Resources to Build a Free Website - No Hidden Costs

When I started out as entrepreneur, I had very little cash.  One of my business contacts once mentioned that he lived from Provita’s and Pilchards in his early days.  Well, that was almost the case with me.

Since my business was barely surviving, I had to do a lot of things myself.  One of them was to develop a website.

In this article, I’ll give you pointers as to were to find so decent free tool and services.

The first thing you need is hosting.  Secondly, you should get a domain name.  Next in line is a webpage editor.  Next, you have to search the web for a free template.  Lastly, you’ll need software to transfer the website from your computer to your hosting account.

There are lots of options with lots of variations regarding free website development.  Some services offer a combination of free hosting and free domain names, while other combine the editor and the file transfer software.

Yola.com and Bravenet.com offer a complete service.  I build my first couple of websites using only Bravenet.  I only once used Yola and it seems as if it’s a good tool.  Bravenet though, is a very comprehensive tool.  Wix.com is another tool, but I never used it.

The downfall of these services is that they run their own advertisements or outside advertisements on your website.  My personal point of view is that it takes the professionalism of your website away.  If I’m a client who gets to a “Free Website by Yola.com”, I would immediately wonder if this business is desperate for my money.  These companies do offer great paid for services, but then it is not free any more, right?
 

Free Domains

There are three types of free domains.  The first isn’t really free, it is just advertised as a free domain - “Buy hosting from us and get a free domain”.  If you’re willing to pay for hosting, then great, but you don’t need to pay for hosting.  In the next section, I’ll explain free hosting. 

The second type is called a sub domain.  You can get hold of sub domains from various sources.  The most common place is through the hosting company you choose. 

The very first sub domain I used was www.stressfreedaily.bravehost.com.  Let’s separate the sub domain at each dot.  Obviously, the www is the normal prefix to indicate that you want to access a page on the world wide web.  The ‘stressfreedaily’ section is the unique name that I used for this website.  ‘Bravehost’, as you can assume, is the hosting department of Bravenet.  Then the ‘.com’ is the normal section which they call the top level domain name. 

This sub domain was free, but it’s not entirely professional. 

The first prize goes to truly free top level domains.  In my searches, I found three providers of free domains.  I used .za.net a couple of times in the past.  My personal experience was that it delivers everything that a paid-for domain name would deliver.  It’s professional and reliable.  Their web address is www.za.net.  At the same place, you can also register .za.org domain names. 

The downside of the .za.net or the .za.org domains is that it is only available to South African citizens, businesses and organizations.  Another small drawback, is that it may take up to three weeks for the domain to be active.  When we compare it to paid-for domains, the longest it that I waited for a domain to become active is 72 hours. 

I searched further for international free domains and I found .tk and .co.nr.  I never used any of these, so I can’t share my personal experience with you.  But visit their websites and find out for yourself.  www.freedomain.co.nr and www.dot.tk. 
 

Free Hosting

There are lots of companies that offer free hosting space in exchange for advertisements on you website.  I used it before at Bravenet and Yola.  (See what they did to my sample website at http://ezywebsites.yolasite.com/) 

Normally, these free packages are very limited in server space and bandwidth.  (I know this is industry jargon, please Goolge it’s meaning if you’re not familiar with it.)

I found one company that offers free hosting without advertisements.  www.000webhost.com.  They offer virtually no support to their free clients and sometimes some of their services are disabled for some time.  In the almost three years that I know of them, their auto installer function does not work.  So I learned to use their service on a ‘as is’ basis - I take them as they are.  They offer a good quality paid-for hosting service and their paid-for clients receive their attention first.  I’m also one of their paid-for clients, and there I receive good service from them. 

Another downside is that you must keep your website active.  If there is no movement on your site for a period of time, they suspend your account.  Just read their terms and conditions very carefully to understand their service.

Downsides apart - Their service is free, without advertisements.  I used then for a couple of websites.  Currently I’m not using it any more, but I do offer consultation to clients who do use 000webhost.com.  One such client is www.free2call.co.za.  This website is hosted on 000webhost.com.
 

Free Personalized Email Address

We all know how annoying the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it email addresses can be.  By using 000webhost.com, you have the ability to set up an email address using your own domain.  This would be something like This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 
 

Free Webpage Editor

If I’m not mistaken, there are quite a few free webpage editors.  When I started my career as a web developer, I used Microsoft Frontpage to develop my web pages.  Unfortunately, it’s not free.  One of my clients asked me to show them how to edit their existing webpage.  Since she didn’t have Frontpage, I start looking for free HTML editors.  I found Mozilla KompoZer and downloaded it.  (http://kompozer.net/)

It turned out to be a very easy and user friendly editor.  Still you need to figure it out, read the documentation and what not in order to use it to its full potential.  But it’s good software for beginners. 
 

Free Templates

Finding free templates to use in HTML websites is very easy.  There are countless of free templates available.  I used Free CSS Templates’ templates (www.freecsstemplates.org).  Soon you will also find free templates on my website (www.ezywebsites.co.za) as well. 

Most free template providers ask for a link back to their website in exchange for using their free template.  This is not a train smash to me.  You can see how I did it on www.health2u.co.za.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the link back to Free CSS Templates.
 

Free Images - Bonus

This is a little free bonus I added to this article.  I had the problem that most images are protected by copyright and I don’t want to use a copyrighted image on my websites. 

Searching for a business that provide true free images, took me a couple of months.  Most of the ‘normal’ free photos are royalty free or “something else free”, but not outright free.

Free Digital Photos offers truly free photos.  (www.freedigitalphotos.net)  At the time of writing this article, their only requirement is to place a link to their website.  Again, you can see what I did on www.health2u.co.za, at the bottom of the page. 
 

Free File Transfer Software

Well done - you completed your website using KompoZer and the free images from Free Digital Photos.  Now it’s time to get it onto the server.  This software compares to Window Explorer, where you can browse, create directories, copy/move files, etc.  File Transfer Protocol (FTP) connects your computer with your hosting server.  Now you can transfer files between your computer and the server. 

I use exclusively software called FileZilla.  (http://filezilla-project.org)  I used Windows Explorer for a while, but it was too complicated and maybe too unstable for me.  Once I was exposed to FileZilla, I never looked back. 

KompoZer also offers FTP, but I prefer to use FileZilla instead of KompoZer’s FTP component. 
 

Free Joomla Websites

Joomla is currently the software I use for all new websites I develop.  It is free software, user friendly and very powerfull.  There is one major drawback.  I don't know how to install it on 000webhost.com's servers.  In the paid hosting service I use, they offer an auto installer which I use to install Joomla on the server. 

You can read the instructions on how to install Joomla on their website at http://help.joomla.org/content/category/15/99/132/.  I didn't try it before, sorry that i won't be able to help there.  But when you do install Joomla successfully on the server, you have a very powerful tool to build websites.

In this article I shared the resources that are available to build a website with no money at all. 

Spending money for hosting, domain names and web development has it’s place.  Currently the only free service I still use is Free Digital Photos and FileZilla.  For everything else, I use the paid-for services.  I learned the basics of my skill as web developer using only free tools. 

This is the same place where I’d suggest that you start.  If you want a website, but don’t want to spend any money, now you know where to get great tools. 

In later articles, I’ll share basic pointers how to build a website.  In other words, I’ll show you the steps how to open a hosting account, register a domain name, setup an email account; everything in this whole process.  

There is also a free course that I can reccomend. I did this course in 2010.  This course take you from nothing and deliver a fully functional website.  Go to www.build-a-web.com for more details.