Free Website : 40 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Even Think About It

May 31st, 2017 | by Ravi Chahar || 9 Comments |

Free things always tempt people and it’s no new that many beginners have experienced it. What do you really mean by a free website?

In this era of internet, WordPress is the most preferable content management system which requires a web hosting and the domain name.

Instead of using that, people go for the free version of WordPress which turned out to be a platform with many limitations.

You should know that an idea of having a free website is really bad. Many companies provide the free web hosting for the self-hosted WordPress version but there are thousands of limitations.

In this article, you will learn why is an idea of having a free website is the worst.

Avoid A Free Website Even When You’re Broke

To start a self-hosted WordPress blog, you need to buy a domain name and a web hosting plan. And it’s not that much expensive.

Anyone can afford it. You have to pay once a year. It’s not a big deal. But freebies always attract people. Are you thinking about using the free web hostings?

Here are the reasons you should drop your idea.

#1. It’s Unprofessional

This internet market is all about how you manage to build your brand. Well, it’s sure that you can’t build your personal brand with a website address like yoursite.wordpress.com.

To behave like a professional, you need to buy a custom domain for the self-hosted WordPress version. Your website has a major impact on your branding.

#2. Security Issues

Millions of websites get hacked every year from which most of them are free. You can create your free website but you can’t harden the security because of its limited resources.

In WordPress, you can disable PHP execution, remove password lost link, use a security plugin and more. But at any other free platforms, you can’t.

#3. They Can Block You Anytime They Want

The platforms like Blogger.com and WordPress.com are great and millions of websites are running at them. But when you meet your worst nightmare of getting blocked, then you realize the need of having a self-hosted blog.

If Google senses any suspicious data, it will block you from accessing your Blogger.com website. The same can happen with any other free platform.

#4. Free Doesn’t Mean Always Free

Many website builders are providing the free trial and ask for the credit card. People get excited and start using. They forget that the charge after the trial period is so much than a web hosting.

They can even charge you without even notifying you. It’s the worst thing anyone can experience.

#5. You Can’t Own The Content

Yes, this is one the biggest demerits of using the free platforms. You can’t trademark even your personal content. It’s placed on their server and then can distribute it.

No ownership, no guarantee. But with the platforms like WordPress, you can add your ownership and no one can use your content without your permission.

#6. Extra Charges For More Tools

There are many hidden charges to use more tools like FTP, custom email address, website migration etc. Free web hostings don’t allow their users to access all the tools.

At some moment, you will need to transfer your website to a better web hosting which can be brainstorming. Your free web hosting customer service won’t help you.

#7. Not Allowed To Backup The Data

It’s always recommended to backup your website to be prepared for the worst. It’s possible that your free platform wouldn’t let you do that.

What if they ask for extra charges to maintain your website? Your own content can get stuck for no reason.

#8. Frequent Downtime

The server your website gets hosted at isn’t reliable. You will notice more frequent downtime because of many users. People like freebies and quality doesn’t come with the free resources.

That’s why it’s always recommended to use the best web hosting providers. Even if you’re using WordPress, you should sense the signs that you should change your web hosting.

#9. You Can’t Complain About The Downtime

The worst part is that you don’t have anyone to complain. For a free website, you don’t have the customer support option as you do with premium services.

You will be helpless which can lead to the guilt of not having a paid website resource.

#10. The Fear To Lose The Data

Because of no access to your data, you can lose it anytime. What if the server your website is hosted on gets crashed? This can be a nightmare.

You can ruin your hard work of the months or even years. You shouldn’t take any chances. This is one of the crucial things to think about.

#11. Unwanted Advertisements

You may be dreaming as if how can your free service provider make money. Well, all the free website builders are monetized with many advertisements.

And you can’t control it. You can only send a request if there is any option for that. Maybe they can ignore you or maybe remove a few.

#12. You Will Lose Your Domain Name

The main identity of your website is the domain name. You may buy a custom domain from the free platforms but there are chances that you will lose it when the server goes down.

And the worst part is when you realize the benefits of using the self-hosted WordPress version and don’t find any source to redirect your domain name.

#13. No 301 Redirect Available

While running a website you may need to set a few 301 redirects. And your free website isn’t capable of that which will directly result in many errors.

Google Search Console is everything you need to analyze your website’s health which will show many 404 errors. This is really a turnoff.

#14. Google Penalty

Many free website providers sell links which may cause the problem for your website. They want to make some money which can result in Google penalty.

You can’t do anything about it. You can only wait if you can access your website again after recovering from the penalty.

#15. Limited Disk Space

For a start, it’s okay to use the free platforms but once you pass the disk space level provided to your account, you either have to pay or stop working.

You don’t have the freedom to consume all the disk space available on their server. There are many people like you waiting.

#16. No Custom Email Address

It’s always believed that an email address with your domain name puts a positive impact. It seems professional and most of the free platforms don’t let you do that.

It’s important for your personal brand. Many people are even connecting their custom email address with a Gmail account.

You should know how to link Webmail to Gmail account for POP3 and SMTP.

#17. The Company Can Run Away

Yes, it’s possible that such companies can disappear within a few days. Your whole data, your hard work will nowhere.

You should never take such risk for your professional blog. To have a blogging career, it’s always recommended to use the best website resources.

#18. Limited Number of Pages

It’s possible that the creation of the pages is limited. You can’t expect your free website to be as many pages as you want.

