Main Page
Web inSite Journal

So You Want to Build Your Own Website - Part 2. What is the Cost of a Free Website?
by William F. Szczepanek

Article 3: November 1, 2007

Free websites are advertised everywhere.  They can get someone started on the Web for very little effort and no money. But, are they worth it?

Positive reasons for using free websites:

• Price is right
• Good for novices
• Tools are simple to use

Reasons for not using free websites:

• Server is slow
• Little support
• Domain is not entirely yours
• Ugly banner advertising at top of page
• Downtime is high
• Unreliable
• Changes can cause site not to work
• Not dependable for business
• Limited bandwidth
• Limited number of files
• Limited number of uploads
• Requires purchase of additional space and bandwidth or more advertising if you exceed limits.  (Of course if you developed a good site and it is getting significant traffic then the hosting company is making money on advertising, not you.) 

When working with a company that provides free sites, you can still build your website from the ground up, choosing from many colors and backgrounds, however you will likely be limited to a certain number of pages and a certain number of images and changing your site can become cumbersome.

So will you be learning how to build websites?  Not really, it’s more like using a word processor and filling in some forms using templates. 

Will you have control?  Yes, to a certain extent.  If you don’t mind your site containing advertising that you have no control over, this solution can work. You will need to trust that the advertising will be compatible with your site content.   If you don’t mind having a domain name that begins with the name of the company sponsoring you, then this can be a nice solution. You do have the ability to update your site, though it may take some effort to make it grow.  If having others find you quickly and easily though search engines like Google is important, then you may be disappointed.

Okay, I didn’t convince you.  You still want to go with the free Web site.  What are the steps if you want to use the free website and their control panel or template method?

Write some text. Find a host that provides templates. Learn to use the templates. Choose from hundreds or even thousands of templates. Transfer your information using the template. Publish your site.

As standards (W3C.com) for Web design change so will the ability of the free website to ensure that your site will continue to work.  Will your site work on new mobile devices.  At some point your site may stop functioning properly and your only alternative will be to rebuild it.