3 popular types of website: Which is right for you?
A good website is one of the basic building blocks of every successful modern company. But how should your website be designed? The short answer is: it depends what your goals is. Do you want to get people to sign up for an online course? Make a name for yourself as a photographer? Are you planning to sell jewelry, or do you want to create a blog? Depending on your response, your website might end up looking very different.
Whether you’re creating a website yourself or hiring a service provider, you need to think about what kind of website you want in advance. Ultimately, only you as an entrepreneur can make this kind of strategic decision. With our website typology, you will be able to make a clear decision about what type of website will suit you best.
What types of website are out there? The 3 most popular website types
There are approximately 380 new websites created per minute on the Internet.
Not all of these websites will fall into the seven categories we present here, especially since they are not always easy to define. However, we have chosen this typology to introduce you to the most important website types and highlight their distinctive differences.
Corporate website
For whom is this suitable? Companies, agencies, and the self-employedPurpose: Presenting your own business and providing contact optionsThe classic corporate website is what might first pop into your mind when you picture a website: a compilation of several individual pages with the primary goal of providing information to the visitor.The company presents its services and team and provides different means of contact. The corporate website functions effectively as the company’s digital business card. However, websites can also contain dynamic elements, like a news or blog section, whose content is regularly updated. Large websites often integrate other types of website, like landing pages or microsites, so that organizations can pursue different goals with their Internet presence.In order to make their brand or website known to the target group, companies should implement additional measures such as search engine marketing.
An example of a classic corporate website is the KPMG site:
The consulting firm KPMG has a classic corporate website type, where the main purpose of the page is informational. / Source: https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home.html
If you want to create a corporate website yourself, but have little to no programming skills, you can use kits like Weebly Website Builder provided free with every hosting plan. Weebly makes it easy to achieve professional results. Alternatively you can hire an agency or, for a more budget-friendly option, choose the website package from Hostmax so that experts can design and implement your website according to your own specifications.
Portfolio
For whom is this suitable? Artists and creativesPurpose: Presenting primarily visual work samplesPortfolio websites are optimized to present visual works in an appealing way. This kind of website is ideal for designers, photographers, or artists.
Website themes for portfolios are characterized by an airy, often minimalist design that focuses on the graphic elements and work samples presented directly on the homepage. In contrast to the corporate website type, there is usually a reduced amount of text.
A portfolio website can also be easily implemented without a lot of technical knowledge: CMS like WordPress offer a huge selection of themes that you can easily customize and fill with content. The only technical hurdle is hosting. Choose a provider that specializes in WordPress hosting and supports 1-click WordPress installation. IONOS offers low-cost packages suited for beginners with their WordPress hosting packet.
What does a portfolio website look like? Portrait photographer Martin Schoeller’s site is a fairly typical example of this kind of website.Artists’ websites are often designed as portfolios. / Source: https://martinschoeller.com/
If you want to create a portfolio website yourself, you should be sure to present only your best work. Less is more, and you are better off showcasing your best work than crowding your page with too many average pieces.
Blog or magazine
For whom is this suitable? Bloggers, businesses, journalists, influencers.
Purpose: Regular editorial content or entertainment. A blog or magazine website focuses on editorial content. Do you want to make a regularly updated report on Bitcoin? Are you planning a local online newspaper? While blogs sometimes greet visitors with a static homepage, online magazine homepages are usually similar to classic print magazines. They give a direct overview of the latest content. Some blogs and online magazines also offer products and services centered around a particular subject. However, this is not their primary function. Current and regularly updated content is the most important aspect, which is also reflected in the website’s design.
You can see how this look is done in practice on the Smashing Magazine website:
Smashing Magazine’s website focuses on current content which is consistently reflected in its structure, design, and wording. / Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/
However, maintaining a blog requires a lot of work. Be sure to consider whether you can run your blog or online magazine alone, or whether you are better off finding a team of authors to create the content for you. This may be a good choice since one of the most important things when running a blog is providing consistent content. There shouldn’t be lengthy gaps between articles if you want your blog to become a trusted source of information and attract loyal readers.