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Many entrepreneurs try to create their websites on their own and preferably for free. Is free website creation a good idea? Yes, it will certainly save considerable costs but as a result this decision can do more harm than good. Let’s take a closer look.

A website is your seller who works 24 hours a day.

Web design is a modern way of selling in the 21st century. In the past a good seller was a salesman who had great communication and knew how to manage telephone sales. Today a good seller is the one who can sell online.

Compared to traditional sales the online model is far more scalable. Your site can sell a product or service to hundreds of customers at one time. You can find more in our last article Online business is a clear direction for the future.

The website is your asset and represents your company. The more you actively develop the site, the better your position on search engines is , such a Google or Bing. Those who are not aware of this fact are at the risk of easily be overtaken by the competition which will have a better overall online business model (websites, SEO optimization, business model).

Today’s reality is that without a website almost no business is competitive in the long run. For example if your competitor has a better website where they have a better explained product or service, the customer will purchase from there.

Today’s customers are googling first products or services they need or want. Thanks to smartphones every mobile phone today has internet and googling is a matter of seconds. What happens when a customers comes across a website that the owner made himself? Let’s take a closer look.

Free website creation

It’s very easy to create your own website without having to understand programming or graphics. Tools like wix.com, shopify.com  and many more are adapted for users to handle everything themself without any technical problems. What happen when a person who has never done a web design start creating websites?

The chances of success are slim

Web design has it’s own rules and tricks. If you know how to style text and where to place graphics or photos then the whole site can have many times higher orders. The main thing about it is that the user on the website should have a very good UX (user experience) and everything must be as clear and understandable as possible.

What conversions can a person who has no experience with web design achieve? Probably very small or none.

Free website creation platforms have pre-built templates but you need to realize that every product, service or company is unique. The presentation will always require adjustments tailored to the needs. There is the key for greatest chance of many orders. Here are some basic beginner mistakes on free websites that they don’t solve at all.

1) Web Analytics

You may think and believe in something but the data have to shows you were right. The basic mistake of people who have created a website for free is that they do not monitor or evaluate data from web analytics.

It is also important to realize that evaluating user behavior on the site over the past six months can have a major impact on a website’s success or failure.

2) Attendance

Most people who have a free website think that with a finished website all the work is done. On the contrary the hardest work is just beginning. In order for your new website to increase your turnover and profits you need to work on stable traffic. Visitors have to get to your website somehow and that just won’t happen by itself.

Attendance can be built for example through the content marketing, seo optimization, PPC advertising or social media. However, it is always necessary to choose the right tool for the given situation.

3) Building a strong position in search engines (SEO)

The leading position in search engines is the most valuable asset of every company in modern times. The first thing what people do when they have any question is type it into a search engine. Companies that are at the forefront of their main keywords have a stable supply of new customers.

How will a person who made a website for free deal with SEO optimization ? This person does not realize at all that every new website should immediately start working on SEO optimization, so that search engines start to show them at the forefront of search results as soon as possible.

SEO optimization is a very complicated operation that entire agencies and companies specialize in. Individuals without knowledge about how a new website should work to be on the top  SEO optimization.

4) Branding, Logo and Visual Appearance

The majority of people who create a website for free do not solve at all branding, logo and overall visual identity of the site. The logo and color matching makes a huge visual and professional impression from across the web. Here at  Webfusion.io our knowledgeable and experience graphic designers know exactly what shapes and colors to choose to make the overall impression of the website look at its best.

How do you think the visual identity of a website will look by a individual who has no experience with graphics and general work with formats as png or jpeg ? It is guaranteed that if a website visitor decides between two companies, he will definitely choose the one that will give him a more professional impression.

Why would I want to do something with a company that doesn’t even have a professional website? Will their work look bad? This is exactly what site visitors think.

5) Optimized business model for online environment

Sales on a website are completely different from normal physical sales. It is necessary to start thinking as a website visitor who has a potential interest in your product or service.

First of all is very important to look at your service or product and find out how best to sell in an online environment. If you need a lot of personal approach and contact, it will be good to think about some chat system on the web that encourages contact. But if you sell screws and nuts or similar materials, it will be good to have everything maximally automated so that you only monitor the stock levels.

Every business requires a certain style of communication that customers need. Is necessary to set everything correct so that the website visitor can easily perform a conversion and make order of your service or purchase a product.

Do you think all this factors to set up website are possible to receive from a beginner who wants to make a website for free?

6) Loading speed

Website loading speed is one of the key parameters of every website.The natural feature of any website should be to make the loading speed as fast as possible. Good site optimization for fast loading consists of many factors (especially technical).

For example, the biggest mistake of beginners when creating a website is that they upload photos in full quality to the website ( big photo size 4 MB) and the whole loading of the website from the point of view is completely wrong. Because of this mistake sites are always located at the back of the search.

Slow website loading generally reduces the user experience of viewing a website from the site visitor’s perspective. A large percentage of people still do not have high-speed internet and when they load for a longer period of time they automatically leave the website.

Conclusion

Free website creation can definitely be good for various non-profit organizations or sports clubs that are not profit-oriented. However, for websites that are primarily intended to generate profit are free creation not enough. I personally think that a user who does not have direct experience with online business and web design can never achieve the result as a person who makes it for living.

If you are really dealing with costs and it is difficult for you to spend thousands of dollars on a website that will be the cornerstone of your business, I recommend investing in at least web design class where you get valuable advice to make your website look at least serious and makes sense.

Petr Sanetrník

Petr má ve Webfusion na starost organizaci jako je nastavování procesů, vedení porad nebo určování strategických cílů do budoucna.