There are always ways to do things for free, including making a website. But that doesn’t mean you should. The quick answer to – can you make a website for free? Is yes.
What you should be asking is whether a free website is going to be any good, and fulfil the purpose you need it for. In our experience, there will be significant downsides to any website you can make for free, whatever the purpose.
We will explain the five good reasons why there are severe limitations to a website with no costs attached to it.
Remember that, presumably, you will want other people to visit your website, and for that reason alone, you will want it to be a pleasant experience. All the downsides to a free website impact on the quality of the browsing experience, in different ways. The point is a critical one if your website is a commercial one and meant to attract browsers to become potential customers, followers and fans.
1. Pesky adverts
Most free website builders will make you have their adverts on your website and there won’t be a thing you can do about it. Maybe you think, ‘so what?’ the internet is one big billboard, a few more won’t make any difference.
Adverts make your website run slow because the user has to load the adverts. Any longer than three seconds spent waiting around for your site to load and the user will most likely have gone. Wouldn’t you?
And adverts make your site look bad. All that painstaking design you’ve done will be of no value since it will be covered over with adverts. Your site will appear untrustworthy and cheap, and you won’t earn money from these adverts either.
2. Mean amount of bandwidth
Bandwidth will be very limited with a free website, or free hosting service. Only a limited number of users will be able to browse your site at any one time. For instance, if you only have 5GB a month, after this amount loaded by visitors going to your site, it will simply stop working. Do we need to say any more about why this could be the biggest reason to avoid a free website?
3. Poor domain name
You won’t get a good or useful domain name with a free website. Clear and simple domain names help browsers find your site and are better ranked by Google. You may get something similar to the name you want but then it will be followed by a series of letters and numbers and potentially the name of the web builder service you’ve used; screaming free and untrustworthy.
4. No SEO support
A free web builder service will not support you with all the SEO aspects of building a site. Professional web developers build sites so that every aspect of the build adheres to SEO best practice, and, ideally, Google Webmaster Guidelines. This means your site is built to attract browsers, built to be well-ranked by Google and trusted and enjoyed by users.
5. Lack of mobile view
It seems unbelievable in this day and age, but a free website builder may not provide you with a site that its mobile-responsive, meaning it’s easy to view and use on a mobile device. This is a non-starter as far we’re concerned. You may as well not have a website at all if it can’t be viewed on mobiles.
Still want to use a free website builder? Consider the support on offer from each provider: what functionality they offer; quality of onboarding experience and templates, etc.
But, most of all, consider that a website you pay a relatively small monthly amount for will be of far more worth and value to you in the long, and short, run.
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