Types of Websites (with Examples)

You can make any website you want to signify your online presence, but chances are you’ll want it to be one of the most popular types that already exist.

When creating your website to fit in one of the popular categories, it’s simple to meet audience expectations and grab their attention because, when you look at the Internet as a whole, the majority of websites fall into one of these clearly defined categories, each with its guidelines and qualities.

So please follow along as we outline the most common website types and provide samples so you can understand how each website looks and what standards it adheres to.

What Are the Common Types of Websites?

We will describe the purposes of each category and its subcategories. There also would be some examples of each category to clarify further the rules and design type of the respective category. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

1. eCommerce Website

eCommerce websites are just online copies of physical stores. Therefore, they have similar purposes and capabilities. Making your products as attractive as possible is what you want to do, but first, you must ensure that you have the technological ability to accept credit card payments.

Because each product should have its unique page, retailers with a wide range of products will need to invest more in their websites. You may attract customers to purchase a product by including attractive descriptions, images, and videos on the product page.

Additionally, navigation gets trickier the more things you sell. In addition to choosing a layout that best showcases your products, it’s advised to use filtering or category tags to make it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for.

Remember that because they can’t see things in person, buyers are warier about online purchases than in-person purchases. To offer the customer a greater sense of the product, you should use high-quality images and videos highlighting it from various viewpoints.

This is crucial for clothing sales because customers cannot try on the products. To make up for that, try providing a thorough sizing chart with measurements to help your buyers understand how the clothing will fit more precisely.

• Business to Business: B2B, often known as business-to-business, refers to selling online at wholesale prices between businesses. Since they often only sell in bulk, these websites typically only display their products; they do not provide a way for you to purchase them directly from the webpage.

• Business to Consumer: As it’s simple for businesses to target consumers online, a large portion of e-commerce today is business-to-consumer. Businesses can now offer their products online, allowing customers to shop from the comfort of their homes and saving them valuable time.
  Amazon and Spotify are the best examples of this kind of website.

• Consumer to Consumer: You, the customer, can submit pictures of the product you have bought and sell it to other people who might need that product, thanks to websites like eBay. Consumer-to-consumer eCommerce websites allow you to market your used and pre-owned goods to potential customers. eBay and Etsy are typical examples of C2C eCommerce websites.

2. Business Website

Every company or business needs to have a website to maximize its advertisement and sales. Checking out a company’s website is common as the initial step in learning more about it. A corporate website gives new or unknown service providers the ability to describe what they do; for more established companies, it’s an opportunity to fix customer problems and demonstrate the service’s legitimacy.

A quality company website includes all the essential facts about a business, including basic details like address and phone number, and supplemental material like brief staff biographies or a purpose statement. The goal is to raise awareness of your business and, as a result, generate interest in collaboration.

Business websites, in particular, typically prioritize a call-to-action (CTA), such as a direct messaging widget, where visitors may set up a meeting or phone call or, at the very least, have their inquiries answered by a real person rather than a robot. CTA for direct messaging is effective on business websites because they speed up the conversion of window shoppers into clients or customers and elicit visitor actions at the peak of their enthusiasm.

Business websites should always adhere to the organization’s branding. For example, a software company providing to young people would use futuristic imagery and informal language, whereas a law firm providing to more established clients might prefer traditional imagery and formal language.

You must respond to any queries your visitors may have. One benefit of having a street address and phone number is that it proves your business is legitimate.

However, your prospective clients and customers will also have additional inquiries, such as your stance on matters like the use of sustainable materials or the location of the factories that make your products. Instead of leaving consumers to come to their own judgments, you have the chance to address these issues on your company website.

• Small business websites: Small businesses make up a sizable percentage in the modern economy. Small- to medium-sized business owners must create an online presence in the age of globalization. This will not only enlist their business in the local competition but also allow them to promote their business on a larger scale.
  These websites are often modest in size, with perhaps a couple or many pages describing the products and services offered by the company. Websites for your neighborhood mechanic, dentist, or barber shop are examples of this type of website.

• Corporate websites: These websites are for huge businesses with lots of employees. Typically, some websites are fairly vast, with hundreds or even thousands of web pages. They can contain relevant content, web pages, and information beneficial to many audiences.
  These websites also set aside a few pages to showcase their collaborators or partners. A professionally designed page will also present ways to contact the company.
  The best examples of this kind of website are Pixar and Apple.

3. Blog Website

Blogs and news websites are fast replacing newspapers and magazines. The majority of people prefer to read their news online.

Similar to newspaper sections like Sports or Entertainment, most websites utilize a tag or classification tool that lets readers filter the kind of articles they see.

