There are many different types of web sites. A short list of some of the different categories are listed below. Of course, your own site can be any one of the types below, and actually may include elements from some or all of them. It’s your web site, so have fun and do what you want.
Commercial
Sites which exist to sell something. That’s all they do is sell a product. These sites do not make money off advertising – they create the advertising.
Business
Sites which provide support for a business. Technical support sites can fall into this category.
Informational
These are sites which give information. Generally these sites do not sell anything, at least not directly. Often they are supported by banner advertising or other forms of indirect payment.
Entertainment
Sites such as disney.com which are oriented entirely towards entertainment.
Free Stuff
Sites which offer free services or products. These might offer free webmaster tools like site checkers or free services such as site submission.
Brochures
These are sites which are simply online brochures. For the most part these sites are not looked upon favorably by most people because they tend to be very shallow.
900-Number
I’ve pulled this out specially because there are literally millions of them all over the web. This was a fad started by who-knows and pushed by scam artists like Don Lapre. Buy a 900-number and put up a web site! Lo and behold, they will come and you will make money. Yeah, right.
Money Making
These are the scourge of the web and include sites which offer only page after endless page of pay-to-surf program listings or breathless descriptions of the newest MLM program. Creating one of these sites is virtually always a bad idea – at least put some content up for heaven’s sake.
Replicating
This is a strange idea. Go to a site and sign up to create an identical site of your own. Attract others to it, who also create identical sites of their own. Generally you will find these sites are in support of some silly money making scheme which benefits only those at the top of the pyramid.
Personal Home Page
One of my favorites is the personal home page. These can be anything and can contain virtually everything. I find it wonderfully refreshing to read about some grandmother’s experiences with her dog or cat, or perhaps a 12-year old’s experiences in school. These are usually amateurish, but often show endless hours of creation on the part of someone.
“Adult” sites
These are everywhere and fall into just about all of the categories. They are the plague of the net and probably the less said about them the better.
