I often take note of who our members are using to build their websites with and I'm noticing that many people are going with free website hosts and providers and I wanted to point out a few reasons I'd avoid them. That said I can list a couple of reasons why people do start out with them, but it's not a long-term benefit at all so I thought I'd just quickly write this.
Are free websites worth it?
Yes and no.
Yes, only because providers will often provide an easy to use system where you can add pictures, logo's, pages with content on, and so on.
Though with many free websites you'll struggle to add a domain name to the account that isn't a forwarding domain name (e.g you type in yourname.com and it forwards to yourname.freehost.com). Forwarding domain names to a free host isn't the way to go because all the links you get to your domain name are then forwarded to the free host. Often you'll rank the free hosts domain and not your own in search engines which A) doesn't look as professional as it can do and B) should you find out that online marketing does work for you, you'll loose all that hard work link building if/when you do swap to an actual host that hosts your own domain name for you.
You want to avoid any free host that has adverts on your website to pay for the hosting fees. It's not expensive to host a website, though the problem then is you'd need to get a website built for you or learn to build it yourself and then upload the content to the hosting space.
Not plugging here but a system like mistore gives you the benefit of being able to use an easy to use system which allows you to edit pages, add pages and images, and even edit keywords for your pages which can help a bit.
Often I find people will have a go with a free website, find out it's not working out, then just give up trying anything else. I think as soon as you have it in your budget, search for a few web companies that can offer a system like mistore do whereby you don't need to have the skills of a web developer and you add content as if you were adding it to this forum or a word document even. And then see examples of their websites ranking well to prove to yourself that this company is right for you. And then take the jump.
It's not expensive when you consider the amount of money you can spend with Yellow Pages and sit right next to all your competitors and nobody looks different to the other unless you ad is bigger.
For a fraction of the cost you can have a website ranking well, gaining you lots of enquiries, and you have online presence which is very important for a modern company given the fact that still now, only a small percentage of registered businesses actually have websites - so the internet is still growing.
You hear twitter, facebook and the likes playing big roles in even government related goals let alone media using them to report on celebs and the likes. So more and more of your customers will be checking out the internet in the daily life, and you'll often find, while they're online checking emails, facebook, or whatever, they'll do a quick search for their new sofa supplier, kitchen design, and even wall and floor tiler.
So in brief. Yeah, free websites can work but if they do you'd want to quickly move on to a more professional appearance with your own website with no ads, no slow loading and so on. But you can guarantee with the right paid-for hosting / design package, IT WILL WORK WITHOUT A DOUBT AND THEREFORE SHOULD BE AN IMPORTANT AREA OF YOUR ADVERTISING BUDGET OF WHICH YOU CAN OFTEN GET TAX BENEFITS FOR TOO!
So checkout a few companies including Mistore - Brochure and Ecommerce Website Design - Sussex, Brighton that provide an easy to use system with plenty of options and customisations for when the site gets content-heavy, but while it's new, at least it'll rank well quickly and gain enquiries within weeks of being completed.
Cheers. 🙂
Are free websites worth it?
Yes and no.
Yes, only because providers will often provide an easy to use system where you can add pictures, logo's, pages with content on, and so on.
Though with many free websites you'll struggle to add a domain name to the account that isn't a forwarding domain name (e.g you type in yourname.com and it forwards to yourname.freehost.com). Forwarding domain names to a free host isn't the way to go because all the links you get to your domain name are then forwarded to the free host. Often you'll rank the free hosts domain and not your own in search engines which A) doesn't look as professional as it can do and B) should you find out that online marketing does work for you, you'll loose all that hard work link building if/when you do swap to an actual host that hosts your own domain name for you.
You want to avoid any free host that has adverts on your website to pay for the hosting fees. It's not expensive to host a website, though the problem then is you'd need to get a website built for you or learn to build it yourself and then upload the content to the hosting space.
Not plugging here but a system like mistore gives you the benefit of being able to use an easy to use system which allows you to edit pages, add pages and images, and even edit keywords for your pages which can help a bit.
Often I find people will have a go with a free website, find out it's not working out, then just give up trying anything else. I think as soon as you have it in your budget, search for a few web companies that can offer a system like mistore do whereby you don't need to have the skills of a web developer and you add content as if you were adding it to this forum or a word document even. And then see examples of their websites ranking well to prove to yourself that this company is right for you. And then take the jump.
It's not expensive when you consider the amount of money you can spend with Yellow Pages and sit right next to all your competitors and nobody looks different to the other unless you ad is bigger.
For a fraction of the cost you can have a website ranking well, gaining you lots of enquiries, and you have online presence which is very important for a modern company given the fact that still now, only a small percentage of registered businesses actually have websites - so the internet is still growing.
You hear twitter, facebook and the likes playing big roles in even government related goals let alone media using them to report on celebs and the likes. So more and more of your customers will be checking out the internet in the daily life, and you'll often find, while they're online checking emails, facebook, or whatever, they'll do a quick search for their new sofa supplier, kitchen design, and even wall and floor tiler.
So in brief. Yeah, free websites can work but if they do you'd want to quickly move on to a more professional appearance with your own website with no ads, no slow loading and so on. But you can guarantee with the right paid-for hosting / design package, IT WILL WORK WITHOUT A DOUBT AND THEREFORE SHOULD BE AN IMPORTANT AREA OF YOUR ADVERTISING BUDGET OF WHICH YOU CAN OFTEN GET TAX BENEFITS FOR TOO!
So checkout a few companies including Mistore - Brochure and Ecommerce Website Design - Sussex, Brighton that provide an easy to use system with plenty of options and customisations for when the site gets content-heavy, but while it's new, at least it'll rank well quickly and gain enquiries within weeks of being completed.
Cheers. 🙂
