10 Different Website Styles That Will Match Your Business Type

Just the way we indulge in dressing ourselves with stylish outfits, websites need styling too.

There are different types of website styles that businesses use to attract their customers and serve a specific purpose.

From static websites that serve the sole purpose to pass information to the more responsive e-commerce websites that can be…

…accessed through a smartphone too.

From the look of your home page to your contact page, your site should be well articulated to improve user experience.

And, we haven’t even started to mention the importance of factors like SEO sitemaps, keyword consistency, and image alt tags.

We understand that a lot of passion and commitment goes into managing your own business.

You might have hired the best online marketing agency to help you draft the perfect marketing plan to attract more customers.

But there may be one basic thing you may have overlooked. Website styles!

Through this article, we aim to educate business owners about different website styles that could fit their business and improve sales.

You may be thinking – “what do I need to know website styles for?”

Your website is just a couple of images, an appealing copy and a contact us page, and it’s working just fine, right?

If that’s what you were thinking, you couldn’t be more wrong. You could be missing out on the potential that a new website style could bring you.

The below image represents a service tree we like to use when onboarding clients.

It helps them understand the infrastructure they need in order to grow their businesses online.

And, make no mistake, creating a website style is at the center of it.

It’s your lucky day because we don’t show this to clients unless they sign on with us 😉

Bonus content – Check out our blog on the basics elements of website creation every business should have.

Whether you are starting a new business or revamping an old brand, you can’t deny that your website is a necessity.

Websites have made e-commerce transactions possible with a click of a button.

Our team has experience in creating a good website design based on the type of business they serve. And this is probably where you should start anyway.

So, why do you need a website in the first place?

Recent studies show about 88% of consumers search for a product or business online before making a purchase decision.

That tells you the scope of why business owners dedicate ample resources to building their websites. And website styles are at the center of this.

It’s no secret that consumer preferences are shifting away from brick-and-mortar shops to online stores.

We live in a world where mobile phones, laptops, and tablets can perform tasks much more efficiently than ever expected.

This growing trend has forced business owners to have a strong online presence – where the majority of their target audience lives.

Some businesses have even chosen to go fully digital by eliminating their physical store and only selling online.  

With that in mind, think of your business website as an online showroom to showcase your products and communicate their features.

Instead of having your headquarters in a retail mall, you now have it in the form of an online website.

Where your potential customer can come to search for a product, read reviews, and even make a purchase.

All with a click on the mouse and without leaving the comfort of their home.

But, why is website design so important?

A simple Google search of “pizza restaurants near me” gets us no less than 185 million website results in about a second.

All customized based on the location of the search, user’s online behaviors.

And even based on the best website styles that will give the user the best user experience.

With increasing competition, simply having a landing page or static website is just not enough.

It is equally important to have appealing website styles that check all factors and sum up for a great user experience.

Good website styles retain a user’s attention, keeps them on your site longer, and ultimately provide them an experience so great that they not only choose to make a purchase but return to do so again and again.

That brings us to the next section of our article – where we talk about the different types of website styles and their use in your respective business type.

What are the different types of website styles?

Choosing between the different website styles is not a decision that should be taken lightly.

Businesses spend a great deal of time and resources choosing the website styles best for them.

Based on things like their business type and their customer profile.

Before you choose the “fancier” styles, you must first decide what kind of layout works best for you and your website visitors.

Keeping in mind that your layout forms the base of your website style and the overall user experience.

Let’s look at the two basic forms of layouts when it comes to website styles.

Static Page Layout

We have created dozens of static website styles for business owners who just want a simple business website.

Ranging from a single landing page design to 100 pages.

This form of website layout provides a fixed width to the website content and cannot be changed based on different web browsers or devices.

Meaning the experience a user gets on a desktop will be the same as he or she gets on a mobile phone.

This is the most basic form of the website layout and was used to create the earliest websites before mobile use became mainstream.

These sites are typically created for simple purposes such as making an announcement or sharing user information.

While we do not recommend this design layout anymore, it has an added advantage.

Due to the nature of this static website layout, it is extremely light on code, so it loads faster than other forms of website styles.

If you’ve read any of our articles on SEO, then you know that a fast load time is something that search engines love.

But when comparing a fast page load time to user experience, it definitely takes a back seat.

A highly positive overall user experience should always be your end goal when choosing your website style.

Responsive Website Layout

In the last several years we’ve seen digitization of almost all industries.

