Last Updated on September 6, 2024
A website is not just complete information about the company, its field of activity, or contacts – it is an opportunity to solve various marketing and commercial tasks for your business.
Knowing the exact tasks of your business, you will be able to figure out what specific type of website you need. Until then, you won’t be even able to successfully start the process of making one.
We will help you understand what are the main purposes of the most common types of sites is and what specific design features they have.
Most Common Types of Websites
1. Personal Website
Unlike business cards and corporate sites, a personal website does not present the companies, but the individuals. Often, such projects are small, contain the bio and personal information, as well as information about the activity of the website owner (the products or services he offers).
The major role is given to the creative design and original concept, emphasizing the individuality of the author. In order to attract more attention, the individuals sometimes create bright flash sites with 3D graphics.
The structure of such projects is limited to the main sections:
- About me,
- Services,
- Photo Gallery,
- Feedback form,
- Contacts.
2. Landing Page
These are one-pagers with an application form; they may be short or long. They are widely used for promotions, special offers or 1-4 products/services.
First, these websites have a simple and convenient design. These sites are lightweight, so they load very fast.
Another distinguishing feature – these websites answer all the possible questions that the potential customer may have. The landing page gives key information about the reasons why the client must make a purchase or perform a targeted action (for example, subscribe to a newsletter).
Advantages, time-limited promotions, high-quality photos, a call to action – these are the main points that make up the landing page.
3. Corporate Website
This is a complex portal of a company with news, articles, vacancies, portfolios, catalogs and price lists. A distinctive feature of corporate sites is the presence of different sections for customers, partners, and regular visitors, as well as sections for various groups of employees.
A corporate website may offer online communication mechanisms between clients and the company, for example, there may be modules of an online consultant or a call from the site.
When creating a design for such projects, the most stringent requirements are imposed on the text content and on the text-image balance.
You should not forget about corporate colors or logos – they have to permeate the website design. The site structure should be carefully considered, navigation should be as clear, laconic and simple as possible.
Find the best consulting website examples we have prepared!
4. Promo Site (Presentation)
Promo websites are created to promote one or a group of goods and services. The size of such a website is 3-10 pages (about the company, services, products, contacts, etc.).
The design should be bright and unique and is also characterized by the predominance of visual information over text. Volumetric graphics, exclusive design ideas, and flash animation are widely used in the creation of these websites.
5. Portfolio
This is a type of a brochure site, but it has the integrated photo galleries. It is an ideal solution for artists, photographers, designers, beauty salons.
One of the basic rules for the development of a portfolio is that it should be focused on the work presented, and not on the particularities of the site design.
The navigation of a portfolio website should be as straightforward as possible.
The contacts must be placed in the most prominent places. Recommendations and reviews are usually given a separate page.
6. Educational Websites
When working on the design of such a site, you need to understand that a single style of text design with a well-read font is the most acceptable option here.
All sections of the site should share the common design concept. The color scheme and animation of the site should be properly selected, they have to be pleasant. They should not contain very bright or flashing images that may be annoying.
Elements of educational sites should be well thought out. For example, the number of banners, gadgets, and widgets here should be strictly limited in order not to impede the perception of information.
Find inspiration for creating your perfect school website – check out these best school website examples!
7. E-commerce
In addition to the e-commerce payment system, the website should have a convenient shopping cart and a personal account of the buyer to track the status of his orders. Often, there are features such as the choice of delivery method, promotional codes or discount coupons.
The online store interface should be, first of all, convenient for the visitor, and navigation should be simple and intuitive for any user. The website should make the visitor not only look through the sections of the site but also want to make a purchase.
So, the catchy appearance and great design ideas are not the primary things for these websites.
However, many pictures are used to fill it, and not only to illustrate the products offered but also to facilitate navigation through the site.
8. Blog or Vlog
A blog can be dedicated to one narrow topic or have different thematic sections. Usually, there is a comments section under each post. Also, blogs can exist separately or be a part of a website (brochure, portfolio, e-catalog or e-commerce website).
The blog content is mostly textual, so you need to make sure that it is comfortable for your visitors to read and perceive the information.
Since the blog has a huge number of articles, you need to think about the navigation elements to make it easier for the user to find the necessary information. A visitor should have the possibility to immediately go to other sections of the site using the classic header menu. Also, there should be filters that will help the readers to find the necessary articles.
Sidebar plays a special role in the blog: various banners, calls to action buttons and navigation elements, a list of topics, search by tags are usually placed here.
So, what do you think? Are you ready to create your own website today?
