10 Popular types of web design

Can you count the number of stars in the sky? Obviously, that’s a NO. There are billions of stars out there. Pretty much like the universe, the web is vast, and you can’t know the exact number of websites running there presently. Within the split of a second, a website is added to the billions of other websites online. The amazing fact is that each of the websites is competing for a share of a specific online audience. At a point when you are thinking about the best ways to build your website or choosing the best hosting site online, you might not remember the fact that your new website will be competing alongside billions of other websites.

There are different categories of websites on the web, and each has a specific online audience. It is not enough to learn about search engine optimization (SEO) and the best ways to introduce your products and services to your target market. When it comes to building a website or searching for the best ways to attract the right traffic, most people only consider billing, hosting and SEO. But you have to consider the type of website you want it to be or the category you want to belong. That way, you could narrow down your search for a good web design company more efficiently.

Below, we have revealed the top 10 popular types of web design. Find out their major differences and where your website belongs.

E-COMMERCE WEB DESIGN

If the purpose of your website is to sell a particular product or service to a target audience, then you would need an e-commerce web design template on your website. Most web owners think that an e-commerce web design is only suitable for a marketplace website or a multi-vendor e-commerce website, not at all. An e-commerce web design is also important when you wish to use content marketing to promote your service or brand. Either way, its purpose is to lead your website visitors through the buying process from the beginning to the end. This can be done by fusing “call to action” buttons on strategic places on the web page. Such a web design should be optimized to ensure SEO friendliness, and the page layouts should be built to be responsive to mobile devices. This implies that the page should be able to adapt automatically to every screen type from iPhone, Android to a desktop.

Additionally, further, improvements can be made on the web pages to boost the page load speed on mobile with the help of a Google AMP. If you own an e-commerce website, your goal should be to leverage on your website’s clean design to ensure a simple and fast shopping experience.

BUSINESS WEB DESIGN

A lot of businesses have seen the feel a corporate website gives their business. It helps them to project a corporate image in the midst of competition. In today’s fast-paced business environment, the significance of a business web design often goes unrealized. Your business website is the face of your business online. It represents your brand and what it stands for. Hence, effective web design is most critical to its success. A company uses a combination of its web design, branding strategies and content to portray its brand uniqueness and communicate with the target audience. Unlike an e-commerce web design, a business web design is not meant to assist a company in making direct sales of its products, but its goal is to enable them to use the website to provide valid information about themselves and their corporate identity. It helps large firms to communicate their missions, demonstrate thought leadership and drive sales-ready opportunities. It links potential customers to the business by providing information on how they could contact the company in any given circumstance. If your goal is to create awareness about your business and what it stands for, then a business web design is what you need. 

ENTERTAINMENT WEB DESIGN

It’s simple! They are website designs used for businesses in the entertainment industry. Is your business centered on movies, plays, music or event? Your website can only entertain your audience or meet any goal it was designed for when you factor in entertainment web design solutions. If you are a comedian or an entertainer, you don’t have any business with corporate identity and branding. You should build a website that entertains your audience. It could also take the form of a promotional website. Either way, the goal is to sell your business or promote an upcoming event or a show.

PORTFOLIO WEB DESIGN

A portfolio website design is a vital tool that helps you to build your professional brand and get more clients for your business. In any genre or aspect of life, your portfolio says a lot about you and what you represent. It is even more important than a traditional resume. Irrespective of the industry you work in, whether you are an engineer or a freelance journalist when people search for your name on Google, your portfolio will provide the most comprehensive details about you.  A portfolio web design is of utmost importance to web designers and anyone seeking employment or bidding for a contract. Its purpose is to furnish a prospective client with relevant information of who you are, what you can do and why you are the right person that can execute that project.

Technically, the design of your portfolio should showcase your work while sharing a similar look and feel with the rest of your website. Such continuity is essential to assure readers that they are still on the website. Your portfolio web design doesn’t have to overpower the work that you intend to showcase to your audience. Use a mix of good colors and design to tell your audience more about you and your abilities.

A portfolio website design could also be your art gallery showcasing your work as well as your calling card. It gives you the unique opportunity to portray your skills and reveal your most impressive projects. In most cases, the manner in which your portfolio is designed could make a client contact you with a project proposal or an offer.

Others on the list of our 10 popular types of web design are:

NON PROFIT WEB DESIGN

A nonprofit web design is meant to advocate and convey the belief, approaches, visions, and missions of nonprofit organizations. Such a website designed for nonprofits is more than a mere digital brochure and at the same time far from a hungry sales machine. Suitable nonprofit web design needs to:

• Share the impact of their cause successfully
• Tell a story to aid brand building
• Engage users and solicit actions.

An ideal web design for nonprofits should be a tool that creates excitement around a specific cause and solicits continued support and attention. However, one important design feature of a nonprofit website is its high level of user engagement. It draws its audience by applying bright imagery, video, and graphics. Whether your organization is involved in child or project sponsor, travelling to third world countries or helping the poor, the website should be focused on encouraging readers to join a cause or contribute directly to a donation. This can be done by embedding a “donate now” button which may propel readers to give out in support of your mission.

