Today there are more than 186 million websites on the Internet, with 31.5 million of those added just during the year of 2008. Luckily, you can categorize the 186 million into seven common categories. Below, is a list of those categories along with a description that will help you decide what type of website you want to start buidling.
                       
                  

Personal Websites:
Personal websites usually provide information about a certain individual or group. A lot of times individuals will create personal websites in order to get information about themselves out to other people. An example might be someone who starts a site and posts their resume on it to attract potential employers. Personal websites usually require little to no maintenance (or upkeep) and are the easiest type of website to start. A lot of Internet service providers give you the opportunity to create a personal website by giving you free server space that allows you to upload family photos and content. Usually, the free space on the server is very limited and only allows you to do the bare minimum. I would not advise anyone that is trying to start a small business website to use the free serve space your Internet Service Provider offers. This is due to the fact that the URL that is given to you is not friendly to search engines  and therefore potential customers would not be able to find your website. Also, the limited space they provide for you would probably not be enough to support your business site.

E-Commerce Websites:
When I say E-Commerce, I mean On-line Shops, Commercial and Auction Websites. Just about anything you can think of in todays world is sold on the World Wide Web. In order to be a competitor with other other businesses on the Internet you must have a E-Commerce Website that stands out from all of the rest. In order to do this, there are two main parts of your E-Commerce Website that are priority over all the rest. Those two parts are the Customer Eye Catcher, and the Product Check-out Process, (or shopping cart). 

In my Opinion, the most important part out of those two is the Customer Eye Catcher. I say this because you usually only have a short period of time to catch the interest of a potential customer when they first load you site (Studies say about 15 to 20 seconds). Your Customer Eye Catcher should be put on your Front Page (or Home Page), since that is the page people usually see first. Think of this as your sales pitch or an attention grabber, as if you where talking to the person face to face. After they have seen or read you Eye Catcher they should already know what your product can do for them, why it is better than all the rest and hopefully make them think they need it. The rest of your website should just reiterate the first page attention grabber with pictures and more information and facts about your product in order to keep them interested.

The second part has to do with the check out process of your site. Be very careful not to make this part complicated for your customers. Remember, they have not fully bought your product until the check out process is complete. I say this because, I have seen many times when potential customers get irritated or confused with the check-out process and end up backing out and moving on to a competitors website. This is a tricky part, because you must make it as simple as possible for them and have enough security to make them feel comfortable about purchasing over the Internet. I also recommend having a shopping cart installed for them to use for this process. With a shopping cart, customers can always see the number of items they are about to purchase, along with their prices and total charges. This way they can also make any necessary changes without going back and can continue to shop while other items are in their cart.

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Informational Websites:
Informational Websites, I believe, are the easiest sites to maintain and can also be good for Businesses and Organizations. A good example is the site you are currently on, WizardofTheWebsites.com. All you really have to do is make sure the information you have listed on your site is up to date and refresh the information every now and then accordingly. A lot of informational websites are usually opinion based, so be careful when using another site as a source. A good example of a situation like this is the site called wikipedia.org, which is an online encyclopedia. Be careful when using this site as a source because Wikipedia allows people to contribute and edit articles with their own opinions.

Businesses will also sometimes create an Informational Website just to get their information out to the public and not to actually sell a product online. For example, let's say you just started your own business selling a certain product. You do not yet have the capacity or the man power to allow customers to order your product off the Internet. You do though, want to go ahead and tell them about your business and your product or products so you can start to get your advertising out. Once your business has grown, you can then add a part to your site letting the customer shop and purchase your product and in turn making your Website into an E-Commerce Website.

Blog/Forum Websites:
Blogging is the newest sensation to hit the Internet in the past few years. If you want to voice your opinion and meet people with common views then Blogging is the way to go. Blogs (or Web Logs) can be categorized as online journals or editorials that give regular people the power to tell the world what is on their mind - whether it be their view on a political issue or what they had for lunch. There are many free Blogging sites out there, but Blogger by Google is probably the most popular, as of now. With Blogger you can create an account and Blogging page for free and post as many times a day as you want. Maintenance for these sites depend on how big of a "Blogger" people are. Some people may post a blog once a day or a couple times a week while others will continuously post on their blog throughout the entire day with help from cell phones and PDA's. 

Businesses are starting to realize that blogs can be utilized other ways to meet some of their needs as well. For instance, a company may have a blog in order to keep its employees up to date on certain information. This can also apply to a businesses customers to inform them of upcoming events, specials or new products. Blogs are great for a business because, ultimately, it is free advertising and a way to reach a wide customer basis. Some people and businesses allow readers of their blogs to post comments or responses to their post. Maintenance would be very high due to the fact that you would need to constantly monitor what people post as well as edit any information you see fit.

Social Websites:
I classify social websites as groups or communities that are online where their members can meet and interact with other people that share a common interest. I would classify community websites and dating websites under this category as well. Probably the most common examples of Social Websites are Facebook and EHarmony. Facebook was originally built to only be for college students, but is now open to the public. All you have to do is create an account and you are able to interact with friends and other people that may share common interest. E-Harmony, you may have seen from advertisements on TV, is a social dating website that allows its' members to find people with common interests. 

Social websites are usually high maintenance, since in order to keep your visitors and attract new ones you must continually update your information and have the latest interactive media. Also,security is a big issue as well when dealing with social websites. These community sites usually contain a lot of personal and private information about its' members, so always plan to keep your security up to date as well. If not, it could mean big trouble for you as the owner.

File Sharing Websites:
Like Blogging websites, File Sharing websites have been popping up everywhere on the Internet, mainly in the form of Photo Sharing websites due to the Facebook and Myspace frenzy. File Sharing websites do exactly what their title says; they provide space for people to post files like photos or videos so other people may view them, save them and sometimes buy them. Some good example of File Sharing websites are YouTube, Shutterfly, Flickr, and Google's Picasa. 

Mobile Device Websites:
Mobile Device websites are websites that are compatible and viewable on a number of hand held devices like PDAs, iPods and iPhones. These websites are relatively new to the World Wide Web compared to the other types of websites listed and were created because traditional sites were becoming difficult to view on new mobile technology due to there download times. To compensate for this, a new domain designation (.mobi), was created to help identify websites that are friendly to mobile devices. For example, if I were to have a mobile website for this site it would be wizardofthewebsites.mobi. This new type of website can have the same material as other sites on them, but contain narrower pages in width and take up much less bandwidth for decreased download times.  Mobile Device websites are extremely useful and are becoming more and more popular becasue they can reach audiences that are on the go and do not have the time or access to a regular computer.