SharePoint provides several templates for web sites out of the box.
The ones you are interested in for web content management are in the Publishing Category and include a Collaboration Portal and a Publishing Portal.
Collaboration Portal
- starter site for Intranet divisional portal
- contains a Document Center site, News site, Search site, and a Site Directory site by default
- Workflow is not enabled
- branding is possible but with more effort (default.master)
- assumes you will be adding Collaboration Team Sites to the structure
Publishing Portal
- starter site hierarchy for Internet or a large Intranet-base website
- contains Home Page, Press Release SubSite, Search Center, and a login page by default
- Workflow is enabled
- easily custom branding using the blueband.master page
You can use either template, it’s a design choice; either one can be modified and will work for your web site.