Build A Free Website - 3 Easy Methods
893 Ways To Build a Free Website
Many free website providers are somewhat tacky and unreliable, with loads of flashing banner adverts and other garbage spoiling the experience of visitors going to your website.
However, it is possible to set up a personal hobby site these days on a very reliable, free platform that can also earn you a bit of money.
In this hub, I'll discuss the benefits, disadvantages, and differences between the two most popular free blogging platforms and also tell you about a more traditional webhost that offers their services at no cost to you.
Blogger is owned by Google, and gives you the tools you need to set up a blogging website on pretty well any topic you choose. It must be in a blog format, and you can't set it up as a normal static website.
A range of templates are provided,and you can modify them and also load custom templates if you wish. Everything is aimed towards the internet novice who just wants to get up and running with a minimum of fuss. After going through the quick setup process you can start adding your content and promoting your blog.
You can join Google's adsense program and have advertisements appear on your website, and earn money when your visitors click on them. you don't have to worry about coding, layout, or any off that techo stuff.
Blogger lets you add your own scripts, which are useful for tracking, etc. you also have access to a wide range of customisation "widgets" that performa various tasks.
If you already have content elsewhere and want to import it, you're out of luck, as Blogger will only allow you to import content from another blogger site.
If you have a domain name, you can also connect this to your blogger website.
WORDPRESS.COM
Wordpress is another blogging platform, which is very flexible and can be used for both blogs and static type websites. There are a range of add in "Widgets" that allow you to perfrom various functions.
This version of wordpress also provides you with a free website and hosting, and about 60 templates. Unfortunately, most of these are pretty boring, and Wordpress doesn't allow you modify thenn, or add any scripts for tracking, etc.
If you pay an upgrade fee, you are able to modify the standard templates.
Wordpress is a lot more flexible in regard to importing your content from elsewhere, and can collect your content from Import from Blogger, Yahoo! 360 (new), Type·Pad, Live·JournaI, MovabIe·Type or another WordPress blog.
Like blogger, you simply sign up for an account, select one of the provided templates, and you can have a website up and running in a very short time.
000webhost.com - A FREE Traditional type web host
This option provides a lot more flexibility that the above options. The downside is that a some technical knowledge is needed to get a site up and running. So you either have to invest some time learning how to do this yourself, or get a knowledgeable person to help you set things up.
000webhost provides a traditional cPanel web hosting environment at no charge.
I have not used them myself, but users say that their service is efficient and reliable.
There are no compulsory banners required on your sites, and you have the benefits of cPanel administration and the Fantastico system which will quickly install a range of popular open source applications.
This includes the self hosted version of Wordpress, which I would recommend for building all trypes of websites.
You can also build your website with applications like Dreamweaver or any other HTML editor.
000webhost would be a good place to learn about using websites. It provides the same sort of facilities as commercial web hosts, and also an upgrade package if you need more resources than are provided for free.
(EDIT: August 2009: spdarkstar commented that there have been sign up problems with 000webhost for many months. Sorry, I won't suggest any other free providers for you to use. If you find a reliable one, please make a comment here and let me know. E.G.)
WARNING:
I would not recommend using any free website provider if you are using your website for business purposes.
The main problem is the lack of flexibility and control you have over your site. A free provider can shut down your website at any time, and you could lose your entire site, as well as other disadvantages.
If you are running a business, spend a few dollars on a good quality commercial web host. I can recommend the packages at Hostgator.
Please visit my website for more information on How to Start an Internet business
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Comments
Hi CherylAnne,
Thanks for your kind comments.
Unless there are special requirements, I recommend that small businesses use the self hosted version of wordpress - available from wordpress.org, or from the Fantastico installation program provided on most comercial web hosts.
There are a wide range of free and paid templates, and wordpress is the about the easiest platform for the management and adding of content. It's simple to set up as a static site, or as a blog.
cheers, EricG.
Hi Eric,
I signed up for a build-it-from scrach website that uses fantastico deluxe about a year ago and have gone nowhere with it because I'm old and not that bright--or at least not that bright or quick about building web sites. I found a couple of services for people like myself--Webs.com and Homestead.com (Intuit runs Homestead) that look good but I haven't signed up. What do you think? I can't fork over $400-$1000 a year to someone to design my website for me, a template approach is fine for me and really I need that. I guess really my question is the same as CherylAnne's.
Hi Pam.
Same answer as CherylAnnes :-)
I use wordpress on my site, with an amazing theme called "Flexibility" which you can tailor and tweak to your hearts content.
If you're willing to spend a few hours getting your head around how to use wordpress, you'll be fine. there are heaps of great tutorials on the net, especially on youtube.
I know nothing about webs.com, but would advise you not to use homestead. I recently had a friend who had to remove his site from their system, and it was , err, very messy.
The site builders have more disadvantages than advantages in my view. You're better off with self hosted wordpress, where you have full control over everything.
Thanks Eric. Appreciate it. :)
Hey Thumbs Up, Eric. I may actually build one, with your advice.
