The First Step in Building a Free Web Site

Building a free web site is so easy. All you have to do is go to one of several different sites, sign up, get a user name and the tools are so easy to use you can start building a web site in minutes.

Write quickly, drop and drag elements, add a few images – and, wow, you have a free web site up and running!

In fact, some sites will even let you monetize using Google AdSense or they’re useful for affiliate marketing.

Terrific!

But wait! Hold on! What do you really want to say on your site? Who’s going to read it? Why are you writing it? What do you want a visitor to the site to do?

Before you sign up to get an account and quickly build a web site, grab a pencil, paper, sit at a table without a computer and clear your mind.

Planning is such an important part of creating any communication product or tool. You don’t have to get buried in details but you do need to stop and ask yourself key, basic questions.

#1 Why do you want to sign up for a free web site?

Review your options: do you want to create a site to share family pictures and memories with relatives who live far apart? If so, great. And if you don’t want to build it in order to make money then that’s fine, too.

However, do you want a free site to use for a small business that doesn’t have a web presence – or do you want to use the site as a landing page or micro-site to promote one aspect of a business?

Your answer to that question will determine your main pages, the order of them and your sub-pages.

#2 Who will visit your site?

Who is your intended site visitor? Are they into technology, bargains, restaurants? What are their ages? Why will they enjoy being on your site? Why should they do business with you if you’re a business site?

While I’m speaking mainly to those who want a business site, nevertheless similar questions can apply for those who want to create a family site. Will you link to the sites of relatives?

#3 What action do you want a visitor to take?

Do you want them to link from one page to another and take a survey or complete a form? Do you want them to buy from you or call for a free consultation?

#4 What will compel them to read your site?

This requires thought. What headline will they read, and what sub-head, to make them stop and take a closer look at your site? Write out a few options in a Word document first.

#5 How will you layout your site?

Free web site options let you choose a one-column or two-column approach. Adding multimedia such as videos and audio is becoming more commonplace. Of course, where will your images be set?

If you want to make a few dollars from your site, will you display Google Adsense or some other affiliate program? Where will you place the banners and ads? Typically, people scan web sites quickly and they move from left to right. Adsense works quite well when it’s integrated as closely as possible with the text.

Take some time to stop, pause, catch a breath and answer these questions and you’ll ultimately find yourself more satisfied with your site.

Among the free sites, there are three that seem to work well:

www.weebly.com

www.yola.com

www.devhub.com

I built a web site using Weebly and I’m going to take the next step to use my own limited HTML skills on a practice site.

#6 Promotion of your site is the next step using social media, printing the url on business cards and flyers, linking to social media and sites like Hubpages in addition to submitting your sites to search engines and directories.

Finally, I recommend reading or skimming two different books:

Building Web Sites for Dummies by Doug Sahlin and Claudia Snell

Social Media: An Hour a Day by Dave Evans

Both are good references to keep on hand as you build.

Now, you’re ready to go create a low-budget Internet empire!