These days, getting a free website is easy. With just a few mouse clicks, you can create a site for your small online business or one that allows you to communicate your opinions to the world at large. Before getting that site, however, you first need to answer the question, what do you want to do with your website?
If you would just like to share information with visitors, then a blog is the ideal solution for you. A blog allows you to post articles, pictures, videos as well as links to other web sites, and it requires little technical knowledge. Visitors can also post their comments on the various posts and you can manage these comments, editing and deleting offensive posts.
A blog is the way to go if you would like to build a reputation as an expert on a particular subject in order to launch a career as a freelance consultant. You can set up a blog in just a few minutes by using a hosted blog service. You can use the site’s pre-designed templates to create an attractive blog design and write and upload blog entries using its text editors. An alternative is to use free content articles from content generating sources other than yourself.
If you would like to restrict access to your blog to family and friends, you can create your blog using an online diary service or a tumblelog. These blogs are essentially online journals or scrapbooks where you can post photos, videos, text entries and links to other sites. You can also use your online diary to social network in online communities.
If you’re creating a site for an online business, however, you will need to use a free web hosting service to create your site. A free web host allows you to put e-commerce features on the site such as a shopping cart, multiple e-mail accounts and online payment solutions.
However, there are many downsides to using a free web host. For example, many hosts will offset hosting costs by placing their own advertising on your free site. Your URL will look something like this mybusinessname.webhost.com, which many clients might interpret as unprofessional. And if you exceed the amount of bandwidth you are allocated by the web host and your site receives a lot of traffic, many of your visitors might not be able to enter it.If you’re okay with these restrictions, then a free web host solution is for you. Once your online venture starts to become a success, you can easily upgrade to a paid web host provider.
If you’re interested in using a free web host to set up your site, here are some things to look out for when picking the host to use.
First, how much web space are you allocated by the host? Consider what your needs are and whether you intend to embed a lot of pictures, sound files and video clips. You should also consider if the web space allocation will give your site room to grow in the future.
Second, once you’ve gained some technical expertise and want to upload web pages that you’ve designed yourself to your site, does the web host allow FTP access?
Three, what is the maximum file size and what are the kinds of files the web host allows you to upload to your free web site?
Fourth, how fast or reliable is the web host? If your site frequently down or has slow access, then you will lose visitors and business since they will look for another site.
Five, is the bandwidth allocated to you by the free web host enough for your need? For a starter e-commerce site, an allocation of 1 to 3 GB should be sufficient.
There’s little difficulty in getting a free website; the challenge lies in creating and maintaining an interesting one that will make people want to visit it over and over again.