Free Websites are a waste of time and ultimately that means money. We will be happy to explain why, and how we provide websites and hosting for the serious business.
Nothing is free, not even on the Internet. I’m referring to those almost free, $3.15 or $7.00 or $4.99 a month websites. They are all the same.
I hear about these from people who have gone down that road, only to find that they are nowhere in search results regardless how hard they try. Even Google Sites, which are free, don’t get you into Google search results. So what is (not) happening?
The Algorithm
Perhaps this all makes sense from a search engine point of view. If you think about it. Here is how a search engine algorithm might work (programmed by humans of course):
A) The website owner isn’t serious enough about being found in search to pay a few dollars more for a stand-alone (BUSINESS) website.
B) Free websites are for simple presentations, not complex or serious business presentations.
C) By choosing a cookie-cutter (free, near free website) this person doesn’t know how search engines and the Internet work, so they probably don’t have anything important to communicate.
D) All of the above
My answer to this problem is simple. Invest a very small amount of money to be found. (Probably less per month than you tip at restaurants – less than your coffee habit – less than you spend on your mobile phone (?))
The Template
Free websites are built using templates into which you ADD your personal content. Your free website template contains the same structure as everyone else who uses that template. To search engines, you all look the same.
To some degree all contemporary websites are templates. But its a matter of degree (and some other factors that are unseen by the human eye that I won’t go into here).
The Host
The host is the company that provides your Free Website. Your website lives on a server in their datacenter.
A) High-density means SLOW! Free websites are usually crammed onto servers, and those server are not the fastest servers that the host has in their datacenter. That usually results in a slow website. Google has been explicit that a slow website = does not ranking well in SERPs.
b) Bad Neighbors = Bad Neighborhood! Free websites can be and ARE USED for a lot of devious stuff. If the host gets a bad reputation ( from a search engine ), what do you think happens to your chances of ranking well in SERPs? Whether or not the neighborhood has a bad reputation, search engines know that you live in a high-density, low-cost housing project, which has its own reputation problem. This reputation issue would be found in the Algorithm (above); your website is just not serious.
C) Templates as mentioned above. The host provides lots of these websites with little-to-no-customization possible or they would loose money supporting them. (It takes a lot of time to create a good website). So the more that can be templated, the better for them, not for you.
Again, a very small amount of money gets you into a better neighborhood and may help you capture that $10 Billion that goes unclaimed every year.
Ask about a good, solid, search engine optimized website. They are not Free but very affordable.