Create a Free Website? Think Twice About It!

This article may sound a little harsh to some. It's not meant to be as I am just stating the facts from my own personal experiences.

I'm sure there are some good free hosts out there, it's just that my experiences with them have been pretty negative overall.

I don't think many people realize the number of disadvantages that go along with creating free websites. Hopefully this article will shed some light on the subject.

Don't make the same mistake I did. After this nightmare, I vowed to never go the "free route" again. Creating your site from scratch with its own dot com name is affordable and definitely worth the small investment.

Parking your site at a free host is often like building a house on sand. It may be quick and and it may seem easy at first, but I can almost guarantee you it won't last long.

Disadvantages of Free Web Hosts


- Limited web page space
- Can't add interactive features (chat rooms, message boards, games, online ordering etc.)
- Search engines often ignore them A HUGE disadvantage!
- Your visitors may doubt your credibility
- May have banners and/or pop ads on your homepage and/or all of your pages
- Long and hard-to-remember web address (instead of yourdomain.com)
- No guarantees of site availability and longevity
- No branded emails addresses (you@yourdomain.com)
- Poor help and support options (if any)
- May not be free forever


Advantages of Owning Your Own Dot Com Name


- Easy to remember website address (yourdomain.com)
- No banners or popups
- Easier to get listed in search engines (Google, Yahoo etc.)
- You have more control over the look and feel of your website.
- Multiple branded email addresses (you@yourdomain.com)
- Plenty of web page space for site expansion
- No worries of site being removed unexpectedly
- Looks more professional
- More flexibility for design and functionality
- Help is readily available

Many beginners gravitate toward the free hosters because they feel that registering a domain name is too expensive and/or too difficult.

I realize the website building process may be intimidating for you if you've never created a site before. You may be worried about spending your money on something that is unfamiliar and difficult. I can totally understand that.

Let me assure you that building a dot com site is not expensive at all. The average website costs between $5 and $10 per month to maintain.

This site costs me absolutely nothing to maintain because I earn all of my hosting fees back (and then some) by belonging to Google's free Adsense program.

They pay you to display text ads on your web pages and you earn a commission every time one of the ads gets clicked. And if you have a free site, you'll have a hard time getting accepted into this free program.

Second, most of the hosting solutions I will recommend later offer some kind of software or web building tool to create your pages so you don't have to know HTML or any programming to successfully build your site.

Search Engines Will Ignore You!

This is probably the biggest disadvantage - especially if you are trying to make money and attract free traffic to your site. There's no proof that you can never get listed with Google or Yahoo with a free website, but it's evident that the cards are stacked against you.

Search engines are an excellent source of free traffic so you definitely do not want to miss out on the great, targeted traffic you can receive.

Years ago it was super easy to get listed no matter what kind of site you had (free or paid). But now with all the spam techniques going around (particularly with free sites) the search engines have gotten very selective about who they add.

Here are the reasons I believe it's hard to get listed in search engines with a free site:

1. Too small and "unimportant." Most free sites are generally small (under 5 pages) and offer very little information about a focused theme or concept. They also tend to have more links to external sites than they do to their own internal pages.

Search engines are looking for meaty sites that offer information on a particular theme with a good amount of content -- at least 20 pages.

2. No upkeep. A lot of people that build free websites often abandon them within a few weeks or months which causes a lot of broken links, missing images, etc.

The search engines are getting smarter and for all we know they may have red flags in their algorithm (the formula that determines page rankings). So when they see that a site is hosted on a free web host's server, they may rank them lower...if at all.

For example, I wouldn't be surprised if the search engines had a script that says something like: "If site X is hosted at this-free-domain.com then "ignore".

I have no proof of this, but due to the fact so many people email me with this same search engine problem, it can't be a coincidence that people using free web hosts have trouble getting ranked.

Do a search for just about anything on Google now. I bet you'll see very few (if any) sites built with a free web host.

3. No links pointing to the site. Because of reasons 1 and 2, most other webmasters and important web directories won't link to a site built on a free host.

They may not look as professional and people don't want to give a free link to a poorly developed site with pop-ups and banners all over the place.

Plus, they also know that free sites generally have short life spans for various reasons.

