Home » Tutorials » Build a Website » Create a Free Website

Create a Free Website, at a Cost

Without any computer programming or Web design background, you can build a beautiful, functional site around your business or a particular topic of interest... but can it be done for free? This article outlines the procedure for developing what most agencies charge thousands (if not tens of thousands) for. While building a website independent of a Web professional is doable, the concept of free is not a realistic one.

The fact remains that, although through bartering (meaning the swapping of a product or service for another) a domain name can be acquired free of charge, this is not likely when nothing at all is given in return. A prominent gesture by Web hosts is the offering of a free domain with one or more of their pre-configured hosting packages, but this locks you into their plans, which is something you may not want. What you will also find announced in several spaces across the Internet are free sub-domain offers in conjunction with (very) limited free hosting. Here's an example of what a sub-domain looks like when you create a free website over at one of the many hosted online publishing platforms...

mywebsite.notmywebsite.com

Most of us would probably agree that a single keyword (or keyphrase) as a domain name looks more professional (eg: mywebsite.com). Also, a sub-domain will often conflict with the main website's theme (which is naturally Web-related). For example, if you own a construction company, a website by the name of constructioncompany.myfreewebsite.com may create confusion for visitors and, therefore, not reside well with prospective clients.

Although it's not entirely possible to create a free website, domain names can be purchased through the many registrars for as little as a dollar when on sale, and upwards of a few hundred dollars depending on the extension (eg: .com, .net, .org, .info, .co, .tv, etc). GoDaddy is the Web's largest domain name registrar and is widely recognized as offering some of the best rates in the industry.

For a domain name to remain active and under your ownership, the yearly charges must either be set to automatically renew, or alternatively be renewed manually before the expiry date. Additional features (like privacy registration [a service that masks your personal contact information], for example) can be implemented at any time, increasing the total cost associated with your domain accordingly.

As the Web inevitably continues to expand its presence within all industries and through all technological means, the majority of you are likely to already know that for a website to go live online, it requires hosting - which, aside from optional Web services you can assign to a freelancer or agency, is normally the costliest part of building a website.

Web hosting is a space on the Internet reserved for your site. Through the use of a server, your Web presence can be made visible to potentially millions of visitors, viewers, and readers. Server requirements depend on the amount of storage needed to host your Web files along with bandwidth metered based on the approximate number of daily visitors (including occasional traffic spikes) to your site, taking into account how they're interacting with the uploaded content; As an example, displaying 4k video on your site takes up a large amount of storage and can raise the level of bandwidth significantly if viewed several times.

If your site is almost purely article-based, and therefore made up primarily of written text, hosting charges can be as little as $5 USD per month, and in some cases, even less. At the other end of the spectrum, video content demands bigger and often more servers, bringing the cost of hosting to tens of dollars up to thousands of dollars or more per month - with deciding factors being the quality (eg: resolution, etc) of the videos, number of videos, time length of videos, and the number of video views. On the side of the hosting company, whether or not they own & run their own datacenter (meaning the servers themselves) combined with the type of hosting that is offered (shared, VPS, dedicated, cloud, hybrid, etc) also affect customer prices.

Free hosting offers found across the Web do come at a price, figuratively speaking. Website uptime tends to be low relative to more advanced (paid) hosting plans. Also, site security can sometimes be compromised as there is less, if any, monitoring of the servers it is hosted on. Likewise, performance is slow, both of the site and the back-office you would use to manage it. Companies that opt for this type of conversion strategy generally use it as a means to pull in less experienced website administrators & online marketers, with the hopes of having them upgrade to a paid plan which typically includes only a small increase in service quality; For this reason, ads tend to run rampant in the user-interface when on a free plan.

Since free hosting is, in theory, free, many of the luxuries of paid hosting are not included. Server protection against sophisticated hacker and hacker script attacks, your website's front-end and back-end (continual) accessibility, the speedy delivery (i.e. load times) of your site content to local and international visitors (further enhanced by a powerful CDN [content delivery network]); These luxuries become necessities as you move forward, and so - can be viewed as priceless. Paying money for them, therefore, isn't such a bad thing from this perspective.

It's understandable that if you create a free website, you're bound to experience some minor (and quite possibly, some major) setbacks. If your website generates substantial income, this should be moreso a reason to protect your time & effort investment - and gradually migrate it to a more robust Web host, specialized in hosting/securing content-rich, high-traffic sites. Give it the attention it deserves, just like you would your car or your home. Nurture it and be prepared to meet the needs of a changing Web - as it is constantly moving.

Following the setup of your domain name and hosting infrastructure, the actual building of your website begins to take fruit. For those new to the process and that don't have a Web design or development background, virtually all Web hosts (through their control panel) provide non-technical users with free, point-and-click options for launching what is either a proprietary or third-party website builder or content management system (CMS) that doesn't require any knowledge of coding. Most will be simple-to-use, however, all require a learning curve, some more steep than others (usually dependent on the power and flexibility it provides users with).

Several of today's website-building software programs include a WYSIWYG (i.e. What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) editor, making it incredibly easy to customize your site with a unique, professional look, along with the layout of your choice (or rather, your choice based on the options that are provided). Drag-and-drop elements (sometimes referred to as blocks, modules, or other) can be moved around to integrate various features and types of functionality (eg: most recent blog posts, event calendar, etc). How seamless the integration depends on the refinement of the platform itself. Inevitably, some will contain bugs and, therefore, produce an end result that is less than polished. Broken designs and/or functionality are unfortunately commonplace, often making it difficult for end-users to manage their own site(s) successfully, let alone exercise their creative flow.

To conclude, 'free' always comes at a price; We'd go so far as to argue that it's a more expensive route than going with high-end services from start-up. There are several no-cost, open-source platforms that are excellent for creating a website. But even these are always best complemented with a unique, well-branded Web address and professional, managed hosting. Luckily, a business owner can usually scale up as needed, given the associated hosting company offers room to grow.

Final Note

Control also comes at a price, that being the learning curve involved in educating yourself on an entirely new subject (eg: Web design, site management, Internet marketing, etc). Although ultimately beneficial, it can create a delay or temporary imbalance in your business, whether operating online or offline (as traditional/brick-and-mortar); This applies to new businesses as well as existing businesses. To avoid potential downfalls, take your time in assessing exactly what it is you'd like to accomplish online. Realistically plan out the ideal process for achieving your objectives. You may find that it is, in fact, worth it to hire a skilled webmaster for designing & developing your site... as opposed to "attempting" to create a free website. After all, a well-presented, fully-functioning website is important, as it clearly highlights your central message to visitors - the same visitors that will eventually translate to customers (some repeat customers) if a good first & lasting impression is made.