I agree with Eric. I've been using self-hosted wordpress for my sites, along with both the flexibility theme (wonderful for sales pages!) and the thesis theme (versatile) for about 6 months. I'd recommend that for anyone who is as new to web building as I am.
Hi Eric, thanks so much for this article.
Setting up a website is my biggest hurdle right now. Frankly, I stink at it. I need the easiest beginner's set up possible for now, until I can eventually get the hang of it.
For a total beginner like me is the self-hosted Wordpress still the best choice?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Jen
Hello Jen,
If you have no technical knowledge, the quickest way to get started would be the ready to go sites at either blogger or wordpress.com.
Although the self hosted setup for wordpress is easy, there will still be a number of technical issues that you'll need to wrestle with.
For an experienced person, these would probably take under half an hour. For a technically inexperienced novice these issues could have you tearing your hair out for weeks.
For business users, I'll ALWAYS recommend a self hosted website with a commercial provider. And the basic choice will be to invest the time needed to learn the technical stuff themselves, or pay someone to set it up for them.
Cheers, Eric G.
Hi Eric: As usual, very informative hub. I have a static site on Office Live and a blog on Wordpress and I own the domain name. I've been mostly happy with it for my purposes. A problem down the road for me is that you can't sell anything, e.g., copies of your book or whatever. If I ever found myself in that position, I would have to move it.
Thanks for a great article!
Thanks Christoph.
There's many hidden limitations on those free sites which people don't realise. That's why I keep banging on about using a paid hosting service for anyone involved in commercial activities.
re selling your book:
I'm guessing that you would be selling it through e-junkie, lulu, clickbank, or similar and have the sales page set up as needed.
surely you can place a link on your wordpress site which goes to the sales page for your books?
Hi Eric
000Webhost is not a good site to be recommending to anyone, sorry. A quick Google search will reveal many horror stories.
I posted about my experiences with them here and I am certainly not alone:
http://www.thecaymanhost.com/hosting-reviews/bewar
Thanks caymanhost.
I'm aware of the problems that 000webhost are having with affiliates, but that's a different story. I understood that the hosting services that they provided were semi-usable.
I normally discourage people away from free sites, and do not recommend any of them. However, there are lots of people looking for free sites, and this hub is an attempt to point them towards the "least worst".
I'll have a look around for an alternative free cPanel type site to mention. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Eric,
I understand that and it is obvious from your writing that you are not recommending free hosting per se or endorsing any of the services listed, and you have provided a good list of resources for your visitors.
The affiliate program issues at 000Webhost are, as you point out, a different matter, but a company who behave that way in one area of business are just as likely to be the same in others.
I only have personal experience of 000Webhost, no other free hosting, because I wouldn't normally use such services. My reasons pretty much parallel yours, I wanted to review it for my readers and couldn't do so without at least trying the service. There are very few that offer anything like 000Webhost (particularly CPanel and Fantastico).
However, to my mind the free hosting is little more than a hook, followed by continuous attempts to get users to upgrade and get better and more reliable service. Ironic when their major pitch is "better than paid hosting".
My recommendation would be to bite the bullet and get a budget account from someone like Hostgator for less than $5 a month and avoid the possibility of problems so often associated with free hosts, but that's just me :-)
Maurice
Hi Eric,
I have a website with webs.com - they offer a good variety of templates for the inexperienced webmaster, as well as a limited version of a commercial site so you can sell products - I believe they allow five different products on the free,non commercial site, which is pretty decent for a free site.
I also have a paid site, and use wordpress - although I am still learning my way around it, and have a few blogspot.com's as well.
Thanks for the information - I need all the tips I can get LOL
Hi Eric, who is the best: 110mb or 000webhost.com, and why? thank you !!
@medarj
Sorry, I can't answer that. I haven't used 000webhost , and I don't know anything about the other one.
Why don't you try them both, and write a hub about which one is the best ?
The problem with 000webhost is that when you go to use the cPanel it comes back "We are still working on our servers" or words to that effect, and that's been the same since Jan 09.
I think they trying to get you to buy a subscription
@spdarkstar
Thanks for that.
It precisely demonstrates why I don't endorse using a free site.
Of course, very cheap paid hosting sites also have the same problem.
I know of someone who has has to change web hosts about 6 times in the past 2 years because of endless problems with downtime, or their sites disappearing.
This is because they always sign up with the cheapest web host they can find.
There's a lesson there, and some people never learn it.
CherylAnne Nelson says:
5 months ago
Having used both Blogger and Wordpress I agree with you on your points. I do find Blogger easier to use though in terms of installing Widgits as you can just search for them and press "add" and it'd done! With Wordpress I can't seem to get some of the widgets istalled properly--I can't for the life of me get my comments numbered!! I am not tech savy anyway but have managed to get quite a few installed without crashing the site (miracle). I prefer Blogger overall. Could you recommend a site builder for businesses as I want to get a business site going. Thanks--always liked your articles. I have to stop in more often and write here again. =)