Creating Free Websites

So you're thinking about creating a free website? Although creating free websites can save you money, it also comes with some major disadvantages. Before you go ahead and create your free website, you should try and understand the pros and cons.

Advantages of Free Websites

• They're free.

That's about the only thing completely free websites have got going for them!

Disadvantages of Free Websites

Here are some of the major disadvantages of most free websites:

• No Permanent Address - A completely free website means no domain name. This means that your website doesn't have it's own, permanent address. Unless you get your own domain name, the address of your website will be attached to the address of your hosting provider's website. For example, http://www.hosting-provider-website.com/your-site (no domain name) versus http://www.your-site.com (with a domain name).
• Ads - Most free web hosts display advertising on your web pages. This is how they earn money.
• Here today, gone tomorrow... - If you are able to find a free web host that doesn't display ads all over your page, chances are they'll soon go out of business. Otherwise, how are they going to make any money? I've heard lots of stories of free hosting providers going out of business (and taking their customers' websites with them)
• Free today, expensive tomorrow... - If they don't go out of business, they could simply start charging you instead. I've heard of this happening too. Plus, those who didn't want to pay lost their websites.
• No Support - Free web hosts will often provide little or no support. And this is understandable - they probably aren't making enough money to pay for proper support staff. How many times have you heard the term "You get what you pay for".
• Slow Website - If a web host isn't charging customers, they'll need to cut corners somewhere. One way of doing this is to cram more websites onto each server. The end result of this? Your website becomes increasingly slow.

If you aren't happy about the disadvantages of creating a free website, you might prefer to create a more professional website.

If you're happy to accept the disadvantages of creating a free website, read on...

Try to get your own Domain Name

If you really must create a free website, at least try to register your own domain name (that's the thing that looks like "your-site.com").

Without your own domain name, your website will always be attached to another website. On the other hand, if you do register a domain name, your website's address will be 100% yours. Plus it will always stay the same - no matter where you host your site in the future.

Advantages of Domain Names

The main advantages of having your own domain name include:

• Permanent Web Address - As long as you have the domain name, your website will always be located at the same address. Even if you move to a different hosting provider, your domain name stays the same. Without your own domain name, your website is at risk of disappearing - and this is completely outside of your control.

  If you don't have your own domain name, the free hosting company could one day decide to change the location of it's customers' websites. If this happens, your visitors will probably encounter an error when they try and access your page (because they're trying to use the old address). And if you think this is unlikely, think again - it's already happened to many thousands of free website owners all over the world.

• Search Engine Friendly - Having your own domain name can give you an advantage with search engine rankings.
• More Professional - Having your own domain name shows that you are serious about your website. Also, a domain name could be a better reflection on what your website is actually about.
• Better URL - The web address (URL) of your website will be shorter, look nicer, and probably more appropriate.

FREE Website with each Domain Name

Domain names are so cheap these days that I recommend you register a domain name now - before somebody else snaps up your preferred domain!

If you register your domain name through ZappyHost, you will also get a free website with free hosting. In fact, you'll get all of the following for free:

• Free Website (using an online website builder)
• Free Hosting (ad supported)
• Free Blog
• Free Starter Web Page
• Free Email Account
• Free Forwarding / Masking
• Free Change of Registration
• Free "For Sale"/ Parked Page
• Free Domain Name Locking
• Free Total DNS Control

That's a total value of $123 for free!

And if you later decide to get a paid hosting service, ZappyHost's hosting plans start at $3.99 per month.

It's something to think about.