10+ Things You Need to Know About FREE DIY Websites

These days its essential that every serious business needs to have a website. So there is a cheap website, and there is a good website. Here we take a quick look at why going for a free “do if yourself” option might not benefit your business.

Using a FREE DIY Website Builder will cost you time, and money! Here is a few reasons why:

1. Wrong Impressions to Customers

If a new prospective customer (or existing customer) visits your website and it looks like a FREE template website. What are they going to think of your business? If your cutting corners here maybe this reflects badly on your business. First impression is everything.

2. Poor Support

Most FREE website builders offer overseas support where you are either waiting on hold or speaking to someone in India or Canada (not picking here just overseas examples). These “customer support people” might not understand you, or your business. It’s essential you have the correct support for your website by a local website professional. If you don’t you could be wasting hours of your time. Your lost time is lost money.

3. Google Unfriendly

Most FREE website builders don’t do a very good job of getting your website SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) ready. This is how Google sees you website and analyses it in order to put you in your customers search results. How Google sees your business is important.

4. Mobile Unfriendly

Some FREE website builders offer “Mobile Friendly” or “Responsive” design but few actually deliver the results focused on what your customer wants to see. And how your customer can connect with you and your business. Not having a mobile friendly website could loose you 61% of customers according to a recent Google Survey. Your customers use Mobiles devices to view and contact you.

5. No Competitor Advantage

Most FREE website builders create below par websites. If all of your competitors have below par websites it would be in your interest to get a competitive advantage? Everything is online these days so this is such a key area to have an advantage in your industry. Maybe you can’t compete with the global industry leaders but you can be competitive locally. Gain advantage over your local industry competitors.

6. Unwanted Advertising

Some FREE website builders need to make money somehow and you might see advertising appear on your website. Do you want your customers seeing adverts on your website and potentially clicking on them leading them away from connecting with you?! Be in control and don’t show unwanted advertisements to your customers.

7. Unwanted Spam Emails

Some FREE website builders will send you spam emails offering additional services or 3rd party services. These can be very annoying and is the price you pay for getting a “free” website. Avoid unwanted spam emails.

8. No Email Setup Support

Some FREE Website builders offer you custom email addresses but none offer decent support on how to setup and use them with your existing email addresses. For example, if you have a business email address but can’t access it on your mobile is this not slowing you down? Get tech support tailored to your needs to reduce stress.

9. Slow Hosting

Most FREE Website builders hosting is usually based hosted overseas and can be slow compared to local based servers. Google can see how fast your website is and if it’s performing slow it will punish you for it. Work with other local businesses to get better results.

10. Poor Statistics and Analytics

Most FREE website builders don’t provide statistics on your website such as Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Verification. It’s essential that you know what your customers are typing into Google to try and find you and patch any holes in your services. You could be missing out on new local customers! Your data is everything, and you can use it to make informed business decisions.

11. Losing Your Data

Most FREE website builders don’t provide decent backup solutions and few restore your website if you get hacked or need it restoring from a previous date. If you put your time and energy into creating your website would it not be very stressful if you lost it and couldn’t restore it or there were hidden costs behind restoring it. Don’t loose your website forever if you get hacked.

12. Unknown Unknowns

As usual, it’s the things you don’t know which come back to haunt you. For example, if you decide to fix the electrics in your car it’s usually something you don’t know about which goes wrong and ends up costing you money and more important wasting your time. Stay humble and gain knowledge from trusted professionals.

There are a few more things we haven’t mentioned here but I hope this helps you with the thinking process when looking for a new website for your business.

In conclusion, the old saying “you get what you pay for!” still holds true.