When I started in marketing, I didn’t realize how essential websites and their structure are. Of course, I knew a business should have a website no matter what. A website is probably one of the first things that comes to mind when starting a business. Usually, business owners start thinking about how it will look, the content, and the message. But they don’t think about the type of website the business should have to succeed. All businesses need a successful website, so owners should consider what type of website they need to make this happen. What is a successful website?
- Website success is measured based on how well it meets the following objectives:
- Generate Traffic: Drive people to your website.
- Drive Conversion: make people commit an action where you want (form fills, calls, email sign-ups, etc.
- Drive revenue: drive sales from your website because of conversions.
People reading this probably think those are not the only objectives, and I can agree with them, but at a most basic level, these are the most essential. Other readers will think that metrics like the bounce rate percentage or conversion rate can be objectives, but they are not. These KPIs will help you measure the success or failure of your objective.
Understanding what makes a website successful is critical to helping business owners decide the type of website they want to build. There are several of them, and to decide, owners also need to make sure that their business concept meets the type of website they want. For example, if you are a retail store, your website must be an e-commerce website. E-commerce sites are strictly for retail stores to give the capability to sell products with all the effort behind a sale, such as inventory, charging money, customizing products, etc. Retail companies should not use other websites unless they aim not to sell.
What are the types of websites?
- Retail (e-commerce): Use for selling products.
- Lead Generation: mainly used for service-oriented businesses like office cleaning, lawyers, carwash, etc.
- Search Engine: websites that contain a search engine to make bookings like hotels, airlines, theme parks, etc.
- Media: News channel websites like CNN, FOX, TMZ, or any magazine among others.
- Social Media: websites like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Affiliate Marketing: athird-party publisher that will help generate traffic, leads, or product sales.
- Marketplace: websites that are used to sell products like eBay.
Some of these may overlap with each other at some point. For example, Facebook is a Social Media website. Still, it also has a marketplace or even a marketplace website containing a search engine at a certain level to help consumers find products. Different combinations can be made.
Before creating a website, I encourage business owners to sit down with their website developers and define the capabilities the website needs based on their business structure and logistics. A website should not make your company or business harder; it should facilitate it.
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