Today, there are around 1.18 billion websites in the world. Although only 17% of them are active, they still serve the different needs that people have. When most websites are created, they are put together with a primary purpose. That’s an element that is as important as any other component in a digital strategy.
In this article, we’re going to go through some of the most common purposes that a website can have in order to help you determine which one fits you best.
Importance of knowing the purpose of a website
Before we delve into the different purposes that a website might have, let’s first explain why it’s important to know the purpose of a website.
The creation and maintenance of a user-friendly, high-quality website require a lot of time, energy, and money. That’s true regardless of whether you built it yourself or if you pay someone else to do it.
However, investments aside, your website is the (online) public face of your brand, business, or organisation. Indeed, more than 50% of people will look up a business online for reviews and recommendations before making any purchase.
For this reason alone, you need to choose a clear purpose for your website before doing anything else. Once you figure that out, you can then move into more detailed technicalities about your website, target audience, and more.
Once you get that, you can then set clear cut goals for your website in order to ensure that it works.
What is the purpose of a website? – Our Top 9!
Any digital marketing strategy starts with the primary purpose of a website. And in order to help you out, we’re going to go through a list of the 9 most common types of websites.
1. What is the purpose of a website: Making money
This is perhaps the most common purpose of a website, and it’s a pretty logical one. Today, everything is coming online. Such a process was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic to the point where it became inevitable for businesses to have a website.
More and more consumers have become comfortable with putting their credit card information online and buying stuff from there instead of just going to the physical store.
And if there is one truth about business, it’s the fact that wherever consumers are, businesses follow. And as we have just mentioned, since the vast majority of consumers are spending their money online, businesses have started to tailor their websites with the sole purpose of targeting and selling to the right audience(s).
The purpose of making money itself can be separated into two different purposes, each of which can be dealt with differently. Those objectives are selling products and selling services.
2. Selling products
One of the most basic ways of making money online as a business is selling a physical or digital product. This can be achieved by making the customer’s journey as easy and as seamless as it can possibly be.
The most common type of website with this purpose is an eCommerce website. Businesses create a website that has a built-in platform where consumers can input their credit cards information and buy the product.
Then there are affiliate websites, which, as the name suggests, are websites that sell the products of other companies online. If you wish to do so, you can set up a website where you can sell the products of other companies without having to be physically there.
3. Selling services
In addition to selling products online, businesses can also sell services. Similar to selling products, you can have an online store in a place with all of your services on display.
Regardless of whether you are a small, local business, or a large multinational company, service-based websites are a great way of selling your services. That’s the case for our agency, Rockstar Marketing. We use our website to display all the services that we offer, such as SEO, email marketing, website development, etc.
4. Building an online presence
If your business doesn’t exist online, you don’t exist. Indeed, about 88% of consumers research a business online before making any purchase. So, imagine if bad it would be for business if there is no trace of you online at all.
As a business owner, you can use your website to establish a strong online presence. That can have nothing but positive implications on sales, leads, and more.
5. Generating leads
Besides making sales, businesses can use their website as a way to generate leads or prospects that will close the deal offline. So, instead of trying to sell a product or service to a customer online, business owners create a website where they can collect information from users to send them a sales call.
Examples of professions that have this as the purpose of their website include attorneys, therapists, repair and maintenance businesses, and more. It also works for marketing agencies, such as Rockstar Marketing, as we can use our websites to generate leads. Here’s an example of our discovery call page that’s meant to pursue readers to contact us:
6. Providing entertainment
An entertainment website aims to entertain its visitors (duh!) and is expected to have entertainment-based pictures, videos, and interactive services.
One popular example of entertainment websites is video streaming websites (both free & paid), like Youtube. There are also online magazines (Time, The Sun, DailyMail, Buzzfeed, etc.), celebrity news, sports coverage, Hollywood, and more. In comparison to other types of websites, entertainment websites have a lot of interactive elements.
Entertainment-based websites can also be used as one big ad for a business. Since they include many bright and attractive colours, they’re great at attracting people’s attention.
7. What Is the purpose of a website: Presenting yourself (portfolio)
Websites with this purpose aim at presenting and sharing information online. People can create a website containing their resume if they are seeking a job and they want to go the extra mile to get one.
Additionally, artists commonly use portfolio websites to present their artwork to establish an online presence and manage their reputation.
8. Providing information & education
Some of the largest websites on the Internet are created to inform or educate users online. These websites can simply be focused on posting the latest news for people to find.
Others might act as educational where they would contain blog posts, videos, and images that act as tools to enhance any learning process people might have. They can also be a source of actionable information, containing tips and tricks, guidance, directions, instructions, and more.
Then there are websites that belong to schools, universities, and such. Those mainly aim to provide students with supplementary information about their studies.
9. Initiating connections
There are websites with the primary purpose of facilitating a connection between certain groups of people. An example of this could be a website where professionals and experts of a certain industry can share their contact information and connect.
Other examples of websites with this purpose include social networking websites, dating websites, etc. People can share their daily experiences, photos, videos, interests, and more.
Need help setting up your website?
If you need to create a website and find yourself incapable of doing it on your own, contact us today. One of our website development experts will get in touch shortly to discuss your needs.
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