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Free web site platforms

Guest post by: Bill Edwards

Article Overview: Free is the most popular word on the internet today. Free is good..........No? Yes sometimes free is not good. Free web site platforms. They are good if you want to just have a personal web page on the internet. BUT if you are in business, even if you are just starting out, stay away from free web host. You know the kind, where you get to publish a site something like; w w w. freehost.com/yourWebpage . There are even some that will let you have you own domain name (w w w. yourdomain.com) but will have an ad somewhere that says hosted by "free web host".

Free web site platforms

Free!

Free is the most popular word on the internet today. Free is good..........No? Yes sometimes free is not good.

Free web site platforms.

They are good if you want to just have a personal web page on the internet. BUT if you are in business, even if you are just starting out, stay away from free web host. You know the kind, where you get to publish a site something like; w w w. freehost.com/yourWebpage . There are even some that will let you have you own domain name (w w w. yourdomain.com) but will have an ad somewhere that says hosted by "free web host".

The reason I say this is when doing business on the 'net it's all about credibility. I mean lets face it I don't know who you are. You have a nice picture on your web site but still that could be anybody. So in order to get sales on the Net you first have to build credibility. There are many things one must do in order to build credibility. Having your own web site is just one of many.

The way a potential client or customer thinks when they see a business hosted on a free web hosting platform is.........."Dang if he/she can't afford to have their own (paid for) web site then they must not be for real or they are not making any money", read "the product is no good". In other words to host a business web site on a free platform is not very professional. Worse case scenario: they think you are a scam. The bad part about that is you will never know.

Building Your Own Web Site

Oh heck, Yahoo has a deal where you can go and build your own web site for nothing, I don't need to pay somebody all that money, I'll do it my self...........Wrong!

There is a great difference between a professionally designed website and something done using premade tools, and believe me people can tell the difference.

So if you have not made the website plunge yet, do it right, get a professional to take care of it for you. Because there are many things to consider when building a web site.

Domain name. The domain name should reflect the business that you are in. Example: If you have a hair salon business in Atlanta, Ga. a domain name like "AtlantaHairSalon.com" will work better that "MarysHairSalon.com"

Why???

How many people are going to look for "Maryshairsalon.com"?

If a person is new in town and needs to find a hair salon they will more than likely type in "Atlanta hair salon" into the search engine.

If you have that domain name then there is a very good chance your site will come up first in the results.

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Article Tags: credibility, Free web site platforms



Related Forum Posts
Re: Blogger Vs Wordpress? - [quote="Trent Brownrigg":10yyyrs9]Yes, using self-hosted wordpress is by far a better choice than blogger and other free platforms for your main blog. However, those free platforms can be great for building satellite blogs to help feed your main blogs links and traffic.[/quote:10yyyrs9] That sounds like a good idea, I never thought of using the other free platforms like that. I have always just used Wordpress especially after some of my friends had their Blogger blogs terminated without warning. MichelleJ
Re: Blogger Vs Wordpress? - Yes, using self-hosted wordpress is by far a better choice than blogger and other free platforms for your main blog. However, those free platforms can be great for building satellite blogs to help feed your main blogs links and traffic.
Re: how do I get started with Wordpress blog? - The main difference between blogger and Wordpress is that wordpress is open source. Since it is also the most popular blogging platform it has thoasands of people working on it, adding new features, extra options, which are easy to add and implement to your site. Blogger is very simple and super easy to use out of the box, but at the same time it is inflexible and becomes cumbersome when you want to do more with your site. I've seen a lot of site owners switch from blogger to wordpress once there site has grown, and this process is not easy and you then have to learn a new blogging platform. Also blogger being indexed quicker is largely myth. There's a grain of truth in it but the effect is so small its not worth the consideration. If quick indexing, free and a hosted domain (e.g yoursite.blogspot.com or yoursite.wordpress.com or blogplatform.com/yoursite) are your main choices for getting a blog then blogger is not your best choice. Vox is usually better for this due to the massive internal linking from the main authority domain (vox.com) - just add a few friends etc. to build some internal links from vox.com to your site. Xanga and Orble are other choices.the downside is these platforms have less freedom than blogger, and put in their own ads. In terms of ranking wordpress blogs tend to do a lot better than all platforms since they can be finely optimized with the right theme and SEO plugins. My advice if you are serious about an online presence is start with the best (wordpress), using your own domain as it will be the best choice in the long run and lead you to success more quickly.
Re: Poll: Blogger or Wordpress Blog? - Similar question was given in another thread and I gave this answer: [quote:1g1fyvrg]The main difference between blogger and Wordpress is that wordpress is open source. Since it is also the most popular blogging platform it has thoasands of people working on it, adding new features, extra options, which are easy to add and implement to your site. Blogger is very simple and super easy to use out of the box, but at the same time it is inflexible and becomes cumbersome when you want to do more with your site. I've seen a lot of site owners switch from blogger to wordpress once there site has grown, and this process is not easy and you then have to learn a new blogging platform. Also blogger being indexed quicker is largely myth. There's a grain of truth in it but the effect is so small its not worth the consideration. If quick indexing, free and a hosted domain (e.g yoursite.blogspot.com or yoursite.wordpress.com or blogplatform.com/yoursite) are your main choices for getting a blog then blogger is not your best choice. Vox is usually better for this due to the massive internal linking from the main authority domain (vox.com) - just add a few friends etc. to build some internal links from vox.com to your site. Xanga and Orble are other choices.the downside is these platforms have less freedom than blogger, and put in their own ads. In terms of ranking wordpress blogs tend to do a lot better than all platforms since they can be finely optimized with the right theme and SEO plugins. My advice if you are serious about an online presence is start with the best (wordpress), using your own domain as it will be the best choice in the long run and lead you to success more quickly.[/quote:1g1fyvrg]
Re: how do I get started with Wordpress blog? - [quote="christew":39gpwahc] If you put it off you risk: - weakening your brand as your site name will change when you do finally move to your own domain. - forfeit full control of your site and content while not on your own domain. Its rare but hosted wordpress platforms have been known to delete or lose content. - Mess up search engine rankings when you finally do the domain switch. If your site is busy this can represent thousands in lost revenue.[/quote:39gpwahc] I think the problem is not buying a domain and hosting but setting up the site with the chosen design on Wordpress. I think she needs to outsource the process because cannot handle this by herself and this costs more than $20.


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