The 19 Most Popular Types of Websites (2024 Report)

Creating a website is an effective way of establishing your digital footprint. With over 2 billion websites and counting published online, knowledge of the common types of website examples can help you better design your own website.

Choosing a type of website is not enough for online success; you have to get the web design right. People will get a bad impression of your website if your website layout and overall design are unattractive.

This article will explore 17 of the most popular types of websites, the best website building tips, and how you can build them from scratch.

Let’s get started.

1. Blogs

Blogs are one of the most popular website types. They are visible anywhere you turn on the internet. Blogging is one of the best ways to earn passive income online.

A blog website comprises online journals and information pages regularly updated with relevant content to keep readers informed and up-to-date.

The advantage of blog websites over other types of websites is their ability to cover a broader range of topics and discussions as their contents are not limited.

Personal blogs have an informational and conservational style outlook. They are crafted to take their readers on a journey.

Starting a blog is easy, but monetizing it is not as easy. You can make money blogging irrespective of your niche, although some blogging niches are more profitable than others.

The highest paid bloggers include:

• Tim Sykes
• Chiara Ferrangi
• Melyssa Griffin
• Sarah Titus
• Pat Flynn

The Good Trade is one of the best inspiring blog examples you can use to gain inspiration to create your blog.

How to Build a Blog Website

You can build your own blog with the best blogging platforms such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, and Bluehost Builder.

Wix is a user-friendly blogging platform that comes in handy in building blog sites. With Wix, you get to use a wide variety of tools such as performance analytics tools, comments feature, and social bookmarking to design a brilliant and stylish blog.

2. Business/Corporate Websites

A corporate or business site is the first contact prospective clients or customers have with your business.

Design your business websites to provide readily accessible information about your business and a means of contacting your business representatives.

Your business website should have an “About Us” page, which helps spell out important information about your business to potential clients. A FAQ section that answers questions that often confound various users is crucial.

When describing your product, you must tag it along with past customer testimonials to convince prospective customers to buy into your business idea.

Traackr is one of the best small business website examples you can gain inspiration from to design your business/corporate website.

How to Build a Corporate/Business Website

Consider using creative professionals to help you bring your business website ideas to the limelight. Using a professional web designer to design your business website is a better option than using a website builder, except you have relevant web design experience.

A web designer helps you navigate your requirements and design websites that meet your specification.

3. E-Commerce Websites

Selling online is easy with an online store. Brick and mortar stores face intense competition from online stores, with many traditional stores opening their own eCommerce sites.

Ecommerce websites serve as online stores where you can advertise and sell products or services online. You can choose to build your eCommerce site strictly for online business activities, attach it to other types of websites, or for a new business.

Unlike other popular types of websites, your eCommerce store needs to be designed with extra layers of security as it often requires access to customer financial data for transactional purposes.

Apple is one of the best eCommerce website design examples you can get inspiration from to design your eCommerce website.

How to Build an Ecommerce Website

You can build an eCommerce business from scratch with eCommerce website builders such as Squarespace, Shopify, Wix eCommerce, BigCommerce, and Zyro.

Shopify helps eCommerce owners build an eCommerce website. This eCommerce platform offers users exceptional sales features and a high customer satisfaction rate.

4. Portfolio Website

Portfolio websites are used primarily by creative professionals such as artists and photographers as an online portfolio to display their creative works.

With a portfolio website, you can showcase your creative skills to a wide client or customer base to get more engagement on your work.

Your portfolio website requires a web hosting service to help it function optimally because the site would solely deal with multimedia files. Cloud hosting is an excellent souped-up service you can incorporate into your portfolio sites.

Adrien Gervaix is one of the best web design portfolio examples you can check out for web design inspiration.

How to Build a Portfolio Website

Squarespace is the best website builder to help you build a beautiful portfolio site. With its eye for design mastery visible in its stylish templates, you can create the most professional and creative-looking portfolio site with Squarespace.

5. Educational Websites

Online courses are gradually becoming the go-to learning for a large number of individuals as well as educational institutions.

Educational websites provide the platform for learners to access various online courses across all fields of study.

This type of website provides users access to educational materials through their mobile apps, eLearning portals, and online tutorials to provide the best learning experience.

There is a provision for tests and exams to be taken online after completion of courses, and certificates are issued after all the necessary criteria have been met.

Academic Earth is an educational website example you can check out for web design inspiration.

How to Build an Educational Website

Educational websites require a more professional hand to create as their structure differs from simple websites. You must regularly upload important learning documents.

Hiring an experienced web designer to build your educational website is better than using a website builder.

6. Personal Website

Personal websites afford individuals a platform to share their thoughts and ideas while building an online presence for themselves.

Depending on the intended use of a personal website, it can be straightforward in creating its outlook with no complex requirements in its design. Not all websites exist primarily for profit-making; personal websites generally fall into the non-profit category.

If the intended use of your website is for a more professional function, then you should consider building a lead generation website to optimize your content in search engines.

Irrespective of what you intend to use your website for, design your personal website to promote whatever brand you are pushing.

Laura Baross is one of the best personal website examples you can use for inspiration to create your personal website.

