Despite the popularity of social networks, most Ukrainians turn to Google when searching for clothing, cosmetics, manicure services, or hotels. Having an online presence in the form of a website is a mandatory condition for a business aspiring to grow. But what should this website be like? In this article, experts from the hosting provider Cityhost.ua will explain the various types of websites and how to choose the one that suits your specific goals.
Before ordering or creating a website yourself, it’s worth answering a few questions:
- What do you want to convey to potential clients through the website?
- Do you need additional automated functions like product ordering or appointment scheduling?
- Do you have the resources to maintain it consistently, both financially and in terms of personnel?
- What do competitors do in such cases, and what do their websites look like?
The format and content of your future web resource will vary depending on these factors.
Business Card Website
A business card website is created to present a company succinctly. Typically, it consists of one to three pages, where the essence of the business is briefly formulated, and contact information is provided. The site may describe the primary services, certifications, a small portfolio or photos, introduce specialists, and include links to active social networks.
Sometimes, a business card may include news or a blog, and client reviews, but this is atypical. If you regularly have news or a substantial catalogue, it’s better to consider a multipage website or even an online store.
Advantages of a Business Card Website
- User attention is not dispersed by a large amount of information; one clear statement reaches them.
- Due to its modest design and small size, the site can be easily created even by oneself — website builders offer numerous ready-made templates for business cards.
- If ordered from a web studio, such a website will also be inexpensive because it is a simple task that does not take much time.
- The simplest and cheapest hosting is suitable for hosting a business card website.
- Easy to fill and does not require constant updates.
Who Would Benefit from a Business Card Website
A business card is an excellent option for those who need to introduce their business online but lack the resources to consistently update, entertain, and inform users. It can be used to advertise specific services such as plumbing, appliance repair, massage, furniture manufacturing, tutoring, etc. This type of website is easy to promote based on a specific keyword.
While a business card website shares some similarities with a landing page, it still has some differences in its essence.
Landing Page
If a business card represents the company as a whole, then a landing page, or a single-page site, is a website with a singular call to action. After visiting a landing page, the user should perform one specific action:
- subscribe to a newsletter, leave their contacts: lead generation landing;
- order a product, either one or from a very small selection of offerings — e.g., in the case of a warehouse clearance: product landing;
- enroll in a course, training, or a free webinar;
- call/write or submit a request for a service or a trial service: informational landing.
Advantages of a Landing Page
The advantages here are similar to those of a business card:
- it conveys one call to action without diverting attention, easily filtering out non-targeted visitors.
- easy to create independently.
- can also be hosted on the cheapest hosting.
- inexpensive and easy to order from a web studio.
The landing page will also be minimalist: no complex or expensive widgets, lengthy articles, minimal essential information, and a clear call to action like “subscribe” or “order now,” etc. The message conveyed by the site should be unequivocal and straightforward.
Who Would Benefit from a Landing Page
A landing page is suitable when you need to address a specific issue quickly:
- build a user database;
- sell a limited quantity of a product;
- attract participants to an event;
- test an advertising call to action.
Landing pages are helpful at the start of an advertising campaign or when something needs to be quickly sold — pre-orders, a product, or a promotion.
A multipage website is still necessary if the goal is a long-term advertising campaign, customer interaction, brand building, or selling a wide range of products and services.
Multipage Website
The majority of websites on the internet are multipage. This can be a large informational portal with dozens of sections containing information about the company, news, a blog, and product and service catalogues. Alternatively, it could be a fairly concise work with a few sections, contacts, and, let’s say, a blog.
Multipage websites are easy to develop and reshape as needed: sections can be added or removed, and diverse information can be placed. It is crucial to structure the information qualitatively to prevent visitors from getting lost in the flow. Multipage websites often have advanced features — menus, pop-up windows, product or service ordering forms, visitor personal accounts, blogs, or forums.
If a promo or sale page is needed, it can be added. If not, it can be removed. Multipage websites are constantly updated and can be promoted using various keywords related to the business theme.
Developing such a site may take several months and will be more expensive. Many websites already require an advanced hosting plan and often the use of a VPS server or a dedicated server.
What to Consider When Ordering a Multi-page Website
Choose a convenient engine, i.e., a Content Management System (CMS), from the list of popular options. Since a multipage website will exist for many years, its developers may change. If the CMS is well-known and popular, finding a professional for any modifications is easy, and there is no need to rewrite everything from scratch.
While a single-page site can hand over all information and photos to the developer or be placed in a website builder with a few clicks, a multipage site involves a lot of work, and its developers may change, too. Ensuring that learning to work with the admin panel takes only a few days is crucial.
Online Store
An online store is a multipage website primarily designed for selling products. These stores are often developed to directly interact with inventory systems, incorporating features to accept payments, process orders, and communicate with customers. A store can also include a blog, news, or even a community of loyal customers in the form of a forum or social media groups.
Stores are manually developed on specialized CMS like OpenCart, Magento, or Shopify and on WordPress themes that can easily integrate WooCommerce.
Converting any previously described type of website into an online store is a rather complex task. It’s better to order such a platform from scratch.
Marketplaces, such as ROZETKA, Prom, Kasta, represent a separate type of online store. These are large web resources where dozens or hundreds of sellers are registered. There are few such projects in Ukraine, as they require a large team for maintenance and are hosted on multiple dedicated servers.
Blog
A blog can either be a separate full-fledged web resource or, more commonly, an additional site section where regular publications appear. These include current company news and articles on relevant topics. A blog informs customers, provides helpful advice, and can even entertain.
Advantages of a Blog
A blog has numerous advantages: it helps generate traffic, improves indexing in search networks, and, as the site is updated more frequently, enhances promotion for specific queries, fostering long-term communication with customers.
The drawbacks are two: maintaining a blog requires a lot of time and needs separate promotion.
When You Really Need a Blog
- If you have something extra to tell customers, and it’s interesting. For example, useful topics on technology, books, kitchenware, design items. There are industries where it’s not easy to find a large number of topics to write about.
- If the products are not impulsive purchases but require consideration before someone decides to buy them.
- If you have someone who can write interestingly and has time for it.
A blog as a separate site is mainly used not as informational support for a business — in such a case, the blog itself is already a business. It becomes a media platform where the author or authors write interesting articles, and monetization is done through advertising, selling links, or placing native articles from companies.
In Conclusion
These are the main types of websites used in business. In reality, there are more — for example, educational courses, which are structured differently. There are also social networks, essentially websites, booking services, or classified ad websites like OLX. However, they are less frequently created, so we won’t delve into the details. The main thing to know is that each such site is a separate system that can cost tens of thousands of hryvnias.
You can always start with a simpler site and move on to a more complex one if your goals change. A site often begins with one page, then expands, a blog or news is “attached” to it — and it becomes a large platform with many sections. However, not all business card websites can be expanded to such scales. Therefore, when choosing a website creation method, inquire whether it is suitable for later increasing the number of pages and adding specific functions.
Each site has its specificity and technical features, so before approaching a developer, clearly define what type of website you need — this will help avoid surprises during the creation process.
