Building a “Free Website” – 6 Reasons Why that’s a Bad Idea
Who can say no to “free” offers? Do a quick search for “free websites” and your search engine will return a ton of pages, offering to build websites for free.
Often, such offers are too good to be true. As a small business owner, although, this could be a tempting deal, it’s time to stop and ask “what’s the catch?”
Many people have been lured by offers of “free websites” only to end up regretting it. We believe that building a “free website” is a bad idea. Here are some of the top reasons why.
Unprofessional Domain Name
Say, you are looking for a plumbing service. Which of the following domain names would you intuitively trust?
Option 1 – www.trustedplumbers.freewebsite.com
Option 2 – www.trustedplumbers.com
With a free website, you are likely to get option 1. Without a proper domain address, your target customers are unlikely to take you seriously!
Hidden Charges
Companies offering free websites are not in it for charity. They need to make money too. Some of these businesses charge for additional services such as FTP access, hosting, email accounts, website transfer, backup etc. These charges can be steep and soon you realise that this ‘free website’ is not, in fact, free at all! And it doesn’t look very professional either.
Unnecessary Ads
A lot of these free website companies make money by serving ads on your website. You do all the work building the website and creating the content but the host makes money by serving ads on the site.
You must have come across such websites and may have realised that these ads are often intrusive, distracting and simply unsightly. What’s more, unscrupulous competitors may simply pay these free website companies to advertise on your website.
Why would you want to do that willingly?
They Can Shut Shop Anytime
These free website services can wrap up their business at any point in time. They may simply shut their web servers and you will end up losing your website, data and content. Their terms of service allow them to do so without any legal obligation to you.
Having your website disappear anytime is the last thing you want!
No Real Control
You may painstakingly add lots of awesome content to your site and it may look stunning. But you never really own any of that – the hosting company does.
Security Issues
Security is not really a huge concern to free website companies. So if your website ends up getting hacked, there’s no surprise there.
Problem is, you can really do much to secure your free website. Moreover, restoring your site after it gets hacked can be an even bigger pain. You may end up losing all your hard work just like that.
Affordable Websites from Torquay Web Design – $699 Full Package
Those are some of the top reasons why building a free website is bad for your business. In today’s times, building a professional website is easy and cost-effective too. Torquay Web design offers low-cost, high-quality websites that would get you online within a week. View all the information and see live demo websites.
Get in touch with us today to discuss your project. Call us now for a free quote.
