Yes, you have the opportunity to create your website for free. But is it really worth it? Of course, a free website will work just fine (at least to some extent), it will look OK, maybe even a few users will find it. But you have to compromise on so many things that you will eventually regret ever choosing the free option.
If you want your website to be really successful, you have to pay for it. At this point, many people think that it is so painful not to be able to create a super website for free, given that you can get almost anything for free on the Internet.
But! There are many disadvantages to using a free website while for just a few dollars every month you can create a brilliant website with virtually no problems.
In today’s article, we’ll explain why you should never opt for a free website, we will explain its disadvantages, and point out why you should always stick with designing REAL web pages.
What is a free website?
Many beginners who want to start a blog or create a website for their new business try to keep costs as low as possible. I fully understand this. I’ve been there. But you have to know that a free website is not the right direction. It’s far from that.
Creating a free website can be tempting for anyone. But the reality is different. We all know that nothing is free in this world. If you don’t have to pay for something, you are the product! Always remember this.
By the way, the biggest cost of launching a website is hosting. But who wants to pay for it if you can do everything with a free hosting provider? Unfortunately, there is always a catch.
These free hosting providers have many limitations and disadvantages. If anyone in your area is planning to create a free website, do not let them do that. And of course you shouldn’t start it either.
Never forget that your website is the face of your brand. Your number one chance to make a good impression on your prospective customers, visitors, followers. And the kickbacks of a free website can give a very bad first impression. Nowadays, many companies offer various options for creating free websites. After all, who doesn’t like the idea of building a website without spending a penny? However, when you build a website, you only get what we paid for. Let’s see why you shouldn’t even think about creating a free website.
1. It is almost impossible to make money with a free website
With respect to free websites, hosting providers generally do not allow ads or affiliate links on your web page. This means that you will not be able to make money with your website. What’s more, they usually place banner ads at the top of your web page arbitrarily. More often than not, this may not only seem disgusting but a competitor’s ad will appear on your site. I think nobody wants that.
The worst part is that just to make some money, some service providers sell website addresses to so-called Spammers, who are businesses or individuals who send out deceptive or sales advertising letters to website owners without the recipient’s prior consent. Not to mention that these spammers can post links to advertise illegal things or gambling. This way you can even fall into the trap of link-farming.
2. Just too many barriers
It’s important to know that most free hosting providers offer limited storage, so it’s impossible to upload many photos or videos to your site. Practically, you cannot expand your website or create as many pages as you want.
I would also like to point out that a free website is usually limited to a fairly strict bandwidth. In practice, this means that your webpage may shut down at any time if the bandwidth exceeds the limit. Not to mention that you may need certain plugins or tools that will not be available to you.
3. Say goodbye to your search engine optimization (SEO) settings
For the right search engine optimization settings, there is a lot to do. To tell you the truth, there are only a few things that an SEO expert is afraid of – one of them is having a client who has a free website. Yes, doing the right SEO on a free website is incredibly difficult. I would say it is almost impossible.
Proper search engine optimization settings require access to the back end of the website, but this is not possible with free web pages. All you can do is place the right keywords in the title and in the content. That is all. No more SEO tools are available with a free website. Of course, content is necessary and extremely important. But On-Page SEO goes much further than that.
4. Poor design
Most free websites have very few, limited number of templates, so you virtually do not have the ability to stand out from the crowd with your creativity. This is the reason why almost all free websites look the same.
5. Insignificant domain name
Customers need to easily recognize your brand when they come to your website. However, you will never have your own domain name with a free service. Your domain address will look something like www.mybusiness.freewebsite.com. This is quite far from the professional category.
6. No reliability, no protection
Free hosting providers generally enjoy full immunity under their terms and conditions. This means that they can sell or release your email address, your personal information and your website address without any consequences. In addition, they have the right to use the content that you have uploaded to the free website. Let’s say you are a photographer and uploaded your portfolio to your website – your images may become the property of the service provider. Can you imagine that? To avoid this, read every detail and make sure that no personal information is to be disclosed. (Of course, the best solution is not to start with a free website in the beginning.)
