There are free website builders. These are awesome because you get to create and customize your own site free of charge. There’s only a few (not so) little catches: you have no choice on the hosting speed, your site will likely have advertisements, and finally you can’t choose your own domain name.
Free Website Hosting Provider
The free hosting provider can have a negative impact on your site due to site speed. This is because they are sharing the same space with many other web sites. The speed of the server they are running on may risk being slow. If their server is slow then your website will be slow. Search engines like Google check your website page load time before determining if it wants to present your web site to the searcher. This is especially crucial to mobile device users, which is the majority of the market these days. If your site is taking too long to load on a mobile device you risk them exiting before they read your website.
Free Website Builder Ads on your Website
Mostly all free website plans like Wix, Weebly, WordPress.com (not to be confused with custom WordPress.org) place ads on their free site plans. These banner ads are typically a hard NO for businesses. I have seen first hand public commentary on a new business that had a free site Wix banner on top. “If they won’t pay the $10+ a month for a paid hosted site, what else is the business cheap about ie my dining experience?” You are better off leaving that speculation behind and not have the advertisement. To get rid of the ads that are on your Wix, Weebly or WordPress.com site you will need to upgrade to a paid plan. You might save money in the long run by paying a small monthly fee to have it hosted on a reliable WordPress.org-based service with someone like me jumping in to keep an eye on your website maintenance and optimization as-needed.
You Can’t Choose Your Own Domain Name
Most all free website builders control the domain and give your business the subdomain. For example, mybusinessname.wix.com. This for most businesses is a No Go. It is best to purchase your own domain to convey a professional business presence and not have the wix.com in there. Choosing your own domain name is especially critical for a professional appearance. In my personal experience it was near impossible to get my free domain web site noticed in google search. Also, it is not possible to add Google Analytics to your free website since it doesn’t have your own domain. I’ll get into the benefits Google Analytics offers to you on another post.
In Conclusion
This is not so say a free website is a bad option for everyone. It just depends on where you are with your vision right now, where you plan scale in the future, is this a good fit in the long run. Writing your web site now for free and then again on an optimal platform can be extra time and effort you’d rather avoid. If you have any questions please post here!
Envision Web Designers helps you build a professional website without any of the restrictions. Contact us to talk about where you are and let us guide you to where you want to go.