They have to provide the bandwidth to many users. And you will end up getting frustrated and want to expand your website.

#19. Your Subdomains Will Get Disappeared

Once you decide to migrate your website to a better web hosting company, you may not find your subdomains to replicate.

They may only allow you to copy the data of your main domain. And here is another limitation you wouldn’t like.

#20. Limited Tools

To build a professional website, you need more tools which can’t be provided by the free website builders. That’s the reason people are shifting to WordPress.

Even a WordPress.com website needs more professional tools which aren’t available anywhere else.

#21. People Don’t Trust You

If you’re thinking about building your business which can help you make some money then forget about it. People don’t buy anything from such websites.

It directly impacts your website’s credibility.

#22. No Error Solution

If somehow they allow you to install WordPress, they can’t handle its common errors. While running a website, you may encounter many errors.

But in WordPress, you can get common WordPress errors and their solutions.

#23. Limited Designs

Free website builders don’t really have much design options. You can’t have the design the way you want. That’s why people are using WordPress to have their custom design.

For non-techie people, there are many WordPress theme providers.

#24. Fear of Malware Code Injection

You can’t expect any kind of security for free. If your free website builder gets hacked then your website will have to face a hard time.

It may possible that the malware distribution is done. It’s because the company doesn’t have it all alone. You have to suffer too.

#25. No Custom Options

Unlike WordPress, you can’t have the customization options on the free platforms. Even the full-hosted WordPress version has many limitations.

#26. Poor SEO

Here comes the worst part. At free platforms, you can’t optimize your website for SEO. The plugins like Yoast SEO can’t be used.

There are millions of articles about improving the SEO of your website which will irritate you because of your helplessness.

For WordPress, you can install and set up Yoast SEO plugin.

#27. Search Engine Indexing Is Not So good

It’s the fact that a free domain doesn’t get indexed as fast as a custom domain name. Search engine seeks for the reliable websites.

And a free platform can’t build the trust you need. The credibility wouldn’t be as good as a premium platform like WordPress.

#28. You Can’t Find Any Expert To Get Help From

You should understand that to solve your problems, you can’t reach out to any experts because there is no one. People don’t learn the things they don’t find future with.

#29. Hard To Monetize

People start their online business to make money and if possible they dream to make a living. But it’s not possible with a free website.

Google AdSense is one of the biggest sources to make money online. But it doesn’t accept the ad request for a free website.

#30. No Automatic Backups

A few companies allow to backup your website but it’s not possible to set the automatic backups like WordPress. You can use a plugin or even many web hostings backup every day.

#31. You Can’t Create Custom Error Pages

The default error pages can be a bad user experience. At platforms like WordPress, you can create custom error pages.

Unfortunately, there is no such option at free website builders.

#32. Hard To Analyze Your website

To track the growth of your website it’s important to use the tools like Google Analytics. On a free website, it may be one of the biggest problems.

It’s because there is no plugin to add the Google Analytics code to your website. And if you try to edit the website code then maybe you can’t access it.

#33. Outdated Markup

To match the current coding markup, it’s important to have a website running on the latest coding trends. The free website may be only running on an HTML template which isn’t authentic.

#34. Poor Page Loading Time

The speed of your website impacts the most. You can’t expect a good page loading time from a free website. But on the platforms like WordPress, you have a lot more to do.

You can use any of the caching plugins, clean up your WordPress database, remove extra JavaScript codes and much more.

#35. No Customer Support

You can’t have the personal customer support like you do with premium web hosting companies. Every company has the live chat option where you can complain about anything.

You can even submit an official complaint ticket.

#36. Hard To Delete Your Website

At some point, you may realize the limitations and think about deleting your website. Well, it’s really hard to get rid of.

It’s because the content is hosted on their server and they have the full access. Your website will remain on their server and they will be making money from it.

#37. You Will Get Bombarded With Many Emails

Free doesn’t always mean free. The company will send you many promotion emails to sell their products. The worst part is that you can’t even unsubscribe.

It’s because your email address is connected to your website account.

#38. No Mobile Responsive Design

Everyone knows that people want the mobile responsive website because most of the people are using smartphones.

Creating a website which can be run on all the screen sizes wouldn’t be possible with free website builders. Even Google doesn’t show such websites in the search results.

#39. Your Time Will Get Wasted

I can only say that the time you spend on building a free website is just the waste. Instead of that, you should start a WordPress blog with a better web hosting.

Buy a new domain name and start something which can be lucrative.

#40. No Contact Option

On the websites created with WordPress, you can create a new contact us page so that your readers can contact you.

But it can’t happen while using the free platforms. I am sure, you have read it many times how important it is to add a contact us page on your website.

Drop the Idea of a Free Website And Start With WordPress Platform

In this era of blogging, everyone is running towards only one platform and that’s WordPress.

It’s because of user friendliness. Anyone can start a new blog using WordPress. We are talking about the self-hosted WordPress version here.

You can buy the web hosting from Inmotionhosting with a free domain name and choose a better theme from Elegant themes, MyThemeShop or any other website.

People are shifting from other platforms to WordPress because of its percentage is increasing day by day.

Stop thinking about money and start investing a few bucks in having your blog ready. The free website isn’t you should think about. if you face any problem, feel free to contact us.

You can also connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.