In this post, I want to show you some of the more popular types of websites that you can create in a few hours or a single weekend.
Fortunately, the process to create a basic website has become incredibly straight forward and there are really no more excuses to get started with your web project.
There are various different platforms that allow you to create blogs, online shops, portfolios and much more.
You can find the different section for each type of website that I’ll be covering below. For each type, I tried to cover the most important aspects including price to build/host, difficulty level, time to get started and platform options. This should help you get your website project started this weekend.
We will be going over these website types:
- Blog or Personal Websites
- E-commerce Websites (online shop)
- Business Websites
- Resume or Portfolio Websites
- Marketing Websites or Landing Pages
- Directory Websites
- Wiki or Knowledgebase Websites
- Informational or Affiliate Websites
- Educational Websites
- Community Websites
This list is by no means fully comprehensive as there are way too many different kinds of websites popping up all the time.
Blog or Personal Websites
If you are looking to create a personal brand, share a good recipe or write about your latest vacation adventure in Peru, then a personal blog is the perfect fit for you.
While browsing the world wide web, you have probably seen hundreds of travel blogs, mommy blogs, food blogs, and fitness blogs. Many of these earn a side income from their blog and some even make a full-time living 💸💸
Here are two examples of what a personal blog can look like:
How much does it cost to create a blog?
It is incredibly cheap to create a blog type website. Many platforms even offering free basic blog systems including WordPress, Wix, and blogger. As a rule of thumb range, I would say you should expect to spend between $0 and $35 per month. Learn to create a WordPress blog with with our compilation of WordPress online courses.
Choosing a free platform is definitely a valid option, but I would recommend you consider all the pros and cons first because switching can be difficult. For example here are a few possible disadvantages:
- Very limited design/styling options
- The platform might own the content that you produce
- Difficult to switch to a different platform as your blog becomes bigger
- Your advertising options might be limited
- The platforms might shut down your account if they don’t agree with what you are writing
In order to keep full control over your blog, I’d recommend choosing a low-cost platform like Bluehost if you are just getting started.
Is it difficult to create a personal blog?
It really isn’t and the process should take minutes or hours for a basic structure. Many website hosters provide options/plans to set up a blog for you automatically (usually free of charge) if you have a monthly subscription with them.
After the blogging software has been installed, everything is very self-explanatory. Nevertheless, if you run into any problems, there are various quick tutorials on Youtube that can explain all the ins and outs to you in a matter of minutes 💡
E-commerce Websites (online shops)
Do you want to create an online shop this weekend? Not a problem!
An e-commerce website is great if you already have a physical or digital product that you want to sell online. For example, you are a designer who wants to sell their greeting cards directly to customers or you produce a kickin’ BBQ sauce that you want to offer to customers across state lines. If you are interested, check out our compilation of some of the best e-commerce courses.
Online shopping has grown to represent close to 15% of all retail sales or an estimated ~$500 Billion in 2018 according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Everyone is familiar with platforms like Amazon and eBay, but chances are high that you’ve come across many different types of online shops like the ones below.
Here are two examples of what an e-commerce website can look like:
How much does it cost to create an online shop (E-Commerce Website)?
There are a few different platforms at various price points that let you create an online shop. Currently, I cannot recommend any free solutions. The price range is between $10 to $500 per month depending on your needs.
However, most people will be fine with a solution that costs around $10-$50 per months. The price usually goes up when you need a super custom solution for example if you need to integrate another app or system.
My recommendation is that if you are selling things like clothing, decor, food, art, digital products or similar items, to go with a platform like Shopify. Those guys manage all of your shop’s software and payment processing needs for a small monthly fee.
Is it difficult to create an online shop?
It shouldn’t take more than a few hours. If you are happy with a standard looking design and not much customization, you might be ready to sell within minutes.
This is also why I recommend Shopify vs a platform like WooCommerce or Wix. Shopify is very well documented, user-friendly and has an amazing collection of designs that you can purchase for your store. In fact, I’m using Shopify for all my online stores 👍
Business Websites
There are a few different options you can choose from when creating a website for your business. If your website’s content doesn’t change much and you have some basic HTML skills, you might decide to create a static website. People who don’t like to tinker with code can build their website with a platform like Wix or set it up like a blog on Bluehost.
Business websites come in all sorts of forms. WordPress is a pretty solid solution because the system can easily adapt to your needs.
Here are two examples of what a business website can look like:
How much does it cost to create a business website?
The price of a business website really depends on your needs. Assuming a very basic structure that could include things like a contact form, a few price tables, customer reviews and a description of your services, you will likely pay between $10 to $100 per month.
