This chapter is part of the free e-book 'Basics of Search Engine Marketing', published in May 2005. There are several different types of websites, and they are being used for several different purposes. For example, some websites are built to be informative, some to be entertaining, some to facilitate communication and others to be commercial. For the purpose of this thesis, I will only concentrate on the commercial website type, particularly the marketing aspect of it.
Commercial websites, themselves, have many different purposes and goals. They can be used to, for example, enhance company brands, complement off-line marketing efforts, and sell products and services directly from the website. Commercial websites can be categorized into five basic types: on-line brochure sites, content sites, lead-generation sites, e-commerce sites and self-service sites (Web Action Internet Services).
On-line brochure sites are websites that present information about a company, and its products and services for potential and existing customers as well as business partners.
Content sites are websites that contain information in form of e.g. articles, forums and blog entries.
The objective of lead-generation sites is to increase and segment lead generation.
E-commerce sites’ objective is to sell products/services directly from the website.
Self-service sites are intended to improve customer service and satisfaction.