Originally, websites were purely informational. Before the web was opened to the public, educational and research institutions and government agencies were able to make information available to each other via text-only websites. Now that we have the World Wide Web, there are more types of websites than you can shake a stick at. Here we will discuss the basic types of websites. Personal Websites Your Internet Service Provider or Domain Registrar may offer you free server space for you to create your own website that might include some family photos and an online diary. Usually these will have a web address (URL) looking something like this: www.your-isp.com/~your-user-name/. This type of site is useful for a family, teenagers, grandparents, etc. to stay in touch with each other. This type is not advisable for a small business because the URL is not search engine friendly and the limited server capabilities your hosting company offer may not be sophisticated enough for a small business website. Photo Sharing Websites These types of website are cropping up like fleas on dog. There are web sites like, Flickr.com, Photosite.com, and Google’s Picasa. There could easily be over a hundred such sites that offer free photo sharing paid for by their online advertising. Also, many digital cameras and photo printers now come with software enabling mere mortals to create digital photo slide shows and upload them to the web. Most smart phones have apps to accomplish the same ends. Writers / Authors Websites Writer’s and Author’s websites are part of what’s known as the Writer’s or Author’s Platform in the publishing business. The platform includes a website, a Facebook presence, blog, Twitter account, and the old fashioned mailing list. Many publishers will ask a prospective client about their platform. In other words, “If we publish your book, what sort of a reader base do you already have that we can count on to buy your new publication?” Fairly weighty request, wouldn’t you say? For now, let’s concentrate on the website part. A writer’s website would include a biography, a catalog of published books and works, perhaps excerpts from some works, links to publications on sites like Amazon.com, a link to the writer’s blog, reviews and comments on the author’s publications. You get the idea, and that is to build a following, a fan base to which future publications can be directly marketed. Community Building Websites Social Websites, Forum Websites, and Sharing Websites. These websites build online communities of people who want to interact with other people socially or meet people who share their interests. The best known website of this type is probably FaceBook.com. There’s also Linkedin.com, and let’s not forget the old MySpace.com just to mention a few. For sharing and discussing mutual interests, there are online forums for practically any subject you can think of. These Forum websites can be a great source of information and help for the small business person. (I’m sure there is a forum dedicated to your type of business. Just do a web search for something like real estate web forum.) Now you can see this is where we start to get into the idea of “hybrid” sites. Photo Sharing and other forms of sharing sites might also be considered community building sites, much as Blogging sites are. Can Dating Sites be considered Community Building Sites, or are they E-commerce Sites. Blogging Websites People took the words Web Logs and shortened it to Blogs—online diaries, journals, or editorials, if you will. A person used to be outdated if he/she did not have a website, now having a blog is de rigueur. A blog owner will log-on daily, weekly, or whenever, and write about whatever is going on in their lives or business, or they may comment on politics and news. How wonderful the Internet is! Now anyone who can afford a blog can be self published and allow their thoughts to be read by anyone in the world who has online access. Informational Websites A major informational site is wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia. And it is unique, because it allows members to contribute and edit articles. Now your small business may not want such a comprehensive site, but if you have information to share or sell, an informational website would fill the bill. Suppose you have a landscaping business. You could create a website that lists plants with their definitions and planting and caring instructions. This would be helpful to people, and you would use it to lead people to your nursery. Of course you could “hybrid” this site by adding an e-commerce feature, a forum, or even photo sharing. Online Business Brochure/Catalog Websites In the days before the Internet, we used the print, radio, and television media to spread the word about our businesses. Now we can cast a large net, reaching literally millions of people al over the world with just one website. With your online brochure or catalog, you can show anyone who looks for and finds your website, photos and descriptions of your products or services. To some this may sound like an E-commerce Website, but there are many businesses that deal in products or services that are not sellable over the web—think hair-stylist, dentist, or day-care center. Directory Websites Just as we used to use the printed Yellow Pages in phone books to find services and businesses, today we have website directories. The Yellow Pages has one, YP.com. Directories can be dedicated to a certain topic or industry, or they can encompass geographical areas. Search Engines, such as Google.com and Yahoo.com can be considered directories, but since their databases are so large, rather than searching alphabetically, one enters a search term in the search field. E-commerce Websites Ever hear of Amazon.com? It’s one of the grand-daddies of all e-commerce websites. But you don’t have to be an Amazon to sell your products online. There are millions of small businesses who use their e-commerce websites to sell their products over the Internet. Just about anything that can be sold in a brick-and-mortar store can be sold online—with much less overhead! Content Courtesy: InternetWhat kinds of websites are available in market?
