What are the 3 Types of Websites and How They are Focused
Understanding the 3 types of websites are important since there are about 263 million online shoppers in the U.S. and an average internet user spends 6.5 hours/day on various websites on the internet. A website is a series of web pages made from HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code that is under a common domain name and is stored/ hosted on a computer server that is connected to the internet. A person can set all of this up themselves and host their site on their own computer server but they still need to buy/register the domain name from a name registrar if the website will be accessible to users on the internet.
The 3 main types of websites are:
- Ecommerce Websites.
- Information Websites.
- Social/Cooperation Websites.
Ecommerce Websites
The first of the types of websites are ecommerce websites. Ecommerce is the electronically buying and selling items over the internet. Ecommerce sales are expected to grow to more than $6.5 trillion by 2023. This is a combination of business-to-business, business-to-individual, and individual-to-individual sales. This is all done through ecommerce websites.
Selling Physical Products
The first thing ecommerce websites can sell are physical items. Physical items can be anything from physical items, like pet toys, kitchen appliances, socks, computer parts, etc. Companies that use their website to showcase their most popular services/products in prominent places (possibly with extra items that are often bought together) and collect emails of users to directly announce when a new product or service is available.
For these online shops dealing with physical items, shipping is required to get it to customers; shipping can be done a few different ways. There is flat-rate shipping where the shipping cost is the same for all orders or items. There is live-rate shipping where the shipping cost depends on the shipping provider’s current rates; this requires setting up, but it will change on its own.
Selling Virtual Products
Ecommerce websites can sell virtual stuff either instead of physical objects or with physical objects. (One of the most common ways of doing this is through Woocommerce.) Virtual products can be:
- Recorded lessons (LearnPress works for this and its free-version works fine)
- Access to Webinars;
- eBooks;
- PDFs;
- Pictures and graphics, etc.
Information Websites
The second of the types of websites are information websites. Information websites are for getting users information about a brand, company, person, place, problem, idea, etc. They are mostly not used to sell things, and their main purpose is to inform people about something that the website owner thinks is important.The most common forms of these websites are a company’s website, websites for nonprofits and charities, and eportfolios for a person to showcase their work and skills.
Brands/Companies
These days a brand is not trusted unless it has a website. In one study, 40% of people under 50 EXPECT businesses to have a website. Any business that does not appear in a quick Google search is instantly distrusted. Much like a business not being on BBB (Better Business Bureau), users expect a scam of such companies.
An information website can introduce users to a brand and show a brand’s or company’s work, products, and/or services to potential clients across the nation (and, if they set it up right, the rest of the world) all day, everyday.
Nonprofits/Charities
Nonprofit organizations rely on donations of money and materials to function, so they usually have information about who they are, who they help, and how to help (i.e. donate, volunteer, etc.) on their sites. Most charities work similarly.
ePortfolios
Given that many people work remotely and that remote applications are very common, a person moving their portfolio online for possible employers and/or customers makes perfect sense. EPortfolios usually contain a summary of the person’s best work (including the goal, process that was used to complete it, and the end result), what skills they have, a page going over their background, and a way to contact them for more information.
Social/Cooperation Websites
The last of the types of websites are social/cooperation/work websites. These websites are for people to meet up, discuss topics, share information with each other, get organized, and/or work. These types of websites include social media websites, forums, websites for organization like Trello or Evernote, and other websites that help people in their work that don’t require a subscription fee.
Social Media
Social media websites work by users making an account and then posting messages, images, graphics, videos, or other things. Some of these charge a membership fee while others just show ads to pay their bills (some do both; I’m not a fan of that). Social media sites include:
- Facebook,
- Twitter,
- Instagram,
- Youtube,
- TickTock,
- Snapchat,
- Pinterest,
- LinkedIn.
Forums
Forums are similar to social media websites in that users still make an account, but usually the topics discussed on forums are specific to the website’s niche. For example: user’s rarely discuss technical computer issues on a website that has its niche in sustainability.
Cooperate/Work
These types of websites also have users make an account, but the purpose of this is to help the user in their work:
- Getting things organized (like Trello or Evernote),
- Helping writing like a database of topics or checking grammar (there are free alternatives to Grammarly),
- Making images, graphics, and presentations (like Canva or Coggle),
- Converting files from one type to another (like CloudConvert).
Summary
A website is a series of web pages made from HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code that is under a common domain name and is stored/ hosted on a computer server that is connected to the internet. The 3 main types of websites are:
- Ecommerce Websites.
- Information Websites.
- Social/Cooperation Websites.
