What type of website should I build? – Part One

Deciding on the type of website you want to build is a very critical decision if you are going to build a business website. Because if you falter here and make a wrong decision, your energy and time, both critical ingredients to your success, are going to get wasted.

Prior to starting this website, I have tried coding a purely HTML site as well as tried building a forum. There is no use displaying their URLs here because they are long, long extinct.

Deciding on the type of website you should build should come after you have built and assessed the perfect concept for your website. Armed with the correct idea, you should now decide through the type of website you would be serving your audience.

I have put together a list to help you on the type of website you want to promote. Focus on building only one type as of now since your business is new, and as your business gathers momentum, you can add more types later.

Business Website types

• Blogs – The current rage on the internet all over the world as well as in India as far as building websites are concerned. Blogs are websites where a writer or a group of writers post content (written or audio visual) on a day to day (not necessarily daily) for the benefit of their readers or visitors.

Pros:

1) Easy to start with zero technical knowledge.
2) Very inexpensive. Basic Expenses involved are only registering the domain and hosting for your new website.
3) Easily customizable.
4) Best way to build contacts by frequenting.
5) Monetization is easy through blog advertising, affiliate marketing, and other hundred different monetization techniques.
6) Since blogs always add fresh content, they are loved by the search engines.

Cons:

1) Need to be at least a decent writer.
2) Need frequent updating.
3) Very competitive. At the time of writing, more than 100 million+ blogs were already started.

Despite the cons, a blog is still your best bet on starting over the internet especially since you are a newbie and are on a shoestring budget. The guide I have found very useful for setting up my blog is Blogging to the Bank v3.0. It’s a short, sweet, and compact e-book, and can put you immediately on the path to developing a “profitable blog” and not a hobby one.

• Review Sites – Review sites can be a type of blog where a webmaster writes reviews for various objects such as movies, books, electronic gadgets, etc. However, it differs from a blog in the context that the articles are not time stamped. Another type of review site is the one where users write review for the particular product.

Pros:

1) Great for generating sales if you are an “expert” in the niche.
2) Easy to setup if only you are the review writer (Similar to setting up a blog).
3) Monetization opportunities are excellent since people are most willing to buy from a review writer whom they trust.

Cons:

1) Need to be an excellent persuasive writer.
2) Some niches such as movies or books are very difficult to breakthrough since they are dominated by big authority sites.

Start a review site only if you have prior experience in writing excellent reviews and avoid broad niches such as books or movies. It’s best to focus on narrow niches which do not have authority sites dominating the market place.

Part two coming soon…