Rebrand Studio can assist with websites of any size and complexity. From one page websites to massive e-commerce websites we have a solution for you. Websites generally fall into 5 different categories, let’s take a look at what these categories are and how they differ from each other.
Company Website Design
The most common type of website is a company website. This is a basic website with company information. These type of websites are usually between 5 – 10 pages long. Company websites are very easy to design. A good web designer can design a complete company website in 1 to 2 days. The most common pages in a company website are ; Home, About Us, Team, Contact Us and often some information on product offering and services. A company or business website is for information and has no other purpose than to connect clients to the company.
Company Website Design (Business Website Design) Summary:
| Website Size | Small ( 5 to 10 Pages ) |
| Time to Design | 1 Day to 1 Week |
| Hosting Requirements | Basic Website Hosting |
| Most Active Part of Website | Email Communications |
| Requirements from Client | Content and Contact Information (Minimal) |
| Goal / Purpose | Company Information and Contact Details |
Affiliate Website Design
Affiliate websites are websites that sell products or services of other companies. To put it in simple terms these are reseller websites. For example, if Tom wants to sell radios stocked by his friend Paul he will create a website and sell Pauls radios and add a mark-up for himself. There are many affiliate programmes that connect affiliates and vendors / merchants with each other. Affiliate websites are often e-commerce websites but we feel it is important to differentiate the two. The main reason the two are different is that affiliate website design is much less work than that of an e-commerce website which sells it’s own products. The complexity changes due to the addition of CRM and ERP integrations. Affiliate websites are a great way to get a business going with a small amount of start-up capital.
Affiliate Website Design (Reseller Website Design) Summary :
| Website Size | Various (1 Page to Infinity) |
| Time to Design | 1 Day to 1 Week |
| Hosting Requirements | Varies with Size of Website, Start with Basic |
| Most Active Part of Website | Email Communications |
| Requirements from Client | Product Pages |
| Goal / Purpose | Product Pictures, Specification, Description and Pricing |
Content Website Design
Content Websites are websites like News Sites and Blogs. These are websites which provide information about topics within their industry. Google loves content websites as they often provide valuable information to the public. One of the best known content websites would be WikiPedia, a website that provides information on almost any topic in the world. Content websites are often used to get clients to specific pages and then monetised by placing adverts on these web pages. A good example of this is Google Adsense. Google Adsense places ads on your website and pays you when people click on these ads.
Content Website Design Summary
| Website Size | Over 1000 Pages |
| Time to Design | Design is fast (1 Week) Content Creation Takes Long |
| Hosting Requirements | Medium Website Hosting (Text Does not Take a Lot of Space) |
| Most Active Part of Website | Blog Posts / News Articles |
| Requirements from Client | Content Creation |
| Goal / Purpose | Advertising Sales |
Landing Page Design
A landing page is a sales page or perhaps more accurately, a page you land on after clicking an advert. A landing page has a very specific purpose. This purpose is to convert traffic into leads or sales. A landing page is as it’s name suggests most often a single page. This seems very simple to design but the key is in what is known as sales copy. Sales copy is the text on the website which uses sales tactics and persuasive language to get the user to perform a certain action. Landing pages also known as sales pages are very complex and a single word could change the conversion ratio. Landing pages are often expensive but crucial to online sales success.
Landing Page Design (Sales Page Design)
| Website Size | 1 – 3 Pages |
| Time to Design | 30 Days for an optimized Landing Page |
| Hosting Requirements | Basic Web Hosting |
| Most Active Part of Website | Sales Form / Optin Form |
| Requirements from Client | Key Sales Points and Target Customers |
| Goal / Purpose | Sales Leads and Sales |
E-commerce Website Design
An e-commerce website is a website that sells products online. The entire sales process can be completed on the website. The best-known e-commerce website in the world is Amazon. An e-commerce website is most often a company already in business. They are responsible for warehousing and delivery of the products and often manufacture some or all of their products. E-commerce website design needs specialist website designers. This can be very complex and has so many elements that it can take months to complete an e-commerce website project.
