There are so many types of websites out there, and I know firsthand how hard it is to decide which kind you should build. When I made a website for my freelance writing business, I knew I needed an online presence to showcase my work and attract clients, but the number of options was overwhelming.
To get unstuck, I perused other successful sites for inspiration. That helped guide my own design. Now, having gone through this process myself, I want to share what I've learned.
Build your website with HubSpot's Free CMS SoftwareIn this article, I'll show you 28 common types of websites. I'll provide plenty of examples that highlight the distinctions in site design and execution, drawing from my own experience where relevant.
- Business Websites
- Ecommerce Websites
- Blogging Websites
- Real Estate Websites
- Food and Recipe Websites
- Entertainment Websites
- Wiki Websites
- News Website
- Government Websites
- Nonprofit Organization Website
- Coupon Websites
- Directory Websites
- Booking Websites
- Membership Websites
- Wedding Websites
- Portfolio Websites
- Resume Websites
- Educational Websites
- Job Board Websites
- Forums
- Knowledge Base
- Video Streaming Websites
- Memorial Websites
- Review Sites
- Event Websites
- Search Engines
- Design Inspiration Sites
- Comparison Sites
1. Business Websites
While business websites come in many sizes and shapes, they all aim to present the brand's products and services to visitors in a way that acquires new customers, clients, and/or partners.
Usually, business websites include descriptions of their offerings and a way to either purchase through the website or contact the team to initiate a sale or partnership.
From there, it's up to the business to decide what to include on its site — some sites are dense, while others are stripped down with just one or a few pages. It's all about what best aligns with your branding and what your target market wants to know.
Let's look at two business sites that show this contrast. Modern Health is a personalized mental healthcare delivery service with a website that explains the app's purpose, value, features, and plan options for employers. It accomplishes this with a mix of copy, videos, testimonials, infographics, and blog posts.
What I like: The website communicates the app's purpose and value through a mix of copy, videos, testimonials, and graphics. I appreciate how it draws attention to its mission around mental health — and the strong imagery draws me in to learn more.
In contrast to Modern Health's content-rich site, the website for Cambridge-based low-waste shop Cleenland has no frills. The layout and design choices are simple to give prospective customers all the information they need when planning a visit.
What I like: The simple layout aligns perfectly with the company's mission of reducing waste. I'm impressed by how they use white space to highlight the essential information customers need when planning a visit.
2. Ecommerce Websites
Ecommerce websites sell products, be they physical goods or digital content. Visitors can browse the website's listings, read product details, and purchase directly from the website.
Ecommerce websites are focused entirely on retail, but business websites, blogs, and other website types may also host an online store for selling products or merchandise.
Ecommerce sites sell all sorts of things, but most stick to a familiar model — products are categorized and presented in a list format, and clicking an item brings you to a dedicated product page. You can usually search for products as well via a search bar.
On each product page, you can add the item to a virtual "shopping cart" or "shopping bag." At any point, users may enter the checkout process, in which they enter shipping and payment information to complete a purchase. Some website builders and hosting platforms even have different ecommerce specialties.
For an example of a visually engaging, informative ecommerce site, check out Briogeo Hair Products. Its pages capture attention with a rich color palette and vibrant photography to highlight its different products.
What I like: This website boasts an exceptional design that seamlessly combines captivating visuals, intuitive navigation, and compelling storytelling to create an immersive and user-friendly experience. I also appreciate the customer testimonials, which help to build social proof.
Because ecommerce websites are often large, complex, and require infrastructure to securely handle payments and shipping, ecommerce platforms are a very popular go-to for new businesses launching online stores.
Shopify is the leading option — for a monthly fee, it handles everything from site design to hosting to payment processing. Shopify also integrates with HubSpot to level-up your online marketing, sales, customer service, and analytics capabilities.
3. Blogging Websites
Blogging sites are difficult to define since their use has evolved so much over time. The blog (short for "weblog") format began as a way for anyone to publish casual, long-form written content about their interests.
Since then, blogging has been adopted by entrepreneurs and businesses to mark their presence online. Today, you can consider a blog to be any website that publishes written content and whose articles (or blog "posts") are listed in order of most to least recent.
If you're an online business, a well-written, informative blog can be a major asset to your marketing strategy. It brings traffic to your site, establishes authority on search engines, converts visitors to leads, and eventually convinces those leads to take the next step to become customers. A blog that's relevant to your business niche proves that you're knowledgeable and committed to being the best in your industry.
To help your blog content get seen, consider using HubSpot's Content Marketing Software, which can help you plan, create, and optimize your content for better visibility and engagement.
If you need an example of business blogging in action, you're looking at one. HubSpot writes four popular educational blogs — Marketing, Sales, Service, and Website — each filled with articles to help businesses grow better.
What we like: Featured posts stay "sticky" on the top of the blog, letting HubSpot highlight its most important or popular posts. I also love the email subscription form that's at the top of the page, allowing HubSpot to grow its list.
Minimalist Baker takes a different approach to its blogging website, with four columns of images filling the hero section, each a clickable blog post. This works well for food, travel, and other blogs that are highly visual.
What I like: Minimalist Baker makes navigation easy with clickable recipe icons so readers can easily see if the recipe fits their dietary needs and find more recipes by clicking the icons.