Building a website can take both time and skill, especially if you’ve never built one before. If you are creating a website to advertise your professional services or business, there are a lot of things to consider. For instance, you might want to be able to showcase a catalogue and sell your products online, in which case you will need merchant services so that you can receive payments from customers. Perhaps you want to showcase a portfolio of your past work, make your website interactive, or use a chat function to get in touch with visitors to your website directly.
You have several options when it comes to building your website. Read on to find out more about how you can build the website of your dreams.
Option #1: Using a Free Hosted Site
A number of webhost providers offer users a free website for their blog or portfolio. Webhost providers usually offer this service so that they can upsell a domain name and website builder package to users who want to upgrade. As a result, there are a number of significant disadvantages to using a free web hosting service. For one, server space is limited and your site’s speed will reflect this. Free hosted websites may not be entirely customizable, which can make it difficult to showcase your brand. In addition, free sites usually require you to use part of the webhost provider’s name in your website’s address. Generally, this looks less professional than having your very own domain name. With that said, if you’re testing out the waters when it comes to developing an online following, this may be a good place to start.
Webhost providers that offer free sites include Angelfire, WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Tripod, Neocities, Google Sites, Jimdo, Moonfruit, Webnode, and Yola, among others.
Option #2: Purchase a Domain and Use a DIY Website Builder
You don’t need to know code to build your own customized website. Most webhosting companies allow you to buy a domain name and purchase a website builder to create your site. Website builders make it easy for users with little to no website design experience quickly create their very own website. Often, webhosts offer customizable templates that allow you to select your color scheme and upload your brand logo. Add-ons include e-commerce integration and SEO development. If you don’t need a lot of server horsepower, you can get started and create your own website for a modest amount of money.
There are several key advantages to going this route. For one, purchasing your own domain name gives your company an air of professionalism and legitimacy. If you don’t need a lot in the way of features, you might find that website builders are easy enough to use and cover the basics. Compared to the cost of hiring a professional to design your website, the cost of using a website builder is relatively low. In addition, you’ll have access to extra features such as search-engine optimization packages and ecommerce packages.