How to Build a Personal Website

The design element to be used in creating your personal website depends largely on the intended use of the website.

If your website falls under the simple category requiring you to share content with close friends and family, you can choose a DIY approach to building your website.

For a more professional personal website to promote your brand or serve as a central space for your online business, consider hiring the services of a web designer to create a professional-looking personal website for your brand.

7. Entertainment Website

Entertainment sites serve as informational sites providing their target audience updates around the entertainment world.

With the world constantly feeding on gossip, your entertainment website needs to offer a wide range of audience refreshing and entertaining information.

The contents of your entertainment site need to be dynamic as frequently. You are reporting the same news with various news and entertainment outlets. Presenting this information to your audience is what stands you out from the crowd of rumor-mongers.

Just like with business and eCommerce websites, owners of entertainment and media sites can use their platform to generate revenue by running ads.

Elle is one of the best entertainment website examples you can use to model your entertainment site.

How to Build an Entertainment Website

To make your entertainment site dynamic and distinct from others, you can use blogging platforms like WordPress.org to design your website.

WordPress.org is a free website builder that offers you a wide range of free and paid templates and tools to design your entertainment site. You can hire the services of a web developer and designer.

8. Nonprofit Websites

Nonprofit organizations use websites to create their online presence and build successful campaigns.

Nonprofit websites offer an awareness platform for contributors to track the activities of their donations and scrutinize their past performances before pledging new contributions.

If you are considering setting up a nonprofit organization or NGO, you must start incorporating plans to build your nonprofit website.

Apart from helping you display your activities to the online world, your nonprofit website can be a way for people to track and validate the authenticity of your claims.

Literacy NYC is one of the best nonprofit site examples you can use to draw inspiration to create your website.

How to Build a Non-Profit Website

Due to the uniqueness of its operations, most non-profit websites do not have a budget for website creation. You can use Wix, an excellent website builder for small businesses, to help you build your nonprofit site.

9. Social Media Websites

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp are among the most popular social media apps.

Your social media website should allow users to share ideas and thoughts through pictures, videos, or texts. A good social media website helps users communicate with individuals on subjects of interest across various locations.

With social media inserting itself into the everyday life of billions of users globally, creating a social media website promises to be a very lucrative option. You get to connect with people, shop, and get updates on happenings worldwide, all from a single platform.

Tumblr is one of the best social media website examples you can draw inspiration from to create your unique social media website.

How to Build a Social Media Website

Building a social media website is no easy task. It requires a large amount of both human and capital resources to be invested into it.

If you have an exciting social media website idea that is begging to be unveiled but facing budget constraints, you can opt for Ning. This platform allows you to build your social media site with a limited budget.

10. Membership Websites

A membership website is a site that offers restricted access to members only. It is commonly used by non-profit organizations, associations, and clubs to restrict content to only its members to provide additional value to them.

Members of a membership site can get access to this content for free with the requirement of signing up or might seek a period-based membership subscription to grant access to these contents.

The value of content derived from these sites depends on your subscription level. Your audience has to subscribe to the highest membership level for the highest range.

Skillshare is one of the best membership website examples you can gain inspiration from to create your membership site.

How to Build a Membership Website

Depending on your audience and intended target, the option to take in building your membership website varies.

You can opt for a membership website builder as you may not be able to enable the restriction of access feature from your regular website builders.

11. Forums

Online forums offer a platform for individuals with similar interests to connect and share their thoughts on issues or subjects they are passionate about via the internet.

This method aims to bring people from all walks of life to discuss the problems that interest them and create a foundational beneficial relationship.

Most online forums are built on this foundational method to make their site more popular. They encourage members to take the discussion beyond the confinement of the meeting.

Reddit is one of the best online forum examples that you can use as an inspiration to create your own forum.

How to Build a Forum

Wix Forum allows you to build and incorporate your forum with your existing Wix or WP site.

Website Toolbox is an intuitive platform that helps you create your social media platform or forum.

12. Landing Page

Landing pages consist of a single webpage with a clearly defined goal driving it. The purpose of a landing page can vary from effectively converting sales on a product to collecting user data or generating the needed signatures for a campaign.

Your landing page should have a clear and straightforward design; otherwise, you risk distracting your visitors from the vital information intended for them.

You can encourage visitors to click on a paid ad or a link on your landing page by using a compelling call to action button. Businesses use landing pages to collect the email addresses of prospects.

Lyft is one of the best landing page examples that you can use as inspiration to create your unique landing page.

How to Build a Landing Page

Unbounce is one of the best landing page builders that helps you build simple and effective landing pages. You get access to various tools and templates uniquely designed for landing pages. 

13. Web Portals

Web portals or online interfaces are websites created to perform specific internal purposes pertaining to a business or organization.

A web portal's primary responsibility is gathering and collating relevant data from users across various departments and sections of the company to a centralized location for easy access.

Web portals require a custom login to ensure restrictions on who has access to these data. The collated data from the online portal are valuable and beneficial in meeting specific business and organization needs.

MSN is one of the best web portal examples you can draw inspiration from to build your online portal.

