How Good Is a Free Website and How to Make It a Success?
Having a website that looks high-end and offers a professional look is vital to securing your online reputation whether you own a business, or your website if for personal/entertainment purposes. But having a quality website generally takes a lot of time to build and maintain. Furthermore, in order to get that opulent look that offers aesthetically pleasing content to the masses, you need to purchase Photoshop (it’s not cheap) and spend hours a day learning its complex functions. But there are alternative solutions, and good ones at that. When you learn how to edit images for free on webstarts.com you will be amazed at the ease and quality of producing that high-end look you have always wanted.
How good is a free website?
In truth, they can be either very good or very bad. The best way to decipher the good from the bad is to see what kind of a presence they have in social media. What are people saying about them on Twitter? What kind of a Facebook following do they have? Who uses their services and how many members do they have? If a free website company has millions of members and some of those clients include business owners, then it is a safe bet it is a good company.
Also, if they have a strong following on Facebook of at least 25,000 people, then they are surely doing something right with their clients! Another thing you will want to look into is whether or not the free website company offers domain names and web hosting with your design, as well as providing its own software, or not needing any software at all. Having to deal with multiple parties can be an annoying hassle. The company you partner with needs to make the process as simple as possible, and not expect you to get billed from three different parties and undergo a monthly technical nightmare.
The sacrifices of having a good free website
Sure, there will be a few. But when partnering with the right company, those sacrifices may not be important to you at all. First of all, you need to know what really matters when it comes to having a good website. In an article by All Business they state the five qualities that are crucial to a successful business owner’s website:
information is updated frequently
easy to use
present quality content
respond to inquiries within 24 hours; and
loads quickly.
In addition to the custom look of the site, having these five components will guarantee a successful online presence.
But what about the sacrifices? Some companies will plaster adverts all over their client’s free websites, which looks tacky and highly unprofessional. If you were going into a business meeting, would you slap advertising patches all over your Armani suit? Of course not. However, some companies do this tastefully without interfering with your site’s aesthetic appeal. Find a free site that places a small and simple advert banner at the very bottom of the website where it is out of main sight.
Also, look for a company that has upgradable options that would in turn eliminate such an advert (if it is something that bothers you). Some companies offer a Pro Plus website for around $7.00 a month, which is a bargain of a deal. But the nice thing about the free website is that it lets you sample the company and see how they fit in to your needs. If it is an ideal match, consider upgrading. If you feel your business is best represented elsewhere, then cancel. You won’t be losing any money or lots of invested time. In reality, the sacrifices you make when getting a free website are few next to none, if you chose the right company to partner with.
Get creative
Now is the time to try a free website, but make sure they give you control to customize it the way you want it to look. After all, nobody but you has a sharper eye for your business. Get out there and be creative.
