25 Reasons Why Having A Free Website Is A Bad Idea Isn’t it tempting to get a free website? The internet is full of platforms, offering free website hosting even for self-hosted like WordPress. You’re wondering what the bait is. Why isn’t everyone using a free WordPress website? In this article, we tell you 25 reasons why having a free website is a bad choice and something you must avoid.
Take look Why Having A Free Website Is A Bad Idea 1. Very slow websites Most free website hosting providers put several hundreds of websites sharing the same server. This reduces the speed. Slow websites cause bad user experience and are bad for SEO. Did you see a slow loading site? It looks like….
2. Unprofessional web address Visitors to your website and powerful customers would find it quite difficult to take your website genuinely when domain name appears improper.
3. Trial Service is not actually Free Many of the free websites often turn out to give limited trials. After a while, you are asked to pay an amount . In most cases, the price is usually higher than normal WordPress hosting services. If you add a credit card number during sign up, then they could charge you without any warning.
4. Hidden charges Some of them charge their users for services like hosting image, email accounts, website transfer, etc. These charges are often too high.
5. Locking down your data Many users, who begin with a free website and next want to move for a paid service, find it impossible to transfer their website data. These service providers don’t offer any tools to easily migrate your site.
6. Irrelevant advertisements Most of these free website services are backed by advertisements. You make content and create your website, but they get paid for the ads. Often these ads are distracting and appear ugly. Sometimes, some advertise might sabotage your business.
7. They might shut down your website Anytime this could happen, without any reason. If they shutdown a website, they generally don’t give your data or provide you a way to save your content.
8. These companies might disappear anytime They would shut down their servers, and you will lose your website and entire data. Their terms of service authorise them full legal protection to do so.
9. They can sell your information In an effort to make money and remain in the business, they can sell your information. The rule is that, if you are not paying for it, then you are a product. They could make money by selling your email ID, personal information, and your website address to other companies. Their terms and conditions don’t have a total legal immunity.
10. No site building tools These website companies give very limited tools and services to the users. Using these tools the website appears more unprofessional.
11. No WordPress Many of these free service providers don’t allow you to install WordPress on your free website. WordPress needs a little more resource than a free website service affords.
12. Limited WordPress Even if they permit you to host WordPress, their servers can’t run it. You will face several errors, and it will ruin your WordPress experience.
13. Malware distribution Free website services are known for distributing malware. This could be owing to their poor security, or for monetary benefits. In either case, it will trouble your website’s reputation and SEO.
14. Vulnerable to hackers Owing to poor security, free websites are often vulnerable to hacking attempts. If your site is hacked, then it will quite difficult to recover.
15. HTML with limited number of pages Some of these free companies provide only a limited number of pages on your website. If you wish to add more pages, then you need to upgrade with a paid plan.
16. Limited choices for design Unlike WordPress site where you could choose from thousands of themes, free websites offer only a number of poorly designed templates. You cannot even use your own designs.
17. No help desk or customer service You have to begin your site at your own with the help of limited and poorly presented documents.
18. You can’t run ads or earn money Though your free website company runs their own ads on your website, they won’t allow you to run ads or make your own money. You won’t be able to add affiliate links or add Adsense to your website.
19. No backups They don’t backup your data and if something wrong happens to your site, there is no way to restore your data.
20. Difficult in getting rid off These companies often make money from content developed by you. They intentionally create difficulty so that you can’t delete your own website. This says, your website will be on their servers, and you will spend a hard time removing it.
21. No proper analytics With an authentic hosting company, you can get free statistics about site visitors. You can install Google Analytics or some other traffic counters. On free websites, they don’t allow you to add Google Analytics because they are running their own analytics code on your website.
22. No support for phone devices You cannot update your website from your phone. Free website companies have dashboards designed only for the desktop.
23. No responsive designs Most free website companies provide website designs that are quite old and don’t work on mobile phones. Mobile users are a significant portion of internet traffic. Not having a responsive design you will lose those users.
24. No branded email You cannot create own email accounts. This says you have to depend on your gmail or hotmail email accounts which do not appear professional.
25. An unwise decision If you are serious about developing something on the web, then you must never start with a free website. They are unsafe, unreliable, difficult, and would limit your growth options. The best alternative is a paid website. There are many hosting services which offer WordPress hosting at lesser costs. You can choose Bluehost, they provide shared website hosting service and is one among the official WordPress hosting services. For WPBeginner, they give 60% additional discount and a free domain. We hope this article is helpful for you. If you liked this article, then keep visiting our website ForumMantra – A Place Where You Ask! You Answer!
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