The fastest way to get set up is to choose a good web hosting company that offers a website builder, for example, Wix or Bluehost. I don’t think you’d go wrong with either of those platforms.
Is it difficult to create a business website?
Creating a simple website for your business is not difficult and will probably not take you longer than 1-2 evenings. As said above both Wix and Bluehost are great solutions and offer many of the standard functions that a business owner would be looking for.
A more customized solution with functions like ticketing systems, event calendars, customer support, and specialized funnels can devour many hours. At that point, it might make sense to work with an Agency or bring a developer into your company.
Resume or Portfolio Websites
Resume and portfolio websites haven’t been around for as long as some of the other website types. Often these websites are used by creatives like designers, authors or musicians to show their work. But recently there has been a trend in software developers creating portfolio websites to show their programming work to potential employers.
Depending on your job and/or interests you might not have stumbled across many portfolio websites. Therefore, check out the following examples.
Here are two examples of what a portfolio and a resume website can look like:
How much does it cost to create a portfolio website (online resume)?
It depends on your preference. Some artists like to use websites like Behance and Dribbble to host their art portfolio. For Software Developers, Github can be a great free option to show their code to the world.
If you prefer to own your portfolio website, then I’d recommend using a website like Wix or Bluehost. The price range for publishing your portfolio or resume online should be between $0 and $30 per month.
Is it difficult to create a portfolio or resume website?
Creating a portfolio website is not difficult and usually only takes a few hours. Especially if you already have your works organized.
I really wouldn’t overthink it. Someone looking into your portfolio or resume is more interested in you and your work than the system that your website is hosted on.
Generally, I’d say if you don’t want to manage the hosting of your website yourself, then as a designer go with Behance and as a Developer choose Github (checkout Github vs Gitlab).
Marketing Websites or Landing Pages
The good old art of creating a landing page that sells your service or product 🎨
The job of a landing page is to inform the visitor (reader/customer) about your product, service or organization and to convince them to take action. This action could be to either buy a product or leave their email for more information.
If you are looking to create a marketing website or landing page, you probably already did some research about this particular type of website.
Landing pages are often used in combination with paid advertisements for example on Facebook or Google Adwords. The creator has spent a lot of money to bring you to their website so it better fulfills its purpose 😉
Here are two examples of what a landing page can look like:
How much does it cost to create a landing page?
I would say that a professional landing page is a bit more on the expensive side. If you don’t like to touch programming code, you should use a landing page builder. The popular ones usually cost between $30 and $300 per month.
Fortunately, some of these come with a 7-14 days free trial giving you some time to test their functionality and design. I’ve used a few different platforms in the past including Leadpages and Instapage.
Is it difficult to create a landing page?
Well, it can be 🤓
It really depends on how much time you want to put into the creation of a landing page. I would say that you could put something together in a few hours, but I would recommend spending time on making sure that you write good copy. It is really up to you. How strong is your drive for perfectionism?
Make sure to get some feedback from professionals in the same industry before starting to run ads on the landing page. It will keep you from 🔥💵
Directory Websites
People like to see different options for their problem and compare. Directory websites fulfill this need.
You might want to create a list of the best Sushi places in your city or a job board for people working from the beach 🏖
Chances are you are using directory websites on a daily basis. Websites like Yelp, Foursquare and Angie’s List have revolutionized this space and made big 💰in the process.
Here are two examples of what a directory website can look like:
How much does it cost to create a directory website?
Directory websites are usually not the first that comes to mind when someone is creating their first website. However, building this type of website doesn’t have to expensive. There are a lot of scripts and WordPress templates available that save you money and time during the creation.
There are different options, but assuming that you’d purchase a script or template as well as webspace for your directory website, the price should be between $10 to $100 per month plus a one time fee for the script of $50.
Is it difficult to create a directory website?
The process of creating a directory type website is not difficult, but it is more involved than setting up a personal blog. If you have a basic idea of what you are doing, you can probably create a directory website on a weekend.
Generally, you first need a web hoster to provide you with a database and space to host the website. Additionally, you’ll need a script for the directory functionality, e.g. to list entries. Fortunately, WordPress comes with a few functions that make creating a directory website relatively easy.
Personally, I’d go to Themeforest to purchase a nice WordPress theme for my website and then set everything up on Bluehost or WPEngine.
Wiki or Knowledgebase Websites
The Hawaiian term “wiki” actually means quick. As in let’s wikily go to the beach 🏝
Wikis or Knowledgebases are great for collaborating with others to collect ideas/knowledge in a central place. They make it really easy to manage content, even with many cooks in the kitchen.