E-commerce Website Design (Online Store)
| Website Size | More than 1000 Pages |
| Time to Design | 1 – 6 Months |
| Hosting Requirements | Premium Website Hosting |
| Most Active Part of Website | Product Pages |
| Requirements from Client | Products, Prices, Banking Integration, CRM Integration etc |
| Goal / Purpose | Sales and Reporting |
Functional Website Design
A functional website includes membership websites and such. A good example of a functional website is an online banking website. The website is used to complete certain functions. A functional website would require registration and login. Membership website design comes with it’s own challenges and integrations. Website security is of the utmost importance in Membership Websites. These websites run online applications and software often referred to as web-based software or cloud-based software.
| Website Size | More than 100 Pages |
| Time to Design | 1 – 6 Months |
| Hosting Requirements | Premium Website Hosting |
| Most Active Part of Website | Online Application Pages |
| Requirements from Client | Various integrations and in-depth understanding of work flows and operations. |
| Goal / Purpose | Functional / Transactional |
Tools and Software Used for Website Design
There are several tools and software required for successful website design. Let’s break down a website into it’s basic elements:
- Domain Name
- Hosting Server
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Website Template / Website Theme
- Website Files
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is the website name e.g. rebrand.co.za. This domain name is registered with a certain registrar. The registrar depends on the country that you are using for the domain. You get different TLDs (Top Level Domains) in different countries. Here are the best known TLDs :
- USA : .com
- Australia: .com.au
- South Africa: .co.za
- United Kingdom: .co.uk
The list is huge as there is a different TLD for most coutries in the world. For a complete list of TLDs visit https://domainpunch.com/tlds/
So once you have picked your name you can go ahead and register your TLD with a domain registration company. One of the best priced and best known domain registration companies is GoDaddy.
As there are a large number of domain names already registered you may find that your choice of domain name is already taken. Write down at least 10 variations of your name on a piece of paper before trying to register a domain name.
If you are still not able to find a domain name a=then you can use a free tool called Namemesh https://www.namemesh.com/ . This tool will help you put together a good name and only show results for domain names that are still available.
What is Website Hosting?
Website hosting is required to have a website on the internet. It is like renting a virtual office space. Space is required to save files and get traffic to your website. There are many website hosting providers. Rebrand Studio (Yes, that’s Us) have our own hosting service and you can buy this directly from our website. Website hosting usually ci=onsist of a monthly payment much like rent. It has become very affordable and you can get really good hosting packages if you are a start-up with a small website. Website files and other elements such as databases are stored on a hosting server which makes the website available on the internet.
Website Control Panel
A website hosting account comes with a control panel that you use to add files, install CMS like Wordpress and add email addresses. The Control panel is where you setup everything around your website including security and other important features. The best known control panel is CPanel.
Content Management System (CMS)
A content management system or CMS is a fancy term for a website builder. There are many CMS around and most are free. The best known CMS is Wordpress. Not only is it the best known but it is by far the best CMS available. Wordpress allows you to create various types of websites through their easy to use interface. To use Wordpress you beed to install it on your hosting server. Wordpress has clever applications called plaugins which makes any functionality on your website possible. Wordpress does have a bit of a learning curve but once you get it you can build super-complex websites with ease. Other CMS Platforms include :
- Joomla
- Drupal
- Magento
- Wix
- Weebly
- Moonfruit
Website Template / Website Theme
A website template or website theme is a predesigned website that you can edit and customize to your products and brands. Using a website template saves a lot of time and you don’t have to do much coding. Some website themes are available for free but there are many paid themes. You can find a website theme for any industry or business. Wordpress has the largest collection of website themes available. These website themes ensure that a client will know what their website will look like before commencing with a website design project. There are many websites that specialize in Website Themes and Website Templates but our favourite is ThemeForest
This is the complete information on website design South Africa. We hope you have found this information useful. For website design Johannesburg contact us for any project you would like to take on. We are an affordable website design company in Johannesburg.
