problems with free websites

Read time: 7 minutes

Your website is a big part of your business’ online identity and a place where customers visit to learn more about your business. As a result, building a website is an important investment for your business, and is a process best done with a professional website builder.

You may, however, have heard of free websites and may be considering this as an option to a full build made by a professional website builder. However, there are many problems with free websites that counter the benefits of having a website for your business.

Read on to learn more about some of the problems that come with free websites.

Problems with free websites

1. Limited security

Low or limited levels of security are some of the problems with free websites that have the biggest consequences. As security is a big part of the cost that goes into website hosting, lower levels of security allow these providers to provide you with a free website. Limited security on your website allows hackers to easily attack your website and access you or your customers’ personal data. In some instances, it may be the website provider who uses your data to make money for themselves.

2. Non-customisable domain name

Many organisations that offer free websites often don’t include a customisable domain name in your package. This essentially means that your business will carry the brand name of your website provider in its domain to remain free. Domains of this type can be structured like yourbusiness.yourwebsiteprovider.com.au. Adding this extra part with your website provider’s domain to your domain name makes your business look less professional and as though it is a non-legitimate site. This in turn lowers your business’ image or prestige in your customers’ eyes counteracting the advantages of having a website for your business.

3. Access denied to your website

One of the biggest problems with free websites is that there is a risk that you may eventually be denied access to your website. Providers of free websites usually continue to have great control over your website even after the build process. This allows them to shut down your website or conceal specific login details that you may need in the event of moving your website to another website host. In addition to losing all effort you have put in building and designing your website, you will also lose the value your website added to your online presence.

4. (un)Professional Services

The offer to build your website for free usually comes from an individual or a group with limited experience. To build their experience, people may offer to build your website for free to add to their portfolio of projects. As a result, your free website may incur issues such as unresponsive design across different devices or worse, have bugs in its design. While these may seem like small mistakes on the designer’s part, the issues can cause big problems on your side. These problems can start from a bad user experience all the way to corrupt website files which may result in your website becoming unrecoverable.

5. Limited or No Support

Managing a website after its build is a lot of work. Free website providers will not be able to provide extra support beyond the initial build as they have not counted for these extra costs. While you may be able to fix some issues that you encounter with your site, there will be others that require the expertise of a website builder or hosting provider. Furthermore, fixing issues on your website takes away from the time that you can spend working on your business.

We hope this post helped you learn more about some of the problems with free websites! To get the best out of your website, Redsteps Web recommend building your website with an established website builder. In addition to peace of mind, you can also be confident that you will be supported during any roadblocks you may face with your website.

If you are thinking of building a website for your business, Redsteps Web can help! We are experienced in building websites for a range of industries and ensure that your new website is mobile responsive, and SEO optimised. The Redsteps Web team also has a great focus on customer service and will work with you to ensure we answer all your questions about your website. Check out our website building package or contact us today for more information.

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