Furthermore, blogs don’t necessarily need to be separate websites; they are frequently integrated into other websites, particularly commercial websites. In addition to helping visitors, this is also very beneficial for SEO since blogs and text-based articles are perfect for utilizing search keywords and appearing in more search queries. Just be careful when writing clickbait titles because it can both draw and turn away readers.

Although blogs and news websites are primarily text-based, graphics are still crucial, particularly on the front page, to encourage readers to click through to an item. The ideal practice is adding a few photographs to each piece to add variety and break up long, dense paragraphs of text.

• Personal blogs: When the term “blog” originally originated, this is what it was thought of as. It used to be someone’s private internet area where they posted their ideas without consideration for commercial gain or other corporate objectives.
  Of course, there are still personal blogs, which serve as online journals. When you’re in the mood to write, you start writing without thinking about large audiences or making money. There is a chance that you already have a personal blog.
  Some examples of personal blogs are Love That Max and Kimchi Mamas.

• Business blogs: Over time, blogs demonstrated their effectiveness for businesses to connect with their clients, create communities, and draw in new customers.
  Some businesses utilize blogs to announce new product launches, ongoing initiatives, impending releases, contests, etc. Through the promotion of content, blogs assist businesses in boosting site traffic and hence improving conversion rates.
  Some companies utilize blogs as a way to share their professional thoughts with the community apart from their official pages. By doing this, their blog develops into a respected publication in their industry. It’s a smart long-term strategy and a successful way to maintain promoting your services over time.
  Stonyfield Farm and Pioneer Woman are two instances of business blogs.

• Professional blogs: Typically, a single individual starts this blog to run a business out of it; in other words, the owner utilizes the blog to generate income rather than share personal experiences.
  Such a blog’s owner adopts a business strategy, forms a plan, chooses a specialty, establishes an editorial calendar, collaborates with brands, studies the market, and regularly works to expand the blog and discover new marketing prospects.
  The blog may cover various topics, including fashion, lifestyle, travel, and food. They write on subjects that readers in the niche will find interesting. Most people refer to bloggers as influencers when they run these blogs and have achieved popularity in a certain group. Freelancers and owners of online portfolios who blog about their work and take advantage of the chance to be employed by businesses for various tasks are other bloggers who fall under this group.
  Two examples of professional blogs are Apartment Therapy, an interior design blog, and Color me Courtney, a fashion blog.

4. Portfolio Website

With the addition of work samples, portfolio sites are similar to business websites and are ideal for visual-based businesses like design agencies or photographers. They serve the same functions as business websites—enlightening visitors and drawing in new clients—but typically include real-world examples of completed work to let potential customers know what to expect.

Portfolio websites typically emphasize displaying finished products more than describing their services. Work sample galleries are common; some even provide additional categories or tags to make searching easier.

Just remember to include the necessities, such as a brief bio and your contact details. Visitors want to confirm that you’re a legitimate company, not a hoax, much like on business websites.

Again, a clear call to action, like a direct message widget, makes collaboration go faster. As a result, your CTA needs to be visible everywhere on the website.

5. Event Website

It’s becoming more and more normal for one-time events to develop websites to assist everyone attending. Event websites are frequently used by weddings, conventions, or other large social gatherings to disseminate important details, including dates, addresses, schedules, and event rules.

These types of websites can save you a ton of time by preventing you from having to explain the same things to each new participant repeatedly. Share just the website’s link, and the visitor will have all the information they require, even if they forget and have to look for it again later.

A personal event, such as a wedding, doesn’t require much in the way of hosting or designing costs, but sponsored events frequently employ more complex websites, including ones that allow for the online sale of tickets.

Make sure you give participants all the details they could need, including schedules, conduct guidelines, driving directions, housing suggestions, dress restrictions, bans, or links to adjacent facilities like restaurants.

The best examples of event websites are Coachella and Kikk festival.

6. Personal Website

We want to clarify that a personal webpage is distinct from a personal blog. A personal website is a fantastic method to increase your internet visibility. To showcase your uniqueness and interests, you can make a personal website, such as a fan site or a website. People use CV and personal website templates to highlight their identities and career accomplishments.

One of the best examples of this kind is Robby Leonardi. With the help of animation and web development expertise, Leonardi’s amazing demo website transforms his résumé and portfolio into a video game for site visitors. His website will stand out in the minds of visitors thanks to the quirky branding and original information-sharing style.

7. Service Provider Website

The website itself might be a company. When users are looking for entertainment or a particular service, such as an online utility, websites like Netflix and Google Translate are frequently their one-stop shop.

Service-providing websites are typically constructed around whatever service they offer. Think of the search bar in the center of the Google home page or the text box that is shown in the Grammarly spell checker. There is no ambiguity regarding where to begin.

