A free website building service such as Wix or Site 123 maybe a cost free way of getting a website up, but…
For small companies looking to get a website for free it may seem like a great idea to use one of the many services now available offering you a tool/service where you can build websites for free.
I will explain why its not as simple as it may seem and why it is a bad idea to use one of these free services for your new company website.
Adverts
First is most of these free website building service have adverts on your website, which is how they make money from you.
The Biggest problem with this is they are targeted to be the same industry as the content of your site. So you will be advertising competitors on your website.
It also means having links on your website that divert your visitors to other websites an as such will ruins your opportunity to covert the visitors you get.
Limitations
Your limited to the templates they have for you, which to be fair some of them do have a large selection of templates you can choose from others not so much.
Though once you have set up your website they often then lock the design so you are stuck with it that way. An only allow you to change your content set within the design.
You don’t have access to adjust code to make improvements. Which is a big deal though you may not be aware of this at the early stages.
SEO and Website Traffic
What use is a website if you are not getting visitors/customers to your website?
Thing is most of the free website building services totally overlook Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Those that do help you with SEO techniques are still limited in what you are actually able to do.
When you decide to get a professional on the job of getting more visitors the website, first thing they will say is they can’t work with the site you made due to no access to the website code.
Bloated Code and Slow Loading Times
Most of these free website building services output very poor code due to the nature of the way the sites are made.
This is to make it easy for any user to pick up and be able to make a site, often using drag and drop features.
Trouble with this is bloated coding leads to slow page load times, which is an important part of SEO and conversion optimization.
Responsive Designs
Responsive designs are now vital in an age where so many people use their mobile phone to view websites. It is imperative you make sure your website works well on all devices.
Most of these services are now getting to a point that they do offer responsive design templates, but they are then often broken when you add in further features and content.
Lack of History
When you pay for a professional website design, you are not just paying to get a pretty looking website that does the functions your company require.
You are also getting the years of knowledge about website building best practises, professional designers and developers know tricks of the trade to make your site more successful.
Simple things such as using buttons instead of plain links to improve click through rates, colour of those buttons that convert at better rates. Placements of certain items and features to get the most attention.
Conclusion of free website building service
I could go on and on listing reasons these build your website free services just don’t work at making commercial websites, but let’s wrap it up here.
If you want a website for a local sports team that is just a place for your friends and family to view or something similar, then these build it free services are perfect.
However, if you want a website for your business then they just don’t work. Yes you can make a visually good-looking website for free, but a commercial website needs and deserves a lot more than simply that.
Ram Digital Ltd
Get an affordable website built by professional’s, find more information and get a quote at Ram Digital using the Ram Web service.