Free vs Paid Websites for Startups

Most startups have difficulty raising the capital required to setup a business; as a result, for these sets of new entrepreneur with limited resources, it may seem daunting to start an online business portal. On the contrary, I want to say categorically, that it is not as difficult to start an online storefront as many are made to believe.

The primary consideration in owning a website is cost, and for the small business owner, website is often at the lower preferences of the list of items to consider. This is so, because, erroneously, the impression has been created that entrepreneurs must register a paid domain to start their online business.

That impression is quite wrong, and sadly, cost is one of the reasons why many small business owners are unable to establish an online presence. There are many web service providers that allow you to register a free functional business account that has features that will serve most of your business needs.

These websites, though free, often offer paid upgrade to those who have the need to expand their business. There is nothing wrong to start with a free website and upgrade later to the paid version when the need arises . Establishing an online presence is crucial for the success of your business, because it expands your global reach and avails you to limitless opportunities and a massive 3.2 billion potential customers that are on the Internet.

Therefore, for whatever it is worth, free websites are a great way to kick-start your small business, and there are many top-rated free website builders you can choose from that offer great features, including ecommerce, email marketing etc., and they include Wix, WordPress, SquareSpace, NetworkSolutions and IMCreator.

Wix stands out as one of the best free website builder, and it is rated as the most popular and tops the website builder’s chart. Most site builders provide almost similar features, which include search engine friendly HTML5 websites, user-friendly drag-and-drop website editor, professional websites templates and themes.

Advantages of Free Websites

There are many good reasons why entrepreneurs can start their own free websites, rather than not and using cost as a deterrent.

No cost involved: Free websites, just as the name implies, do not require any form of payment, therefore it cost nothing to subscribe or own one.

Life-time Subscription: Free websites do not expire, and you do not have to worry about renewing your subscription or bother about down-time because of non-renewal of your subscription. Unlike paid domains paid domains that goes down immediately your subscription expires.

Cost Effectiveness: Most free websites provide additional features such as ecommerce, analytics, email subscription and book-keeping, unlike their paid counterparts, which require you to purchase these additional applications separately.

DIY Features: One of the most popular features of a free website is the drag-and-drop functionality, which allow users to easily create great looking web pages by simply choosing templates from a categorized list and downloading or dragging images from any location into their website.

Disadvantages of Free Websites

There are always two sides to a coin, and as such, every good thing has a negative side to it, and free websites are not an exception.

Website Ranking: One of the major disadvantage of using a free website is that your site does not enjoy global rating status, because all the visits and engagement recorded in your site, counts in favour of the site provider and not you. That makes you site not to feature in the ranking list or captured by SEO robots.

Features Provider’s Brand ID: All free websites prominently feature the provider’s brand wither by inserting their links and trademarks and logos on the sites.

Featured Adverts: One of the main disadvantage of a free website, is that it features advertisement, which can sometimes be annoying.

Low Credibility: Free websites reduces the credibility of the site owner, because naturally, such sites are generally regarded as untrust-worthy.

Conclusion:

In a situation whereby cost is the determinant, an entrepreneur is better off setting up a free website to gain access to the Internet and have a store front that their customers can reach. That is not to mean that paid websites are not better in the long run because, you have more credibility and control with a paid website than the free ones.