“There’s no such thing as a free lunch” as the saying goes. But how do free website builders fare when it comes to getting your business online an a shoestring budget? Let’s take a look!
If you’re a brand new business, budgets are often tight and there’s a myriad of shiny new things to spend your limited budget on from getting a logo designed, new business cards, business coaching, office space, a new laptop and that high-end, executive, eco-friendly, ergonomic office chair that you’re certain will make you 100% more productive! Our budgets are stretched thin as it is. Coupled with the fact most people underestimate how much a website costs and rarely budget enough for a professional site from day one. This means we might be tempted to go down the free website builder route.
Free website builders come in various guises. Some will come as part of your hosting package and are a great way for hosting companies to sell their services with additional benefits. Their promise of “no coding required”, “drag and drop” platforms, “search engine friendly websites” can seem like a tempting offer. However, they rarely live up to their promises.
Other free website builders such as Wix and Weebly, offer a “free” website which they host for you. So rather then paying for a hosting package and getting a free website with it, you get the website first and the hosting comes with it.
5 reasons why you shouldn’t use a free website builder
- “Free” can end up being costly. Most free website builders will promise a free website if you use their standard templates, their domain name, you don’t want an email address, you only want a static, brochure site. As soon as you want to add more functionality and customisation, you’ll be faced with additional fees for that. These fees can add up and your free website becomes anything but.
- Non-transferrable – if you decide to move your website in the future, you can’t. Simple as that. Moving your website from a free website builder to another platform such as WordPress is very difficult. The easiest solution is going to be rebuilding your website from scratch which would be a shame if you’ve spent hours and days creating your website and have lots of content on there.
- They’re not “search engine friendly”. There might be an SEO section where you can add titles and descriptions to your pages but this does not make a website search engine friendly. There’s over 200 factors that Google assesses on your website and free website builders will only give you control over a few. There’s nothing worse than spending hours creating your website only to find that when people search for your products or services, you’re nowhere to be found.
- Difficult to scale up. In the beginning, you might be happy with a 5 page website, but further down the line, you’ll probably want to expand your site and be able to add a blog, an online shop or set up landing pages for your lead magnets. You might want to integrate your site with payment processors, email marketing software, a CRM system and social media feeds. Free website builders make this difficult, expensive and sometimes impossible.
- Looks unprofessional. The clunky nature of free template builders and lack of any design skills required often means you’ll end up with a less-than-professional looking website. Remember, your website is often the first encounter someone has with your business, so first impressions count! For a free website to be truly free, you often have to advertise the fact that your website was built on a free platform across your website too which can add to the cringe factor đŸ˜¬.
What you should consider instead
If you’re not tech-savvy and don’t fancy wrestling with WordPress yourself, set aside a budget for a website. The cost of a website can vary dramatically. (We’ve recently had 4 agencies quote on the same website with quotes ranging from £4k to £18k!). Before you begin looking for a web designer, make sure you have a written, clear brief of exactly what you want your website to do. It’s helpful to know:
- Who is your website for? (Hint: it’s not you! Think about your target audience)
- What will your visitors what to do on your website?
- What information do they need?
- What functionality do they require? (Blog, enquiry forms, e-commerce capabilities, email marketing software integration, the ability to edit the site yourself, etc)
In conclusion, there’s definitely no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to website builders. A free website is likely to cost you in terms of your time to set it up, the cost of optional extras and its lack of visibility in the search results. It will also mean you’ll end up paying for a professionally built website eventually and it could cost you more if your old website cannot be transferred. Don’t think about what you need from a website today; think about the future of your website and what you will need it to do for your businesses in next 3 – 5 years.
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