Although there seems to be an unlimited number of websites on the Internet there are only four different types of websites that we generally hear people talking about. Here you will see examples of all four types. It is our hope that this explanation will help you to determine what type of website is best for you and your business.

1. Simple Static or Basic Websites
2. Database Driven Websites
3. Ecommerce Websites
4. Flash Websites

A simple website, basic website or static page website is one in which there is no log in area where the website owner can make changes. This type is often called the brochure style of website design because it is like an electronic brochure on the Internet. A static site never has ecommerce or a database but it could have Flash® animation. Many small business owners prefer this type of website because it is simple and therefore inexpensive when compared with the other types.

A database driven website is one in which the programmers will create an admin where the website owner can log in and control various aspects of the website. What can be controlled from within the admin is up to the website owner. When you hire a company that is made up of a reliable staff of professional website designers there is nothing that can't be programmed into the functions of the database driven website. You can have people automatically added to the database when they fill out a "Free Price Quote" form on the website. People can be added to the database by making a purchase online. You can import users to the database. You can add photos and change the text on the pages of a database driven website. One of the best features, one that our clients love is the fully automated customer relationship management system. With this CRM we are able to setup graphical HTML emails in advance and have them go out to specific groups of people on timed intervals.

An ecommerce or e-commerce website is one where you can purchase products online. Most of the time an ecommerce website is an upgraded database driven website. It is however possible to purchase a basic shopping cart which will come with a stock set of features and have a programmer set the shopping cart into a static site. At one time these ready made shopping carts were much more commonly used. These days everyone has so many unique aspects of their business so that trying to use an off the shelf shopping cart often ends up being like trying to fit round pegs into square holes.

We are custom programmers of ecommerce websites. We make ecommerce websites that sell retail or wholesale or both wholesale and retail. When we are offering products wholesale and retail then we will include a place where someone can apply to make purchases wholesale. This is always subject to the website owner's approval. For example store and restaurant owners can buy food products wholesale on an ecommerce website selling foods.

We can customize gift registries just like the type you see on nationally and internationally known retailer's websites.

We are also able to setup a fully automated system to follow up on clients who make purchases online.

Flash websites or more correctly stated, websites designed using Adobe Flash® are very popular because they give us a way to have animation that doesn't take long to load.  Of course some Flash designers will go too far and make very lengthly "Intros" to websites.  Fortunately they usually include a "Skip Intro" button and everyone does! 

We can use Flash to show off a client's products, demonstrate how a product or service will work, develop a unique photo gallery or design the entire website using Adobe Flash®.

Now that you are more familiar with the various types of websites that are available to you it is time to select a developer who can help you to reach your Internet related goals. It is always good to find a programmer who is located near your business office because you can meet face to face and see how well you interact with each other. However, when you find professional website designers who have designed other websites that you like everything can be done by telephone and over the Internet. With high speed Internet that most businesses now have it is easy to send files back and forth as needed so that even if your office was located only a short walk from the website design company it is often simpler to just email things to each other.

We suggest that you begin your search for the best design firm by viewing examples of their work online. Often potential clients ask if we have ever made a website for someone in the ____ (you fill in the blank with your business type) business. Since there are so many types of businesses the answer is almost always going to be "No we have never made a website for someone in the ____ business. However the fundamentals of design, programming and writing don't change from one industry type to the next. The only real concern should be about the functions you'd like to have in your website.

Additionally the right company will help you to decide upon options that would be best for your business type. For example you may not have considered all of the possible options that are available to you. So a good company will be able to offer guidance and make suggestions.

The most important thing is to consider the price as you would when shopping for anything, you must consider the price but don't make the price the most important thing that you consider. We have plenty of clients who went elsewhere first only to come back to us and report that they spent a fortune trying to save money. All too often they end up with programming and design issues that never get resolved and they walk away from the project and come to us to have it done properly. Not only is money wasted with developers who can't do a decent job for the client but time is lost as well. Our clients often report to us that they wasted 6-12 months trying to resolve issues with the former website designer before they finally give up and come to us to get their new website designed by professionals.

So in searching for a professional website designer I suggest considering what they charge no more than you'd consider the cost if you needed open heart surgery. Would you shop around and see which heart surgeon is the cheapest? Of course not and the reason you wouldn't do that is that your life depends upon finding a good doctor not a cheap one. The same is true of your business, the life of your business depends upon how well your website is built.

An improperly designed website will cost you a lot more than what you pay for the website itself.  For example if you get a website that nobody can find when they search for the type of products or services you offer what will that cost you?  What if you get a website that isn't as professional looking as it could have been and only 10% of the people who go to the website decide to keep looking elsewhere?  What is 10% of your business worth each year?  What if it is only a little bit tricky to navigate around in your website but it isn't horrible so you only discourage 5% of the people who go to your website; what would that cost you in lost sales each year?

Yes be concerned about the price of your new website but with all the competition there is for website design, most firms are reasonably close in price. Therefor you may as well base your search on the quality and skill level of the work of the website designers.

One last thing, please click this link if you'd like to see a humorous yet realistic look at the difference between professional website designers, programmers, copywriters and search engine experts.

In the videos shown below we show specific features of different websites.  Some of these features will not be obvious to someone just looking at the websites so we made the videos to highlight certain programming and design related features.

In the video below you can see how we were able to use a database driven website to offer a number of advanced features in a website we made for a well known newspaper.  Subscribers are able to print out coupons, view upcoming events, enter contests and much more.

This database driven website was created as a social networking website.  People can vote for their favorite band and vote for various things in other categories as well.  They can also sign up to be members, buy tickets to live events and buy music downloads.

The CMS or Content Management System of this database driven website allows the website owners to maintain the website on their own.  It is a very simple matter to select a job opening from a drop down menu and the website fills in all the details about that job.