The Good And The Bad About Free Web Sites

Copyright � 2000 by C.J. Hill

Most online entrepreneurs ready to build a website for the first time, ultimately come across the many companies that offer free websites. You've heard of them. Companies such as Freeyellow, Geocites, Angelfire, and Hypermart. Chances are, you've probably heard the bad news about free websites, as well. Some of the sites are plagued with large pop up ads, or garish banners splashed across "your" pages. If you've done your homework and worked really hard to build a decent page, and then find that it's all but ruined by the intrusive advertising. No one can blame you for being discouraged. Or angry.

But all is not bad news. For example, if you've joined an MLM or a company that has given you a replicated site for their referral program, your free web pages can be useful as complimentary pages to their referral site. Also, free web pages can be designed especially to lure visitors to your main website should you have your own domain. But be careful about mirror pages. { exact duplicates } Using too many mirror pages, can get all your pages removed from the search engines or taken down by the free host. So be a little cautious in how you use mirror pages.

It's comforting to realize that once you've made the effort to build the extra pages, that if your main website develops a serious problem that might take a day or two to correct, you still have your free pages working for you elsewhere. In addition, on the free services you can experiment with a new design concept or with a new theme without moving them to your main domain, should your ideas turn-out to be ill-advised.

Remember, one concept on the web that almost always works in an entrepreneur's favor. - Numbers - The more pages you have on the net, the better the opportunity to get your product or service in front of potential customers. But, it's up to you to get the details correct. That means doing the things that will draw visitors or get your site ranked by the search engines.

Proper meta tags, keywords written into the text, clean design, and valuable content, will work just as well on the free pages, as on your own private domain. You can also collect e-mail addresses or place a guestbook on your free web site. There are additional ways to make these free sites valuable. It's only limited by your personal ingenuity.

Choose your free host with a bit of care. If the pop-up ads really are too intrusive, try another company. There are plenty of choices out there. -- In fact, some services allow you to give away free websites of your own after you join. Not a bad way to get your visitors to linger, or to return later!

It is true, a private domain projects a more professional image to a potential customer. But that also depends on what your product is. And if you're new to the net, you have to start somewhere. Besides, if you're displaying banners for a dating club just to earn a few bucks to pay for your isp account. Is anyone really going to care that your page is hosted on a free service?

The free web hosts are worth some consideration. Use them to your advantage. Now if there was just a way to deactivate those annoying pop up ads....

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Copyright � 2000 by C.J. Hill