Wikis are extremely powerful and one some of the most popular websites are based on this principle. Think about the website that did your homework, Wikipedia. Other examples are Wikileaks or various telecommunication companies that send you to their FAQs instead of picking up the telephone.
Here are two examples of what a wiki or knowledgebase website can look like:
How much does it cost to create a wiki or knowledgebase type website?
There are a few open source Wiki solutions available that you can install on your web space. As well as various web hosters that offer pre-installed Wiki hosting services (or they’ll be happy to install it for you if you ask them). You can expect to pay between $0 to $50 per month for your own wiki type website.
I personally would contact a few hosting companies and check with them if they could set up a wiki for me, instead of spending my own time doing it. I haven’t created a wiki myself, so take this information with a grain of salt. For the same reason, I don’t yet want to add a “is it difficult” area.
Informational or Affiliate Websites
In order to talk about affiliate websites, we first have to define what an affiliate is. An online affiliate is a person who enters into an agreement with an online merchant to receive a commission for the traffic it sends to said merchant. Checkout some of our top affiliate marketing courses.
An affiliate website is a type of website whose purpose is to advertise the product/s of a different company. For example, a lot of people participate in the Amazon Affiliate Program which pays the affiliate a small percentage commission for every sale they are driving on Amazon.
Affiliate website exists in all different kind of industries. Very popular are lucrative sectors like travel and finance.
Here are two examples of what an affiliate website can look like:
How much does it cost to create an informational or affiliate website?
Like a personal or business website, an affiliate website can come in many forms. Very popular are blogs based on WordPress. For examples of different platforms, you can refer to the personal or business website sections of this post.
If you are just getting started and don’t anticipate a lot of traffic in the first few months, you can set up a very basic hosting plan. I would expect that you will not need to pay more than between $10 to $50 per month.
Is it difficult to create an affiliate website?
It is not difficult to create an affiliate website. You will probably spend most of your time writing content vs setting up the website. A basic affiliate site can be created in the span of a few hours.
However, affiliates often spend a lot of time thinking about different affiliate programs that they can participate in as well as ways to drive traffic to their website 📈
Another thing to consider is that many affiliate programs have specific terms. For example, stating on your website in which programs you participate or agreeing that you don’t compete with them on their main search terms. Those rules do vary to a great extent, so make sure to check and keep your account in good standing.
Educational Websites
Everyone has something to teach and an educational website provides the tools to help you get your message across 🎓
Over the last few years, the internet has massively influenced how people learn new skills. Whether this is enrolling in an online university or participating in MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), it is easier than ever to share your educational materials with the world.
There are various examples of educational websites like Udemy, University of Phoenix and Duolingo.
Here are two examples of what a educational website can look like:
How much does it cost to create an educational website?
This depends on your plans and the type of material you want to share. If you have text-based material a blog could be a good option, if you’ve created videos then you might want to embed them via youtube on your website.
A simple educational website with embedded videos from Youtube or Vimeo should not cost more than between $10 to $100 per month. For textual content, it might make more sense to publish it on a blog.
I would recommend going with a web hoster of your choosing. You should be in good hands with Bluehost or Wix.
Is it difficult to create an educational website?
As with many of the different types of websites, it really depends on your wants and needs. Setting up a simple educational website should only take a few hours. You will probably spend most of your time waiting for your videos to upload on youtube.
If you really decide to host the videos yourself, keep in mind that the website might need a lot of bandwidth for which some hosters charge a pretty dollar.
Community Websites
Social media sites are definitely a big part of community type websites, but I think you’ll probably have a good idea of what those are.
More interesting are smaller and local community sites. This can include things like sci-fi fan communities, neighborhood chats or professional forums.
A lot of these communities have moved onto social media platforms like Facebook (e.g. into groups), but there are still some massive and highly profitable communities on their own websites.
Here are two examples of what a community website can look like:
How much does it cost to create a community website?
Creating a community type website is not expensive, there are a lot of different options available (many of them open source) that make it very easy to get started.
A lot of web hosters also offer community platforms as part of their “1-click install” arsenal. Especially if you are just running a small community, you don’t need to spend much money on hosting.
I believe you can expect to spend between $10 to $100 per month, depending on the size of the community.
Is it difficult to create a community website?
Nowadays it is very easy to set up a community. There are many free software solutions for forums like phpBB, VBulletin and MyBB that you can use. My best guess is that it will take you about 2 to 5 hours to install the system, create threads, etc.
For fan pages, you have various options including building a blog, which I would choose. I’m a very big WordPress fan and with plugins like BuddyPress, it can be a great solution. I’d check with your hoster if they can install BuddyPress for you if you run into any issues.