Types of sites: what are and how to choose a site.

What is a website?

Website is a page or set of pages accessible by link on the Internet. That is, a site can be called any web product by a link on the Internet.

Varieties of sites: 

Sites are very different, but globally they are divided into 6 main subtypes of sites:

Landing (one-page site) - a type of site consisting of one page.

Business card site - a type of site with a simple structure, usually consisting of a description of the company, basic services / products and contacts. Conventionally, this is the business card of the company, but not on cardboard, but on the Internet.

Corporate website - a type of site with a complex, more complex structure and a large number of pages. Let's say this is no longer a business card, but a presentation of the company.

Site catalog - a site with a branched page structure. This type of site is a catalog of goods or services provided by the company.

Online store - a type of site where you can not only see but also buy goods. I continue the analogy with offline business - this is your store, an offline point of sale.

Web Applications / Portals - I decided to combine these two types of sites, because today it is quite difficult to find the differences in them. In the past, web portals were not applications, but the era of Internet forums is fading away, and functional web applications are replacing it. To make it easier, let's imagine that you need to do some kind of business, entirely on the Internet. A travel agency, a real estate agency, a choice of a doctor or a cinema - for this, a web application with the appropriate functionality is being made

And now let's stop a little and take a closer look at each type of site.

What is landing (landing) and what is it for?

Landing page is a type of site, the purpose of which is to accumulate traffic from various channels in one place. Having a complex and complex site with a large number of pages and products - it is quite difficult to control the path of users and their actions on a particular page. Of course, there are such tools as Hotjar or Yandex webvisors, but they will not help in any way to keep the user on the landing page.

Therefore, landing pages are created for one specific and clear offer, for example, an event. The landing page contains all the necessary information about the event (date, place, speakers, program, schedule, photo / video, contacts), as well as as many CTAs (call to action) as possible. Then advertising is launched on Facebook, Instagram, Google, Yandex, the media, email and SMS mailings are made to the databases - all with links to the landing page. That is, in fact, we can say that a landing page is an announcement or an announcement with something useful or interesting for a specific audience.

Thus, this type of site is worth choosing if you have already decided on the promotion and you have a specific formulated proposal that you need to focus on.

Landing page is also often done for special seasonal offers or promotions.

What is a business card website?

A business card site is a kind of site that usually has the following structure:

- Home

- About Us

- Services (Or another product)

- Contacts

From the structure above, it is clear that, in fact , this is a business card with the only difference that it is on the Internet, and not in your pocket, and in order to share it, just send a link. By and large, this is exactly what a business card website is for - so that information about the company is on the Internet and is available anywhere at any time, so that an interested person can find your company and apply.

Speaking of "find" - business cards are rather poorly promoted on the Internet in terms of SEO, but this does not negate the fact that it can and should be in the TOP for branded queries (company name). If you don't, it's time to contact us.

Also, business cards can be made for the purpose of sales and conversion, or combine a landing page and a business card site, creating a long, selling main page and supplementing it with subpages in a hidden menu.

What is a corporate website?

A functional corporate website is no different from a business card in terms of functionality - the ability to leave a request and view information about the company on the Internet. The main difference is that it is larger, more voluminous. So, for example, in comparison with a business card, the structure of a corporate site may look like this:

- Home

- About Us

- Services (Or another product)

- Service (Or another product).

- Contacts

- News

--News

-Portfolio/Cases

--Case Study

- Blog

-- Blog Article Page

Apparently, the structure of this type of site is already more complex. By the way, corporate sites can and should be promoted by SEO, if you do not have a super-competitive niche. For competitive niches - you need to mark directly on the catalog.

What is a directory site?

Catalog site is a kind of site that has a catalog, more complex navigation and filtering. A directory can be called, for example, a site for renting real estate, individual sites for legal services or clinics. Why? Real estate rental - this is a catalog of options for apartments / offices / premises. As for legal sites or clinics, most often in these areas there is a huge number of services of various directions, which are difficult to understand (and therefore require a description) and which are logical to collect in one place, a catalog with a general table of contents (navigation) and bookmarks (filters) for convenience .

What is an online store?

Online store is a kind of site very similar to a catalog site, with only one difference - the ability to purchase goods on the Internet. Of course, there are online stores offering courses or services - but this is less common. All the same, the bulk of online stores - it is the sale of goods, not services.

Also, unlike the catalog site, the online store has a shopping cart and checkout with all the data, the choice of payment and delivery method.

In fact, an online store is practically no different from an offline store in terms of "place". You have a showcase (main page), departments (men's/women's clothing, shoes/t-shirts/trousers), the ability to pay in a convenient way (cash or terminal), there is a sales assistant (online chat). Of course, the marketing processes are different, but that's a completely different story.

What is a web app?

A web application is a type of site that contains unique functionality developed for a specific purpose (service, payment system, aggregator). In order not to load you with unnecessary information (because most likely you do not need a web application), I will limit myself to a simple comparison.

If a website is a private house, and an online store is an office center, then a web application is a skyscraper. Accordingly, it has more opportunities and this building itself can be a full-fledged business.

Which site to choose?

Now we finally come to the main question: which site to choose?

The answer is very simple - choose the one that suits your business goals.

If you do not need to promote on the Internet, but you need information about the company to be on the Internet, choose a business card site. If you want to optimize offline sales, choose an online store. If you want to reach the TOP in a competitive b2b niche - a directory website. If you are planning a promotion, choose a landing page.

If you are not sure and want to consult to find out for sure how to choose the type of site - find the button "get advice" on our website (which, by the way, is a catalog site) and get it :)