12 Popular Types of Websites You Can

Create
Kristen Hicks
March 15, 2018
Web Hosting Tips

12 Popular Types of Websites You Can Create

But it’s helpful to remember that within that huge number of websites, you have a lot of
different categories of types of websites trying to accomplish different things. As you
consider how best to build your own website, carefully consider what type of website
you want it to be. When you can narrow down the goals and setup you have in mind,
you can more easily identify the other websites in your category to look to for
inspiration.

Here are twelve of the most popular types of websites you’ll see around the web. While
there’s some overlap between the different categories, in general each type of website
has certain goals to achieve and its own set of best practices. Which one will your
website be?

 
1. E-commerce Website
An e-commerce website is a website people can directly buy products from. You’ve
probably used a number of e-commerce websites before, most big brands and plenty of
smaller ones have one. Any website that includes a shopping cart and a way for you to
provide credit card information to make a purchase falls into this category.

If you’re setting up a website for your business and plan to sell your products through
the site, then this is the type of website you need to build. There are some specific steps
you have to be sure to include when building an ecommerce website, like investing in
ecommerce software and getting your SSL certificate to ensure your customers can pay
securely. And you’ll want to make sure your web design and copy are all crafted with
the site’s main goal in mind: making sales.

Ecommerce websites can be an extension of a business you already have, or become

 
2. Business Website
A business website is any website that’s devoted to representing a specific business. It
should be branded like the business (the same logo and positioning) and communicate
the types of products and/or services the business offers.

By now, every business out there should have a website. It’s a widespread expectation.
Every potential customer you encounter will just assume that if they Google your
business looking for more information, they’ll find a website. And if they don’t, it makes
the business look less professional or legitimate.

E-commerce websites are business websites, but it’s also possible to have business
websites that don’t sell anything directly, but rather encourage visitors to get in contact
for more information (a lead generation website) or come to a storefront if they’re
interested in becoming customers.
3. Entertainment Website
If you think about your internet browsing habits, you can probably think of a few
websites that you visit purely for entertainment purposes. They could be humor
websites like The Onion, webcomics like xkcd, or just websites with fun or interesting
content like Buzzfeed.

Most of these websites do aim to make money like business and e-commerce websites
do, but usually through the advertisements that show up on the page rather than
through selling specific products or services.

If you want to start an entertainment website, you’ve got a lot of options for formats that
can take. You could make funny or informative videos, write entertaining blog posts,
draw comics, or create fun quizzes.

Since there are so many entertainment websites out there, you should anticipate it
taking some time and work to find an audience that connects with you (and even more
time and work to start making money, if that’s your ultimate goal), but if you’ve got ideas
for content to create that you think people will find entertaining, an entertainment
website is one of the best ways to get that content out into the world.

 
4. Portfolio Website
Portfolio websites are sites devoted to showing examples of past work. Service
providers who want to show potential clients the quality of the work they provide can
use a portfolio website to collect some of the best samples of past work they’ve done.
This type of website is simpler to build than a business website and more focused on a
particular task: collecting work samples.

This type of website is most common for creative professionals and freelancers that are
hired based on demonstrated skill and can be a more efficient alternative to a business
website that serves a similar focus.

 
5. Media Website
Media websites collect news stories or other reporting. There’s some overlap here with
entertainment websites, but media websites are more likely to include reported pieces in
addition to or instead of content meant purely for entertainment. This category includes
sites like the Washington Post website, Slate, and Inc.

Media websites generally make money through either advertisements that show up on
the site, subscription models, or some combination of the two.

Many media websites are the online branch of media properties that often exist in other
forms, like TV channels or print magazines and newspapers, but some are online only.

 
6. Brochure Website
Brochure websites are a simplified form of business websites. For businesses that know
they need an online presence, but don’t want to invest a lot into it (maybe you’re
confident you’ll continue to get most of your business from other sources), a simple
brochure site that includes just a few pages that lay out the basics of what you do and
provide contact information may be enough for you.

Brochure sites were more common in the earlier days of the internet when businesses
knew they needed a website, but also expected not to be dependent on it for success.
Now that the internet is such a big part of how people research and find just about every
product and service they need, most businesses recognize that they need something
more competitive.

If you have a business and know you don’t need your website to be a marketing tool
that brings in new business, you just need something more like an online business card,
then a brochure website may do the trick.
 

7. Nonprofit Website
In the same way that businesses need websites to be their online presence, nonprofits
do as well. A nonprofit website is the easiest way for many potential donors to make
donations and will be the first place many people look to learn more about a nonprofit
and determine if they want to support it.

If you have or are considering starting a nonprofit, then building a website for your
organization is a crucial step in proving your legitimacy and reaching more people. You
can use it to promote the projects your organization tackles, encourage followers to take
action, and for accepting donations.

Note: To take donations through the website, you’ll have to take some of the same
steps that the owners of ecommerce sites do. In particular, make sure you get an SSL
certificate to make sure all payments are secure, and set up a merchant account so that
you can accept credit card payments.

 
8. Educational Website
The websites of educational institutions and those offering online courses fall into the
category of educational websites. These websites have the primary goal of either
providing educational materials to visitors, or providing information on an educational
institution to them.

Some educational websites will have advertisements like entertainment and media
websites do. Some offer subscription models or educational products for purchase. And
some serve as the online presence for an existing institution.
9. Infopreneur Website
Infopreneur websites overlap a bit with business and ecommerce websites, but they
represent a unique type of online business. Infopreneurs create and sell information
products. That could be in the form of courses, tutorials, videos or ebooks.

Whatever form it takes, infopreneurs need their website to do the hard work of building
up a knowledge brand – convincing visitors that they know enough to make their
educational products worth buying – and the work of selling those products.

To sell information products securely, they’ll need some of the same tools of an
ecommerce website, including an SSL certificate and a merchant account. Those with a
lot of knowledge products should also invest in ecommerce software to make it easier
for visitors to select and purchase the ones they’re interested in.

Infopreneurs normally create a mix of valuable free content and premium content they
charge for. The infopreneur’s website serves as the central location for both things – the
free content which serves as a marketing tool to get people onto the site, and the paid
products that account for their profits. Building a good website is therefore crucial for
this type of business model.
10. Personal Website
Not all websites exist to make money in some way or another. Many people find value
in creating personal websites to put their own thoughts out into the world. This category
includes personal blogs, vlogs, and photo diaries people share with the world.

Sometimes these websites can evolve into something that makes money if they become
popular enough and the person who started them wants to make that shift, but they
primarily exist as a way to share your feelings, insights, and art with any friends and
strangers that might be interested.

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.

 
11. Web Portal
Web portals are often websites designed for internal purposes at a business,
organization, or institution. They collect information in different formats from different
sources into one place to make all relevant information accessible to the people who
need to see it. They often involve a login and personalized views for different users that
ensure the information that’s accessible is most useful to their particular needs.

Web portals will generally involve more complicated programming and design than most
of the other websites described on this list, so make the most sense for skilled and
experienced web programmers to consider.

 
12. Wiki or Community Forum Website
Most people are familiar with wikis through the most famous example of one out there:
Wikipedia. But wikis can be created on pretty much any subject you can imagine. A wiki
is any website where various users are able to collaborate on content and all make their
own tweaks and changes as they see fit. There are wikis for fan communities, for
business resources, and for collecting valuable information sources.

Starting a wiki can be fairly simple, especially if you choose to use an existing software
or wiki site builder rather than trying to create the website from scratch. This option
makes the most sense if you need to organize available information and resources into
a central space that you want others to have access to.