Website development: Website types

Often the customer, ordering in a design studio to create a site, does not even know what format the developed resource should have. Will it be a simple promotional website or a huge online portal? To make it easier for the customer to make his choice, this article is written. Carefully review the types of sites listed here and decide what you really need.
The type of a website can be determined based on different criteria. For example, the criterion of quality design, content, purpose. But it is more convenient and more objective to classify sites according to the criterion of affiliation. That is, who this site contains and to whom it actually belongs. This criterion is also well suited because the quality of the design, its content and the purpose of creation directly depend on who owns this site (a large company, a group of enthusiasts, a student, a schoolboy or a housewife).
The reasons for this dependence lie on the surface: the prices for high-quality and functional design (add here another “engine” and promotion) are very high and turn out to be affordable only for large companies with serious intentions. As a rule, everyone else makes their sites independently, and everyone has different tastes and skills.
Personal pages (hamsters, home pages)
Truly the most massive category of websites. The question may arise: why pages? And all because at the time of the birth of the Internet it was created exactly one page (sometimes several), on which all the information was placed. However, the situation is now quite the opposite: there are fewer and fewer individual pages, but more and more full-size sites. Naturally, the vast majority of these pages and sites are of no value, both in terms of design and content. Every day, thousands of personal pages go into oblivion, and as many (even probably more) appear again. However, it is time for their authors to understand that it is not worth clogging up the already clogged Internet, and create such pages only if you really have something to show to other people.
Non-profit sites
Many, but more informative than personal pages, a variety of websites. As a rule, they belong to any associations, projects, international or charitable organizations, and also include sites of educational institutions, universities and research (research) centers, official sites of non-commercial software projects (for example, Lynix). Such sites are mostly made simple, convenient and efficient (academic style). They contain a lot of useful information, and this information is absolutely free. In terms of the quantity and quality of the information laid out, many non-commercial sites successfully compete with content sites (see below).
Commercial sites
All commercial sites are created, of course, for the purpose of direct or indirect profit. And, as you know, without investing money, to multiply them will not work. Therefore, the level of design mainly from such sites is quite high – firms and companies order web-design services in “expensive” and famous studios.
Conventionally, all commercial sites are divided into several subtypes:
Promotional sites. Created for a short time to advertise some product or some service (the so-called promotion action). Their creation does not cause difficulties, because their main goal is to show the product or present the service using a minimum number of pages.
Corporate sites. The main goals of such a site are to create an image of a firm for the visitor that is memorable and attractive, as well as attract new customers and form feedback with them. Of course, the average design level of corporate sites, almost always created by professional web design studios, is very high and costs thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars.
Internet portals. These are the most extensive resources in comparison with the sites of individual firms and companies. Behind an example we will not go far – Microsoft site. There are thousands of pages and hundreds of subsections where you can find literally everything related to the corporation itself, its developed technologies and ready-made products. To support and administer such resources, a large team of webmasters is required.
Personal site manager. It is created in addition to the corporate site. This type of website appeared quite recently, but most likely will be widely distributed in the very near future.
Online store. The name of this type speaks for itself. The design of such sites is quite simple, but the software modules are more complicated. Requires a serious approach to design, build and support. And of course, a large advertising campaign must be conducted in order for the online store to find its customers.
Information is the most expensive
The most informative and most requested by users type of sites – content sites. Here are the repositories of the most valuable information on the Internet. This type of sites include search engines, news sites.