An ecommerce web site is the main tool that internet-based businesses use to advertise, their products and services, to make their sales presentation, to close sales, and to process orders and payments. Every internet-based business doesn't necessarily need an ecommerce web site. Whether or not an ecommerce web site is needed really depends upon the type of business and the purpose of the website.

To decide what type of website you need for your internet business, it is useful to learn about the most common types of websites and their purposes. A very basic website, sometimes called a static website, is primarily used for advertising or lead generation purposes. A static website or lead generation website is a website that aims to generate business leads and this type of website is commonly used by service companies and professionals who wish to provide an overview of their business to attract interest from potential customers.

This type of website, using techniques such as offering free newsletters, is very good for generating leads as well as building an opt-in list of potential clients and their contact information. Building an opt-in list is very useful for email marketing, direct mail marketing, and even telemarketing. Sometimes an ecommerce web site also serves as a lead generator as well as a sales tool.

Another type of website that is commonly used by businesses is a content site. Content websites serve one or more of three main purposes - 1) to generate revenue through subscription fees; 2) to generate revenue from third-party advertising; or 3) to build a business's or individual's credibility. A content site that aims to attract paid subscribers for the purpose of revenue generation may need to be an ecommerce web site as well since there are actually fees involved with the use of the subscription service. A content site used for the purpose of generating advertising revenue may or may not need to be an ecommerce web site.

If you are selling advertising spots on your content website to third parties, they will need to make payments to order their advertising space, so ecommerce web site capabilities may be useful. Sometimes content sites are used to generate advertising revenue through the use of Google's AdSense program. Since the program uses the content of the site to draw in and display relevant advertisements and the revenue generated is from click- throughs for the Google ads, an ecommerce web site is not necessary because the business itself doesn't actually process any orders or payments from website visitors.

Sometimes businesses set up a website for the sole purpose of providing self-serve customer service options. A bank website where account holders can view their accounts is a good example of a service website. In most cases, a service website does not need to be an ecommerce website because it doesn't handle things like orders and payments, though it may have self-serve options that enable customers to transfer funds between accounts or to make online payments.

The fourth commonly used type of website is an ecommerce web site. The main purpose of an ecommerce web site is to sell either products, services or a mix of the two. Since an ecommerce web site is a sales tool, it generally contains sales copy along with what is commonly referred to as ecommerce solutions. These "solutions" that are sometimes used for an ecommerce web site include online catalogs, shopping carts, and automated order systems that actually collect orders from customers and process the payments. Advanced options for an ecommerce web site may include automated customer service communications such as delivery of order confirmations and shipping confirmations by email. Ecommerce web sites may also contain features that are common to other types of websites.