieve your education goals.
While some educational websites are non-profit, many of them charge subscription fees or single course purchases to take classes. On the other hand, the institutional websites are typically locked for those who are not already students. They tend to provide information about the institution and guidelines for applying.
Starting an educational website that offers online courses can be a great way to make passive income. If you run a business that teaches something, you can easily create a course with knowledge you’ve already mastered.
#5. Blog
A blog is a platform where a writer or a group of writers share their views on an individual subject. These websites are like online journals or informational sites because they are typically created to inform people within a specific audience.
Blogs are also extremely popular because of their use for business. Most businesses have a blog within their website because of its impact on online visibility, SEO, and lead generation.
Starting a blog website for your business can help you get discovered and visited by your target audience. You can create posts that are optimized for your target keywords and utilize a CTA (call to action) to funnel readers to other content on your website.
#6. Landing Pages
A landing page is a web page that is specifically created to direct visitors to take a specific action. These are often created for marketing campaigns that promote an individual product or service.
Landing pages are usually designed carefully. The content is created to point users towards a CTA that the website creator wants them to take. When the user scrolls down, they can learn more information about the product or service and see additional calls to action.
Creating a landing page is also simpler than building an entire website for your business because you can do the entire process on a single software. You don’t have to worry about hosting, domain name, extra pages, or anything else like that.
#7. Community Forums
A community forum is an online space where people can congregate, ask questions, receive peer-to-peer support, and discuss interests. Websites like Reddit and 4chan have become hugely popular from allowing users to create sub-forums within the host community. These sub-forums can have unique domain names (like reddit.com/r/askreddit) and branding.
Another type of community forum is a social media platform. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are essentially community forums that allow for unique interactions and personalization. Sub-forums can also be created on social media platforms but they lack the same control of a forum created on something like Reddit.
Creating a community forum website can be difficult without having a solid audience and lots of website traffic to start with. The success of these sites depend on user engagement and popularity. However, if you capture a popular niche and have a great theme idea, it can be possible to create a forum website like Reddit in only a few steps.
#8. Magazine Websites
A magazine website features original articles, photos and videos where you can get the information you need based on your interests. Nowadays, magazines are much more popular online than on print.
Magazine websites like the balance contain lots of sub-topics that have their own magazines. If you are looking to create a magazine website, it is helpful to utilize a fundamental framework. You want your viewers to see a similar layout regardless of what page they are viewing or what day it is.
Magazine sites are also more popular on mobile devices than computers. You should be sure to keep your website responsive and readable even on a smaller screen.
#9. Non-Profit Website
Non-profit websites are run by organizations that are trying to grow their reach for a cause. They usually want to drive more donations and empower readers to become supporters for their cause.
If you are looking to create a non-profit website, it is essential to look into the best practices for being successful.
This can include:
- Understanding your audience
- Having a streamlined donation page
- Including social media links
- Creating pages with personalized staff stories
- Financial transparency
#10. Personal Website
Some websites are created without the goal of making money or driving traffic. Many people love to create personal websites that showcase their interests, passions, and thoughts in one way or another. These websites can be personal blogs, vlogs, photo galleries, or diaries.
Creating a personal website is easy and free with a website builder. It can be a fun project for someone who wants to practice making websites.
What Type of Website Do You Want to Create?
With so many different types of websites that exist online, it can be hard to choose one to stick with. It is important to consider your goals from creating a website when you decide what type of site to build.
Are you ready to start working on your next project?
WebsiteLaunch.org is a free guide for quickly creating and launching new websites in 2021.
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