With blogging and microblogging becoming huge mainstream forces for news, many people are realizing that they want a website. People in business realize they need one. The "sticker shock" of how much a well-planned, custom designed and custom programmed website is often sends people searching the internet for a cheaper alternative. There are thousands of sites that offer free templates, free code, free hosting -- and anything else you might need to set up your own website! Free is a magical word. The question that inevitably follows is, "why should I pay when I can get it for free?"
Free Designs
Free designs are all around the web. No HTML skills? Don't have a copy of Photoshop? A free template looks like the easy way to a website. A few questions to ask yourself: how many other people are currently using the same free design you've chosen? How "generic" does the design look? Will the template design make your company stand out and be memorable from all the millions of other websites on the internet?
On the technical side, template designs are often coded poorly and using outdated languages and standards. These templates are full of badly formed HTML, and are often bloated with excess code that causes every page to render more slowly than it should. These issues will make Search Engine Optimization (SEO) extremely difficult for your site, and end up costing you lots of time trying to fix the outdated code.
Free Hosting
Free web hosting is never really "free." Most free hosting is supported by advertisements placed on your site, by the hosting company. If you wanted to try to monetize your site with your own advertising, forget it. Most free hosts don't allow that as part of their terms of service to you, the end user. In fact, you will have very little say over what is placed on your pages, since pop-up ads and flashing glitter banners are common among free hosts. If you want to have those eyesores removed, the hosting company will offer to move you to a paid hosting plan.
Another limitation to free hosting is the lack of space available for your site. This problem is twofold: first, the amount of space allotted for your actual website files and images (storage), and second, the amount of computing power it takes for the host to display your webpage to a user (bandwidth or transfer). If your site spikes in popularity, is linked by a bigger site, or you just have a big flood of page views, your free host will often suspend your account for exceeding the monthly ration of bandwidth. If the server hosting your site goes down unexpectedly, rest assured that the hosting company will address the free accounts and their issues last, and often without any email or telephone support.
Free Content
Free content is advertised to many businesses, offering a copy and paste alternative to sitting down and writing informative text about your company and services. First of all, if the text is free and available for you to copy and paste into your site, that means many people are already using the same text. The content on your website will look like keyword stuffing or so vague it could describe any company or any service.
As a business owner, the main point of having a website is to promote yourself and your services, in hopes that your visitors will be converted to customers. A website is your company identity online, and customers need to have faith in you to use your service or buy your product. Think for a moment about the kind of trust that a poorly-planned website instills in your customers. Would you buy anything from a company who's web address was yoursite.555-best-free-hosts.com?