And with the growing adaptation of web technologies, the possibilities are endless.

This has exponentially expanded the way brands do business today.

To appeal to users and provide an easy transaction process online, businesses have started adopting more robust website styles and layouts.

One of those layouts is a responsive layout.

Dynamic in nature, this type of website style can easily adapt to the browser or device size of the viewer and transfer the website’s content to fit.

There are approximately three devices that a user consumes content on at any time: desktop, mobile, & tablet.

Each having its own dimensions and size.

Owing to this, website builders have started creating responsive layouts that can adapt to different devices. Having this website style is a no-brainer.

Especially with the wandering search engine algorithms that only want to show businesses in search results that have a responsive website.

It accounts for a much better user experience.

Most useful website styles to increase website visits

Now that we have explained the two most important foundation layouts when we think of website styles.

Let’s move on to edits you can make to the overall appearance of your website style.

We picked out our all-time top seven website styles that will boost your business appeal online.

And trust us when we say we have experience in probably a hundred styles behind us.

1. Font Based Website Styles

The expansion of website styles and design techniques has given designers like us plenty of room to…

…get creative when building a web-based user interface.

One such popular technique is using a customized font to convey a message.

We have helped many brands make their online web presence in the form of a dominant new font. Customized only for their business style.

By having a custom font that is uniform across all communications, brands can break the clutter and get more user attention online.

Take the image above for example.

As you scrolled to read this paragraph, you probably wondered why California was written in the Coca-Cola font or…

…why Happy Birthday was written in the Disney font.

The goal trying to be achieved here was exactly what happened.

You recognized a font that belonged to a particular brand on an arbitrary word before you even saw the brand name.

This is exactly the goal with font-based website styles.

2. Cartoons and Illustrations

Another great way to grab user attention is by using cartoons or illustrations on your website to convey a message.

This is a great way to bring your designs to life and add more personality to your brand.

The best part of this website style is that imagination is your limit here. Businesses use this to stand out with this easily relatable design.

As one expert pointed out, cartoons bring out a lot of emotions within a user – memories, simplicity, etc.

No surprise this website style finds itself in our top seven.

3. Brand Colors

Since the first brand was recorded in 1876, brand colors have always played an important part in getting people’s attention.

But why do colors matter?

Generally, red stands for passion and emphasis. It is a color associated with emotions like love or anger.

Yellow stands for motivation and positivity.

And similarly, blue is used to instill calming or trust.

Brands today have been using color psychology effects to their advantage in their brand colors too.

This has been carried forward in their communications including website styles.

A prime example of this is the financial industry.

Financial institutions like Chase and American Express use the color blue…

…(which is the physiological color of trust) to spread confidence among customers.

Brand colors and their adaptation in brand communications play an important part in gaining a user’s attention and in some instances, trust.

4. Hero Photo or Video

Hero image or video refers to the main picture or video on the website’s home page that centers a user’s attention.

It also makes the website more interesting. It is the central theme that all other images are based on thereafter.

This website style is cornered around this hero image and relates to the product or service perfectly.

The snapshot of our homepage above depicting our hero image indicates that our agency is always willing to…

…work together as a team to help our clients grow.

The evolution of digital technologies and newer browsers have made it possible for brands to experiment with different media styles, not just pictures.

Gone are the days when website designers just had the option of building static one-page websites. Or at most a multiple-page text-based one.

Today, web designers opt to go with realism. This basically means using photos as the main focus of a website.

This goes from people, food, products, fashion, etc.

The goal is for the brand to show transparency to its customers. This is the “what you see is what you get” vibe.

Schedule a time to chat with an expert in different website styles.

5. Transparency

Using transparency-based website styles is an effective way of highlighting text and…

…making it more readable when used along with other images and videos.

Designers use this style in websites where it is equally important to show both the image and the copy.

By using a transparency element behind the text, designers retain the image visibility that is thrown right behind the text.

While also making sure that the text is readable to the viewer. This is a smart tactic that tricks into a visual message too.

6. Animation

Animation plays a huge part in conveying a complex message in a short and interesting way.

It is used by website builders in an engaging way to turn complex messages into simple explanatory video using illustrated images.

Our designers have always based their design theories on creating a website style that is informative yet engaging enough to retain customers.

And animation fits the bill perfectly. They convey the brand message in a much more engaging way compared to static images.

The number of tools available to designers to create such animation is increasing by the day.