7. Free websites are more prone to hacking attempts
Because of poor security, free websites are often more sensitive to hacking attempts. If your website is hacked, it will be much harder to recover as these companies, service providers, will provide very limited access to your own files and data.
8. Free websites do not work on mobile phones
Mobile devices are becoming more and more popular with Internet users, so it is very important that your website is mobile-friendly and responsive. Unfortunately, free websites are not mobile friendly. Imagine how many users you would lose!
9. It is impossible to get a good ranking in Google’s list of results
Search engines consider free websites to be inferior and give them less priority. On top of all this, as mentioned above, you can’t practically optimize your website because you don’t have access to the back end.
10. Low credibility among Users
If you run your website through a free service provider, users will be less likely to trust you and your website. If users are reluctant to share their data or information during a sign-up or download, then the original purpose of creating a website just becomes useless.
11. Free websites are so terribly slow
You won’t be able to improve the page speed and slow loading time because too many web pages share a single server and bandwidth, and use the same resources.
12. The trial version is not so free
Many of the free website providers have a limited trial period and then you need to pay for it anyway. However, in most cases this price is much higher than it would be with standard WordPress hosting services. If you need to provide a credit card when signing up, the amount may be deducted without any prior notice.
13. Unexpected downtime and data loss
Free hosting is usually characterized by low uptime – there is always some downtime when a website becomes unavailable. If the website owner doesn’t have the patience and money, the free hosting provider may disappear with no explanation at all. And with that, the domain name could be lost because it is a subdomain associated with the service.
14. You can forget about Analytics and statistics
If you want to improve your website, you need to check how many people visit it and how they find it. Decent hosting companies provide free statistics, and you can quickly and easily install Google Analytics, for example. However, access to data on free websites is limited or non-existent.
15. No backups
The concept of backup does not exist with these free websites. If something bad happens on your website, there is no way to recover the data.
16. The drag and drop function does not work at all
Many claim that these free providers make it easier for people with little technical knowledge. While this may be true, the free use of the drag and drop feature results in horrible designs – many sites look like they were built by a four-year-old kid. They are also incredibly slow, since the images are not optimized on the site.
17. No website building tools
Unlike a real hosting provider, these companies offer users very limited tools and services. By using these tools, the free web page you create will become even more unprofessional.
18. Help, Support does not exist
Starting a free website is not as easy as it seems. What’s more, getting the right support is expensive and some free platforms are completely lacking it.
19. It is not a wise idea to invest time in creating a free website
If you are just a little bit serious about building something in the world of the internet, never start with a free website. They are unreliable, insecure, difficult, and severely limit your growth potential. It’s not worth using them even for practice – free websites are simply awful.
20. If you have a free website, your competitors have already won
If you have created a free website for yourself, you can be sure you have lost the race before it started. It doesn’t matter whether you have a business or started a blog. Everyone competes for the same thing in the online marketing world: readers, visitors, clicks. However, as shown above, without proper SEO settings and security settings, you will never get to the top of the search engine results page or even to the first pages of the SERP.
Final thoughts
The word “FREE” is always tempting at first sight but the hidden costs are too high for any businesses. It is always better to invest in a real website and have a web designer to do it. The bottom line is that you should always be fully aware of these disadvantages of having a free website because they can do a lot of damage to your business.
Your business website is the first step in interacting with your audience, your prospective clients. Your website will allow people to form an opinion about your business. The first impression may not be the last but it certainly defines one’s feelings for a long time. Therefore, it is essential for your website to be prepared and maintained by a professional web design company.
We are witnessing a tremendous growth in the digital world, with one billion active users visiting the Internet every day. Therefore, website designers need to look at the most important aspects of a business. Not only is it important for your online representation, but also for increasing sales – it’s no secret that a good website generates a steady source of revenue.
If you need a professional website that perfectly represents your business online, contact us! We will provide a personalized solution that meets your business needs. And with our SEO service, we will also help you rank your business in the highest position possible.
Sources:
https://tech.co/website-builders/5-reasons-never-make-website-free
https://www.bloggingloop.com/why-you-should-avoid-free-websites/
https://www.maketecheasier.com/avoid-free-websites-at-all-costs/
https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/36-reasons-why-having-a-free-website-is-a-bad-idea/