Everyone has a website now. Even your neighbor's dog probably has their own site! So how can you join in the fun and maybe even make some money? With free hosting, you can quickly create a site and make it live on the web in minutes. Follow this guide and you will soon have a site that is so beautiful it will even make your neighbor's dog look bad.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Finding a Service
Step 1. Ask yourself what kind of website you want to get
The needs of your site will lead you to choose the particular type of hosting service you should look for. If you are going to do business with your website, you need to make sure the host supports online stores. If you want to create a wiki, there are many free wiki hosts that specialize in creating and maintaining wikis. If you want a blog, blogging sites can set one up for you in minutes.
Step 2. Find a free web host
There are many choices when it comes to web hosting, so we recommend that you spend some time comparing their features. Most operators offer limited services for free sites and typically place advertisements on your site in their favor. It will probably also be a subdomain of the host, rather than being a separate site (eg. Yoursite.host.com, instead of yoursite.com). Among the most popular free hosting sites:
- Wordpress
- Webs
- Angelfire
- Google sites
- Webnode
- Wikia (Wiki-specific host)
Step 3. Compare the features
Each host will offer different services at a free level. Most hosts have a data limit that they can upload to your web page and this is typically very limited. This means that if you are planning to have a multimedia site with images and videos, you will not be able to effectively use a free site.
- Free hosts have different policies regarding the creation of online stores. If you intend to create an e-commerce site, make sure the service you choose can adequately support your goals.
- Additionally, most free hosts have very low bandwidth limits. This means that they don't work very well as file archives, as downloading some of them can quickly saturate the allowed limit of data.
- Check to see if the host allows you to upload your site. Most free hosts offer web page building tools and don't allow you to upload your own custom code. This is fine for the most basic needs, but if you want to be able to create your own custom site, make sure the host allows it.
Step 4. Browse the available templates
If you can, check the options offered on each host by these web page builders. Browse the pre-made templates to see if there is one that fits your style with a particular host.
Many hosts have specific designs for their sites that help maintain a brand identity with that host. Find the design that best fits your website needs
Step 5. Check the uptime certifications
Hosting companies should be able to tell how much uptime they guarantee. While no webhost can promise 100% uptime, we recommend finding one that ensures at least 99%. Even with 99% uptime, which seems a very high percentage, the site will still not be available for about three days a year!
Part 2 of 3: Creating a Site
Step 1. Create an account
All free hosts will require you to create an account. Depending on the different hosting companies, you may not need to add your billing information unless you plan to upgrade to a paid account.
Step 2. Choose a domain name
Free services typically allow you to create a subdomain of their address for free and offer regular paid domains. Some hosts allow you to connect a domain you already own to their servers for free.
You can purchase a top-level domain name (www.yourname.com) for an annual amount and link it to your free site. Be sure to check that your service allows this. Domain registration companies include GoDaddy, Register.com, Domain.com, Dyn.com, and many others
Step 3. Create your web page
Most free hosts make website configuration programs available within them. These programs allow you to choose pre-built templates and some also allow you to customize elements such as CSS.
- Web page composers allow you to add text and images with minimal effort and create a functioning website in a very short amount of time. Many simply allow you to drag and drop images onto the site. Most require little or no coding experience.
- Most websites provide the tools to create your website online, without having to download any editing programs. Since you are creating the site through their service, you will not have to worry about using FTP and cPanel programs to upload content to your site.
- Most services offer a wide variety of tutorials to help you create your site and get it up and running as quickly as possible.
- If your web host allows it, you can upload your own HTML files to really create your own custom website. For more information on HTML coding, you can check out a guide. If you want to upload your site, you will need to use an FTP program to access the server.
Step 4. Publish your site
Once you're happy with the layout and content of your site, it's time to hit the business! If you have a blog or classifieds site, it's a good idea to create a welcome / introduction post that explains the purpose of the site and introduces yourself. This will help readers feel a sense of welcome when they visit the site and will give them a quick summary of the content of your pages.
Part 3 of 3: Growing the Site
Step 1. Continue creating content
Sites that consistently post new and useful content will get far more hits than sites that stagnate, without any updates. Do your best to produce engaging content that draws the reader to the site for more information. Stick to an update schedule so readers can get used to when new content becomes available.
The best way to increase traffic to your site is to consistently create good, engaging, and original content. This will get you more visitors and help you keep the ones you already have
Step 2. Advertise on your site
Check with your host to see if it's allowed, as many free hosts don't allow you ad revenue when you use their free services. Placing ads on your site can help you make money, but it can also discourage people from reading your content if the ads are too invasive.
Step 3. Advertise your site
Once you have a complete website and regularly add content, you can start advertising your site. You can choose to pay to advertise your site through programs like Google AdSense or you can promote it yourself through social media like Facebook or Twitter.
Step 4. Submit your site to search engines
Search engines index the web to match site content to user searches. To really start attracting tons of people to your site, we recommend submitting it to all the major search engines. The process varies by search engine, but almost all of them will initially require you to create a sitemap for your site.
- With Google, you can choose to submit only the URL of your site or you can submit the entire sitemap for more optimized searches.
- With Yahoo! Bing, you can submit just the URL or your sitemap, which must be in XML format, in a myriad of different ways.
Advice
- Use a short and simple domain name so people can easily remember it.
- Try to submit your site to Google, Yahoo, or other major search engines. This will make your site more popular.
- Look at the FAQs on the host's website that will provide you with more information about their products and services.
- Design your website with a free WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) program or learn how to create a simple web page from scratch using HTML. You can also search for free templates online. Some free web page editors, such as Webs, require no technical or designer skills, which is convenient for non-tech savvy people.
- Search the free web host listings and visit them. Read what they can provide you and choose the one that best suits your needs. For example, if you intend to upload a lot of photos and videos, make sure you choose a web host that provides enough hosting space for the files.