How to Build a Web Portal

You can build a web portal effectively with either Drupal. This platform is designed with the plugins required to develop a web portal. Using several modules and components to build your web portal makes it readily functioning.

14. Crowdfunding Website

Crowdfunding websites are primarily centered on sourcing for funds to finance a business or a project.

Build your crowdfunding site to accommodate a wide range of individuals from all spheres of industry around the globe. They provide the means of raising funds for projects or business ventures.

Crowdfunding sites are gradually eliminating the traditional means of seeking investments from venture capitalists. People can now create successful funding campaigns on sites to cater to their financial needs.

With the requirements of most crowdfunding sites being a pitch video and a target amount with a deadline, crowdfunding sites are now the norms for raising money.

Trine is one of the best crowdfunding website examples you can use to inspire your crowdfunding site.

How to Build a Crowdfunding Website

Wix makes building your crowdfunding site easy with its extensive tools and templates. You must ensure your crowdfunding site is as transparent with its details as possible. There is a need to seek legal backing as dealing with people's funds is very tricky to navigate.

You might consider using a pre-existing crowdfunding platform to pitch your promotions and use their platform's popularity as an advantage to market yours.

15. Video Streaming Website

Video streaming sites are now taking over and dictating how the world goes about viewing their favorite shows and programs.

Netflix is a notable example of a video streaming site that offers its subscribers a wide range of programs. The only requirements are an active subscription and a stable internet connection for the complete viewer experience.

YouTube and Vimeo are video hosting platforms offering their users a wide range of functionalities, from corporate and business communication to product marketing and successful personal blogs.

How to Build a Video Streaming Website

Wix provides an excellent platform for building your video streaming website. Still, if you want the maximum benefit from this tool, you should consider subscribing to its Business VIP package.

Wix Business VIP offers you unlimited video hours, which comes in handy if you plan on delivering lots of content.

16. News Websites

News websites and blogs are fast becoming the new normal for sourcing information. Most people now prefer to get their news online due to its easy access and availability. News websites provide free access to various users.

Free is one of the things they have going for in shifting people's attention from the traditional newspaper and magazine options.

The primary issue an informational site faces is browsing and navigation. This website type is often limited in its capacity to deliver a specified number of articles at a time.

Ensure your news website has the appropriate filters and search functions for a better user experience.

With a tag or content management system (CMS) in place, users get to refine their news stories and search for specific areas of interest to them.

The New York Times is one of the best news website examples to use as inspiration to create your news site.

How to Build a News Website

Your news website should comprise a responsive design to attract viewers. Although news sites are mainly text-based, you should consider spicing them up with visuals to make them more attractive to your reading audience.

You can either settle for a cheap website builder or seek expert support from a professional web designer.

17. Event Website

Event websites are designed to plan and correspond event information for a guest list of attendees through their signup functionality and event detailing and scheduling features.

This type of website is created solely to share relevant information about the upcoming events, such as dates, venue, dress code, and sitting arrangements. An event website saves valuable time sending communication messages and emails to a long list of guests.

By simply creating an event website and granting all guests access to this platform, you can carry all guests along the program of events and update them on changes as they occur.

The Creative Retail Awards 2022 is one of the best event website examples you can use as inspiration to build your event website.

How to Build an Event Website

Building a functional website varies depending on the event you are conducting. For personal events like weddings or birthdays, you can opt for a powerful website builder that has templates for you to choose from.

The Knot is one of the best wedding website builders you can use to build a wedding website.

In the case of sponsored events, you might want to see the services of an expert website designer to create an elaborate website for you.

18. Brochure Website

A brochure website is a site that has only a few pages of vital information your audience needs. Small businesses build brochure websites to create a strong online presence.

Every brochure website includes a business overview and contact details of prominent business leaders.

Super Soco is one of the best brochure website examples to inspire you to create your brochure website.

How to Build a Brochure Website

Content management system (CMS) software tools like Joomla are great platforms to help you build your brochure website.

19. Community Forum and Wiki Site

Wiki website refers to a site where users collaborate, publish, and edit content. Unlike other websites where only authorized users can publish and edit content, users with internet access can assume such roles.

Wikipedia is one of the most popular wiki sites on the internet.

Community forum websites allow users to contribute to discussions on any chosen topic. This forum type involves knowledgeable users providing solutions to issues faced by other users.

An example of a community forum is Quora.

How to Build a Wiki Site and Community Forum

You can use simple website builders like Web.com to build your wiki website. Web.com offers you a wide range of easy-to-edit templates, making it easy for non-professionals to build quality websites.

Learn to Create Your Own Websites

Creating your own website is easy, thanks to the availability of powerful website builders like Wix and Squarespace. These website builders offer ready-made templates that you can easily customize to suit your unique website design needs.

However, depending on the scope of your website building and design project, using a website builder alone with no previous design experience may not bring the desired results.

Websites with complex web design structures like community forums, web portals, and video streaming websites require professional web design services. Squarespace allows you to partner with professional web designers for your website project.

Irrespective of the website type you want to build, following the basic principles of web design ensure you create professional and eye-catching websites.

Was This Article Helpful?