Nonprofit web design is seen as incomplete if it lacks a mission and vision statement. A user visiting the website should be able to understand the idea behind the organization. Furthermore, the user should be able to find the donate button without much stress.

EDUCATIONAL WEB DESIGN

This type of website design is best used for websites that are popularly referred to as “how-tos.” They aim to provide the user with relevant information they seek. For instance, how to design a website; if you type those words into a search engine, I’m sure you will be amazed by the thousands of results you will get. If your website is intended to inform your audience on a specific subject matter, then it should fall within this category.

Aside from these, the educational website goes beyond an informative website. Educational web design is also suitable for the site building of universities, schools and other educational institutions.

There is a different methodology in web design for educational institutions that enable them to place in-demand programs on display for both students and intending students. When you are planning to build a website for an educational institution, you have to understand that it is far different from a business website. First, consider the needs of the students, and how the university is planning to provide such needs. Educational website design is less demanding. Since it is designed for information purposes, its goal is to communicate as much information as possible to satisfy the user’s curiosity and perhaps help to make a decision based on the information provided. However, it is easy to load a website with tons of irrelevant information to fill up space, this will make the website less impactful, and the user may not benefit from the content you provide. So ensure you apply a blend of text and visuals to improve the user experience.

BROCHURE WEB DESIGN

This is the simplest type of web design you will ever come across. A typical website built with a brochure web design will feature just a few pages. It is used by businesses that need a little online presence. I usually comprise of a homepage that displays contact information, an about us page and a few photos o demonstrate previous work.

The brochure web design was high in demand during the earliest days of the internet when firms knew they needed to promote their brand on the internet but depended less on it as their primary marketing strategy. Although the business environment has become fierce and more firms are entering the market on a daily basis, most companies still prefer to have a little online presence. Hence, the brochure type of web design is still in vogue.

If you have a business and you rely on an external source other than the internet to create brand awareness and increase sales, then, you need an online business card, and that is the purpose of a brochure web design. However, business owners need to note that there would be an urgent need to change their website design template from a brochure to corporate web design in the future when their goal and priorities change or whenever they need to adapt to the pressing needs of the business environment.

BOOKING WEB DESIGN

If you are operating a hotel or some other type of reservation system, you’ll appreciate a booking web design even more. It’s not just to showcase your properties to potential guests, but also to offer the entire public a fast and easy way to book. Plus, they can eserve a spot or a room and also enable you to receive payments with ease.

A booking web design is suitable for any business that is centered on providing luxury properties or products to people and whereby they have the option to either pay at the facility or make the payment online. Such a website will be set up with a complete booking software integration.

Note that it is vital for a booking web design to be fully responsive and adaptive to both iPhone, and desktop. The fact that hotels make more money when guests book directly through their website is more reason why many hotels invest heavily on huge campaigns to get the needed audience they need and introduce them to their facilities.

MEDIA WEB DESIGN

This has several similar features to the entertainment web design. It is the best web design for any website whose purpose is primarily to collect news, stories and other information for reporting. The content of such a website is not purely for entertainment purposes. And they involve more of reported pieces of information. Media websites often have ads embedded. Such sites usually earn money from those ads when users click on them. It is particularly needed by those who need their website to serve as a major marketing tool and at the same time be a good place to source for reliable information about the society or environment.

WEB PORTAL WEB DESIGN

This type of web design is complex and requires more complicated programming than the others. It is specifically meant for internal purposes. They are created by most organizations, businesses or institutions. The aim of using this web portal web design is to provide relevant information to those who need it by collecting the information from various sources and in different formats as well. Users are mostly required to enter their login details to ensure that the information is always protected and used by those who need it.

The web portal web design is mostly adopted by schools and businesses that require users to gain access to the site or make payment for a product, service or course online.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST WEBSITE DESIGN

If you are about to create your website, an important aspect of your website planning phase is choosing the right website design that suits your goal. Here are a few tips to help you achieve it. 

DON’T GET CAUGHT IN THE DESIGN FRENZY

Recently, there have been more choices in the website design industry than ever before. As hard as it may seem, all these choices make the process of choosing the best website design more difficult. But with the right knowledge, you can make the best choice. Search for other websites in your niche and examine their design and responsiveness. What do you admire about the desire? Perhaps, you can incorporate it into your design.

DEFINE YOUR TECHNOLOGICAL NEEDS

What kind of functions do you want your website to have? Do you desire to have a brochure website that has just basic info about you and your brand? Or do you want a complete website designed with all the vital aspects embedded in it? Providing answers to these questions is critical because your website design determines the way your website will be built and the target audience it will be programmed to attract.

HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR WEBSITE TO LOOK AND FEEL?

This will need you to see your website through the eyes of the user creatively. If your perception is bad, then a user is going to have a bad experience from using the website. The best way to avoid such a pitfall is to try as much as possible to eliminate vague concepts and ideas when planning your website design.

Without a doubt, choosing the best website design for your brand could be a lot of work. You will have many options to pick from, and you might even be sceptical at first. We have carefully explained the top ten popular web designs and the kind of business they are suitable for together with a few tips to consider before choosing any one of them. We hope you will find them useful when building your site.