|
The Perils Of FREE
Websites: Why You Should NEVER Use Free Website Hosting To Run Your
Business On The Internet!
I bet you think building
a business on the Internet using free web hosting is smart? I mean,
after all, you save yourself $500-$1,000. You probably don't
understand why someone in their right mind would spend money for
something they can easily get free. What I'm about to tell you isn't
actively publicized. So listen very closely.
Very often there is a
hugh price to pay when you totally rely on free stuff you find on
the web. "FREE", really isn't so free. Especially when you use free
web hosting to run your Internet business. There are several
problems with free website hosting that you probably aren't aware
of.
1) Your Potential
Customers Won't Take You Seriously!
Believe it or not, people
on the Internet are wise to what a REAL website looks like, and what
a FREE website looks like. Most people know that real websites look
like this: http://www.business-name.com.
However, when they see
that your website looks like:
http://www.free-web-host.com/?I-have-no-money/ some-numbers-here/Joe
-
...they instantly know
that you are not serious about what you sell. If you can't afford
$500-$1,000 a year to get a REAL domain, why would your potential
customers believe in the quality of your product? They
won't!
If you want your
potential customers to take you seriously, you need to invest your
money in a REAL website. Get a real domain that says you're serious
about your business and not just playing games.
2) It's Hard To Build
Large Amounts Of Traffic To Your Site!
Did you know that the
secret to making money on the Internet is getting large amounts of
traffic to your website? You may be asking yourself, what's a large
amount of traffic. Well, it's about 500 unique visitors a day.
Depending on what you sell, the price, the profile of your market,
etc - this number may be too small. I'm just giving you a number to
work with.
The more people that come
to your site, the more chances you get to make a sale. But if you
use free web hosting, it's hard to get ranked high (within the first
2-pages) on the major search engines. This is because some of the
major search engines use the analysis of a sites "meta" tag
description to rank the sites relevancy for certain keywords. If you
have a free website, often times you can't add "meta" tags to your
site. Also, the major Internet directories (Yahoo and Looksmart for
example) will NEVER list your site in their directories because they
only consider businesses with a real domain for inclusion in their
directories.
3) You Can Lose The
Traffic You Worked So Hard To Get!
Let's say through some
very hard work, you managed to build your website traffic to 500
unique visitors a day. Then, your free web hosting company goes out
of business (Yes, this can happen!). Every one knows your website
as:
http://www.free-web-host.com/?I-have-no-money/ some-numbers-here/Joe
Since you've moved your
site to ANOTHER free web hosting service with an address
like:
http://www.my-NEW-free-web-host.com/ ?AGAIN-I-have-no-money/some-NEW-numbers-here/Joe
-
...people can't find you
because they only know your other website address. All the time and
money you've spend to build your traffic is
lost.
If you had a REAL domain
like: http://www.business-name.com - you could easily use that same
domain name with another domain hosting company. When you have a
real domain name you can take that name with you. You won't lose any
traffic or sales. A matter of fact, your visitors won't even know
you've changed hosts unless you tell them.
4) You Could Lose The
Contents Of Your Website!
Did you know that some
free web hosting company's have you sign an agreement that says THEY
own your website content? So if they decide later on to start
charging you, you can either pay their fee or lose the content of
the website you worked so hard to create.
5) Your Website Traffic
Can Be Easily Stolen!
Some free web hosting
company's require you to place THEIR banner (or someone else's
banner) on YOUR website. Listen to this scenario: "you work your
butt off to build traffic to your site. When your visitors get to
your site, they are presented with an opportunity to go elsewhere.
So you lose the visitor BEFORE they even had a chance to view and
maybe purchase from your site." Wouldn't this make you
mad?
6) Your Site May Not
Always Be Operational!
Some free web hosting
services don't spend big bucks on equipment and staff to make sure
your site is ALWAYS operational. This is also true of some budget
domain hosting services where they charge you like $99 a year. Since
you aren't paying any money for them to host your site, they may not
spend any money to make sure your site is always operational. This
is something you wouldn't even realize.
If you plan on doing
SERIOUS business on the Internet, even if your goal is to make just
$50,000 a year, you must get a real domain. Never use free website
hosting. People will not take you seriously. Free web hosting is
fine for personal use. Maybe you have some family pictures you want
to upload to the site so family members all over the globe can
easily view them. Or you can use a free web site to communicate
family news. That's what free website hosting is best for. Not for
business!
SCbusiness.net recommends:  |