Making this style one of our absolute favorites when it comes to different types of website styles for your business.

7. Data Based

This year we have seen a record number of brands utilize data to influence their business decisions.

So much so, that data analytics has become an entire career.

Companies are increasingly recording data about their consumers and then using that data to make informed business decisions.

Called business intelligence, this is a business arm that helps to make calculated business moves including but…

…not limited to targeting, marketing, and advertising to attract consumers with surprising facts.

The availability of business intelligence tools has given website builders the ability to base entire websites off that data set.

Designers have started using data highlights at the center of their website style to make a point about their product.

Below is an image of a gym website that does a nice job of getting user attention at first glance.

If you notice closely, the website does not start with talking about their service at all.

Instead, they give out interesting data about exercise and fitness in general.

Website Styles and User Experience

There are two basic principles that govern website styles.

1. Website designs should be based on end-user experience.
2. Generally, users quickly scan websites, not analyze them.

Users today prefer to scan through a website rather than reading the entire content.

Which is why we recommend using infographics, images with text, video clips, and other forms of creative media to convey content on your website.

While the second principle is easy to understand, the first one owes some explaining.

So, what is user experience?

User experience is the journey a user takes on your website right from the homepage to completing a transaction.

Whether it is to order a product or fill out a contact form.

Otherwise known as UX, user experience is what makes or breaks a user’s interaction with your brand online.

If the UX your site offers is anything less than ideal, you can expect users to leave your site without making a purchase.

And they will probably venture over to your competitor’s site if it offers a better UX.

But if the user experience is smooth and interesting, users will not only make a purchase and tell their friends about it.

But they will also continue to make purchases in the future.

Graphics, images, videos, and animation can all go ineffective if the end-user experience is not good.

Making your page simply stand out among an army of competitors is not enough.

A smooth user experience is required to truly stay ahead of the competition.

Take Amazon’s website style for example. They have built a business centered around customer satisfaction.

They probably tested dozens of website styles before finding the winning formula.

But in the end, everything about their website speaks volumes about a smooth user experience.

Right from simply sorted products to chatting with a customer service rep. Many brands have adopted this website style ever since.

Different Website Styles Based on Your Business Type

8. Website Styles for Local Stores

Starting with brick and mortar businesses.

Such businesses need to attract users to their websites and retain their interest. A brochure-type website style is best suited here.

Some of the best examples of this business type are car washes, a local restaurant, cake shops, etc.

With not many pages and not too much content required, this style is best suited for these business types.

In such instances, attractive photography and a unique business description will be best.

The objective here should be to create a high impact within a small time frame. Giving the user exactly what they are searching for is key here.

9. Website Styles for Large Businesses

Some businesses call for higher user involvement and require a magazine-style detailed website design.

Examples of such businesses are financial institutions, service companies, car manufacturers etc.

Here the business is based on a concept that the user may need to learn more about the product or service they are purchasing.

Which is why they might need to use videos, infographics, and/or blog posts across multiple pages to convey the benefits of their products.

This is where our creative designers find the most room to express.

And rightly so. With content spread across different pages, there are quite a few ways designers can show their styles here.

With enough room and pages, we can A/B test different pages and see which ones convert the best for your business.

10. Ecommerce Based Website

Finally, we want to talk about the ecommerce based website style.

Technological improvements have made it possible for customers to transact with brands online.

This has given businesses an added sales channel that lets users search for products, place an order, and select shipping and payment options.

All in one experience that is online.

This has been made possible by ecommerce based website styles.

This website style is primarily used by businesses that have a directory of different products they want to sell to potential customers.

You may think that managing your wide range of inventory and listing them all on a website is difficult.

But ecommerce based website builders are now available and more simple than before.

Such tools have made it easier than ever to make a website that is based entirely on ecommerce.

Giving you all the resources and tools you need to have a fully functional website servicing happy customers.

One where your customers can easily search for and buy your product. All at the click of a button or tap of a finger.

The above information may well be extremely essential to provide you with an understanding of different website styles.

But the next question that most likely comes to mind is – Which website style will fit my business?

Choosing the right website styles for your particular business type can be a challenge.

And one that requires research and understanding about your target audience.

Our design team can help you build a new website style from the start or optimize your current website.

It’s a task that requires a lot of thinking and branding. Trust the experts to make you a professional website that your customers will love.

Whatever your business objective may be, we have the experience to generate a highly converting website for your business.

Contact us today to get started creating your different website styles.