In the same sense that carpenters create many different products made from wood, and fashion designers a wardrobe full of clothes from fabrics, web designers can create a large array of websites. However, in the case of web design, they are not using physical materials but lines of digital code, programming, and software.
Web designers are mainly asked to create websites for businesses. Still, given the vast spectrum of business types and sizes, a web designer must be able to offer clients a choice of different business websites. Now, it is true that some web designers specialise and remain within a specific niche, such as local business websites, however, most web designers will offer multiple options, such as the ten business website types we have detailed below.
eCommerce Website
One of the most common business websites, it allows sales of physical products through a checkout function. eCommerce website sizes will be dictated by the number of products on sale, although they usually have the facility to grow as new product pages are added.
Magazine Website
These websites are rich in content, including articles, photos, and videos. Visually, they will be clean and easy to navigate. Monetisation is often via affiliate products, which the website will highlight with accompanying content and affiliate links to the product vendors’ sales pages.
Blog
A straightforward website, most often built using WordPress’s CMS. The blog owner will build trust and authority as they add content and monetise by selling their products via the blog and/or linking out to affiliate products and services related to the blog’s niche.
Portfolio Website
Required mainly by creatives such as photographers, artists, designers, and writers, to name but a few. This website is a digital showcase of all their best work where potential clients can evaluate their skills and creativity.
Landing Page
This website can be a single page or an extremely powerful page. It is where traffic is sent, and when they land there, they are either pre-sold before clicking through to a checkout page or asked to provide details such as their email address.
Personal Website
This might be requested for public figures or celebrities, but it can also be for someone who wishes their persona to be at the core of their business. Niches they are popular in include personal development and fitness; consultants use them in a range of other niches.
Local Business Website
A staple of web design agencies given the vast number of local businesses needing a new or upgraded website. Built for numerous local niches, they usually have location, contact information, and local client testimonials.
Membership Website
A membership website is popular for businesses where a regular fee or subscription is the monetisation model. Full access to the website is usually locked behind a password, and these websites can grow significantly as content is added.
Brochure/Catalogue Website
For lifestyle-type businesses such as real estate, travel, jewellery, and fashion, consist of multiple pages that showcase the products and services offered. Unlike eCommerce websites, sales are usually offline, following the client contacting the business.
Infopreneur Website
Those who wish to benefit from their knowledge or the knowledge of others can create an infopreneur website. Here, in addition to providing lots of free content, paid content such as eBooks, videos, and online courses is sold.