A clear CTA is a focus when paying for membership services like Netflix. For instance, non-members of Netflix see a bar for inputting their email and a quick sales pitch when they visit the site. The concept is the same: based on the page layout, the visitor knows exactly what to do next.

Adding service-providing websites to other websites is similar to adding blogs. This is a great marketing technique to draw in new clients while making existing ones’ lives easier.

Try to offer an online tool that is related to your profession if that is what you are interested in. If a building company provides a currency conversion tool, it will draw the wrong kind of clients.

8. Nonprofit Website

You can lead users to a nonprofit website so they learn more about your cause and advertise your fundraising efforts. It also houses your donation form.

Nonprofit websites don’t seek to earn and generate money by offering a certain kind of product or service. One of the main ways nonprofit organizations reach out to potential donators is through their websites.

Because of this, you should put effort into making a website that accurately represents your cause and offers a satisfying user experience. Users will be motivated to explore your website and learn more about your job if you do it that way.

One of the best instances of this kind of website is Charity: water. Charity: water works to provide access to pure water for individuals in underdeveloped nations. The attractiveness of the website is what makes it stand out the most. The homepage is divided into three sections, with three bright photos that fill the entire screen area. The color scheme is cheerful and inviting.

9. Informational Website

For anyone who needs specialized knowledge quickly, online encyclopedias like Wikipedia and databases like IMDB serve as a resource. Each topic typically has its page with all the necessary details. Wikis, in particular, frequently permit users to update pages or add new subjects, but for this, you need both site moderators and the ability to create accounts.

Except for broad wikis like Wikipedia, most concentrate on a single field of expertise. Wikis created by fans are frequently used to compile information on particular interests, such as particular TV shows, video games, novels, or actors. The same is true for particular interests and hobbies; one such example is this wiki for building paper airplanes.

Ensure you include all the required pages while developing a wiki or database website. Your hosting plan may need to be upgraded to include more storage capacity to accommodate this. Wikis and databases are typically text-based, similar to blogs and news websites, but they still need to have lots of images to make them interesting.

10. Online Forum

Online forums, like social media platforms, offer users a place to exchange their content with one another rather than necessarily providing content themselves. These websites, like historical forums, serve as gathering places for strangers to talk about common interests and exchange useful information like links.

An organized navigational system is the first thing you should develop when building a forum. While some forums handle it themselves, others let users develop discussion boards. You want to make it as straight and simple as possible for users to find what they’re looking for, regardless of the situation.

The debates should be moderated as your next task. Not everyone you meet online is friendly, so don’t be startled! To establish a safe environment where everyone may participate in the discussion, moderators analyze forum comments and delete offensive or unlawful remarks. While moderators occasionally offer their services for free, you might need to employ a specialist in some circumstances.

Like Craigslist, forums can also be used for more useful things like posting job listings, finding houses, or selling used goods. Such forums can draw specific audiences but typically need additional moderation to uphold the website’s authority and safeguard users from fraud.

The best example of a lively forum website with ideas, questions, and answers is Quora, which you have probably heard of.

Uncommon Website Types

In addition to the common website types, there are several uncommon website types that we want to mention in this section.

1. Search Engine

A search engine is software that offers users the ability to use keywords or phrases to search and get the information they’re looking for online.

Even with millions of websites available, search engines can deliver results swiftly by continuously monitoring the Internet and indexing every page. The most used search engine on the market is Google. Other examples include Yahoo and Bing.

2. Review Site

Professionals made these websites to review particular goods and services. Some review websites only address specific markets and offer opinions on as many items as possible within those markets.

If you have a particular interest in technology, you can almost certainly discover a website that examines the most well-liked electronic devices available.

3. Job Boards

Online job boards typically offer alternatives for free job ads, allowing recruiters to use some features for free. Additionally, job boards provide premium services like sponsored positions or unrestricted access to their candidate database.

While certain job boards, like Monster and Careerbuilder, are accessible to companies across all fields, others specialize in fields like IT, design, and other career categories.

4. Coupon Website

You can look for active coupons for the brand or business you want to buy a product from on coupon websites. The leader in this category is Groupon.

5. Auction Sites

Websites that conduct online auctions of goods are called auction sites. One illustration of this is GoDaddy. Domain names are its primary item, but you can also find products of all kinds. Here, you can bid on a particular domain name that interests you.

What Type Suits You Most?

The Internet is a vast space. There are currently billions of websites online, all competing for the attention users devote to their daily online browsing. It can be difficult to consider all the existing websites before launching a new one to find your correct spot in the competition.

It might be difficult to decide which website style to build to serve your needs, whether they involve making money, informing visitors, or even creating a community.

After selecting the appropriate website type, you should search for designs and themes that will give your website a pleasing appearance and draw visitors.

In other words, the first step in this enjoyable but challenging journey is deciding on the type of website you want to build.