Using a template doesn’t take any coding skills to put a professional-looking website together and, as an added bonus, this kind of template also comes with free hosting. As well, it only takes about a day to get your website up and running. This can be a good option for someone who needs a website and has no money or coding skills. However, there are some pros and cons to this kind of website, which is what this article is about.
The Pros
The pros of a free website template start right off the bat. First of all, there are thousands of designs to choose from – even blank templates. These templates are all professionally designed by nationally known companies with incredible-looking graphics and features. Even if you paid someone full price to design a website for you, it wouldn’t look as good as the free ones you can find on the Internet. The designs are even cataloged specifically under categories like real estate, consulting, business, medical services, and restaurants; just to name a few. So no matter what kind of business you have, you can find a template that is already geared towards your company.
Secondly, there are no special computer skills or programs needed to use a free website template. As far as programs go, everything that you need is included with the template, so there really is nothing to buy. As well, most of the technology is point-and-click, so there is nothing to learn as far as coding goes. These websites are easy to update as your business or message changes. Generally speaking, the website is also submitted to the search engines – so even this task is taken care of once you hit the auto publish button. One last thing is that many of these free templates are coded with CSS or HTML so they are search engine friendly.
The Cons
There are several drawbacks to dealing with these ‘free’ kinds of companies. The first hindrance being that you will have to pay for the domain name, because it has to be registered to you in order for you to have a website. While a domain name generally only costs less than $20.00 US, the free hosting company will still own your domain name; and if you don’t like the hosting service and decide to move to another web hosting company, you may have to pay them to take it with you. This is on top of the yearly domain name fee that is paid to the registrar and may be expensive.
Also, while the website template and the hosting may be of no charge, don’t think you are getting the template for free. As soon as the website goes live, so will the advertisements on your site. That’s right. These free companies make money by selling advertising on your web site, and you have no control over it. This means that they can advertise your competitors, companies that are against what you are trying to promote, or anyone else that wants to pay to advertise on your site. If you like your web design, you will have to pay for it to take it with you along with the domain name if you don’t like the situation with the advertisers. These may be little things to some people, but as you can see, there are a few things to consider when you work with a free website template if you have a website that will be important to an ongoing business.