Search engines use formulas and can see that no one is linking back to your site so they may ignore it. These days, the kinds of websites linking to you is so very important for achieving a good search engine rank.

The bottom line: Free websites get very little respect out here on the Internet.

Free Websites & Ecommerce Don't Mix

It amazes me how many people tell me that they want to start a business website but don't want to spend any money.

I personally don't know of a single successful website owner that built their business website on AOL or Geocities' website builder.

If you were starting an offline business, you'd plan on investing some money right? Well, doing business on the web is no different despite many beliefs. If you don't plan to invest anything to start a business then I'd have to question your drive.

There are NO SHORTCUTS to success.

You can't expect people to take you or your site seriously if your website address starts with something like is http://myfreesite...

And if the address doesn't tip your visitor's off, the banners and pop-ups you'll be forced to display sure will. Also, the templates (if any!) they provide are generally very basic and lacking a professional appearance.

Think about it. Wouldn't you be a little suspicious if the web address of a business was something like http://members.aol.com/users/myhomepage.html with pop-ups and banners instead of www.companyABC.com?

Web surfers are becoming much more Internet savvy and they can smell a "cheap site" a mile away. You don't want to lose credibility and potential customers because your site looks cheap.

Not to mention, you can only do some much with a free host. So if you want to add shopping carts, order forms and additional interactive features you probably won't be able to do this because most free hosting companies don't offer that kind of functionality.

More Problems Free Website Hosters May Encounter

It is quite expensive for these companies to run a free hosting service because the company has to pay for the space and the bandwidth (traffic) to host thousands of web sites. And since they offering these sites for free, some companies find themselves loosing money very quickly.

They try to keep their service free by slapping banners on the member's pages, hoping that people will click and purchase products...but think about it...how many banners have you clicked on lately?

Exactly.

Then some may try to redeem themselves by charging a "small" fee for their service. And of course, if you aren't willing to pay for your site, you can say "bye bye" to all of your hard work.

If you haven't read my story, here it is again.

Almost all free website providers let you know in their terms and conditions that there are NO GUARANTEES when it comes to keeping your available. Which means they reserve the right to remove your site at anytime, regardless of how much work you've put into it.

Second, which looks more appealing to you?

Having a web site look like this:

http://www.angelfire.com/nh/penguin2 (If you don't have a pop-up blocker then you'll unfortunately be invaded with a couple of pop-ups when you visit this site.)

or...

http://www.delellisdevelopment.com

Can you tell which site was free? ;)

Even if you're just looking to create a personal web site for fun, why not impress your friends and family by sending them to AnyName.com instead of some cheesy web site that will have flashing banners and annoying pop-ups all over the place.

Back in the 90's, there were several places to go and get a free website. Unfortunately as the dot com companies started crashing, the free web page providers either shutdown or began charging fees just to remain alive.

Lots of companies closed down and didn't even give their customers much notice. And what's even worse, hundreds of people found their free websites gone from the Internet with no warning at all.

As you read in my example above, this is something that is still happening with many of the free web hosting companies, and in my opinion, it's not worth the risk unless your site is purely for fun and you're not concerned about keeping it for long.

Only Use Free Hosts If...

The only reason I would ever suggest you create a free site is if you need a temporary website (school, advertise an event, etc.) and you know it won't need to be around for long. Or perhaps you just can't afford to invest in a web site right now. That's completely understandable.

In the end, I really hope you'll decide to come back and learn how to register your domain name. Speaking as someone who has been burned by the free hosting companies, I am confident you won't regret the choice to build your site on a solid foundation.

The Best Way to Build a Website

My recommendation is to register your own domain (dot com) name and build your site from scratch.

The registration process is very easy. You're able to search the Internet's domain name database until you find a name that hasn't been taken. Within seconds you can reserve it and it's yours for as long as you want.

Once you have the name you want, you'll need a place to create your web pages. A web hosting company will provide you with the help you need in this area. You'll be happy to know that the hosting options recommended here provide top notch support.

Just do yourself a favor and try it. You have no obligations to keep your site. Hosting fees are not expensive and you can terminate your plan anytime.

I hope you'll make the smart decision. :) Good luck!