A successful website design ensures that the visitor easily finds the information he came looking for. The design needs to be in such a way that the information is emotionally appealing, structurally functioning and visually pleasing. Apart from being able to satisfy the visitor, the website design should also be equally appealing to search engines so that they rank the website on top of search results. It is very difficult to satisfy both humans as well as search engines as both these have different requirements. The trick lies in being able to integrate the requirements of both in a website design that is approved by humans as well as search engines.

Website designs are of three types, namely static, dynamic or CMS and e-commerce websites. Choosing the type of website design depends on the type of business and requirement of the business owners. Each of these website designs can be built on different platforms. Read on to find out more about each type of website design and the platforms used.

1. Static website design-

When you just need a few pages on your website and do not want the information to change, a static design is the best bet. The information on a static site remains the same and has no changes happening in course of time. Static websites are created in HTML and CSS. They are very easy to develop and are easily indexed by search engines. However they are weak when it comes to completing complex tasks. Another major setback is that static websites need to be manually updated and this is a time-consuming and monotonous task.

2. Dynamic of CMS web design-

A dynamic website design can deliver dynamic information. This means depending on changes happening, the website information would be automatically updated based on a few criteria. A dynamic web design usually is built on content management platforms like WordPress, Joomla etc. The only disadvantage is that this type of website is difficult to build and also is not easily indexed by search engines. The different CMS platforms on with these dynamic websites are built are

· Drupal- Built and used by a lot of very active people around the world Drupal is an open source content management platform. It is a free system that can be used to build any type of website.

· Joomla- This is a very popular content management system used mainly by individuals, small businesses and large web design organizations. It is very easy to create a website using Joomla as a platform.

· WordPress- The most easiest and convenient platform, WordPress is also free to use. You get to find a lot of plugins that will ensure you have the website of your dreams. WordPress is very easy to use and also you can edit information on the website without being HTML gurus.

3. E-commerce website-

If you run an online business and the website involves sales you might want to consider an e-commerce website. A good platform remains non messy and helps you take care of all the technical aspects of the website. There is a multitude of e-commerce platforms to choose from. A few are discussed below.

· Magneto- If you are a newbie with intentions of making a jumpstart into online selling magneto is a good consideration. Being free, magneto is open source and so has several extensions. Magneto is also SEO ready with ensures that you have very little work to do.

· OsCommerce- A very popular platform, this is easy to set up and work with. The popularity makes this a very common platform which is a downside. However in order to make your website using osCommerce unique, you get a number of add-ons that can easily do the trick.

· OpenCart- This is a free platform with the advantage of being able to sell unlimited products within a number of categories.

· Volusion- Though it has a small startup prize, volusion has a good collection of designs. The downside is that it is a hosted service and can go down anytime.

There are many more e-commerce platforms like shopify, virtuemart, zeuscart, zencart etc. Choosing any one of these wonderful platforms ensures your website performs as required.