‘Takeaways’ From This Post

  1. THEY own your website. Don’t be fooled. You may own the domain but the software that runs your site is owned by someone else. Whether they build your site, or you use a free website builder, whatever is built will not belong to you.
  2. THEY make the rules. Therefore they can change them. That free shopping cart may all of a sudden be limited to 2 or 3 products unless you agree to pay a monthly fee.
  3. The design options are very limited
  4. How can they be in business if their customers don’t pay them any money.
  5. When you decide to move your site elsewhere, and it’s usually a question of “when” rather than “if” you will not be able to take your site with you. Remember? Then own the code.

By THEY, I mean: Wix, Yola, Weebly, Webs, Imcreator and if you decide to check them out, make sure you spend some time researching their pricing policies. They’re usually well hidden, in most cases only divulged after you’ve given them a phone call. And since the people you’ll call are sales people and not designers, the likelihood that they’ll be able to swindle you out of your money is unfortunately quite high.

So, you know you NEED a website, and you’ve been looking around looking for the best option, right?

And a “FREE” website DOES sound good, doesn’t it?

SORRY, WRONG.

While a free website is fine for someone wanting to talk about their latest hobby, or perhaps the individual wanting to create a family reunion site, it’s really not right for YOU.

Yes, YOU.

If you are serious about letting everyone know about your business or organization, then you can’t go the free route.

As tempting as it may be, it’s really not a good idea, because here’s the thing – free, isn’t really free.

There will come a cost with your “free” website. Costs like putting up with their ads on your site, down times you have no control over and being limited to what you can and can’t put on your site.

Not forgetting of course, all the hidden costs and charges like hosting for example.

Pretty costly when you think about it.

Still not convinced?

Here are five reasons WHY you need to rethink getting a “free” website AND the perfect solution for your website concerns:

YOU HAVE ZERO CONTROL

You really have no control over what you put up. If the company you decided to work with to get your free website doesn’t like what you have up, guess what?

Yes, you can kiss your site goodbye.

They can take your site down, EVEN if you have had it up for a while.

That’s the kind of control you get when it’s free.

LIMITED OPTION

Say that you have a catering business, but the closest theme or template that the free website design company has is for a grocery store.

There isn’t much budge here, you are stuck with what they have because, yes, you guessed right – It’s FREE!

Isn’t it great? Okay, sorry for the sarcasm.

You are bound to what they have to offer you because you haven’t paid them to do any more.

You’ll also be bound to the functionalities they have.

Want an online store and they don’t have one to offer?

Oh well, too bad for you. It isn’t their problem.

Starting to see why this may not be such a good idea?

ADS ON YOUR SITE

This is one that just isn’t really cool when you think about it, BUT they need to make a living too.

This isn’t as blatant as it used to be, as some companies will now just put one line or even just links in your footer letting people know you created your site with them.

However, what you can come to expect is that these companies will indeed give you a “free” website, BUT the cost on your end is that they will utilize your site for free advertising.

Which leads us into the next reason…

EVERYONE WILL KNOW IT’S FREE

It doesn’t take a computer geek to figure out whether or not your site is free.

Maybe it’s the domain that looks like: http://yourbusiness.abcxyzfreewebsites.com (Not a real site)

OR maybe it’s the ads on your site. At any rate, people WILL know you got it for free and is that really how you want your business presented?

Think about it.

Let’s say you are a business consultant wanting to teach people HOW to make more money and get more clients.

If you can’t even afford a paid website, HOW are you going to convince them to hire you?

MAINTENANCE AND DOWN TIMES

This kind of goes with control, but we thought it should have it’s own place.

These kinds of sites do maintenance on a regular basis, which means there will be down times for your site.

Down times that you have no control over.

Now, imagine that Monday morning is when you get most visits to your site. If the “free” website builder does maintenance and has down times on Monday morning, there’s nothing you can do.

If most of your visitors ONLY buy on Mondays, then you can see where this may leave you.

WHAT’S THE SOLUTION

The solution is to find and hire a reputable small web design firm to create your website for you.

Not only will you knock out all of the concerns above, but you’ll also gain two other BIG benefits.

Benefit #1: Cost Savings

  • Receive costs that will be much less than larger firms
  • Willingness to work with your budget
  • Get reasonable monthly maintenance rates

Benefit #2: Support

  • Receive more one-on-one attention since they are selective with the amounts of clients they serve
  • Immediate support, instead of having to wait for days or weeks on end from larger outfits or even the “free” website support
  • Always in the know – You’ll never be left in the dark

If you are ready to get a REAL website, one you can be proud of and be happy with, then please contact us today.

We won’t be happy with your website until you are.

Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.

 

954-217-1047

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