Review: Free Website Providers

Now anyone can set up a free website, with hosting included, so why bother paying?  Well they all have their limits. You will be restricted to certain layouts and will have the providers branding on your website, but if you have no web development skills and really can't afford to pay a designer or developer, then you have no other option than a free provider.

My advice it to pay for design, development and hosting, if you can, but if you can't, Get British Business Online is the best free option that I have found, although it is only free for the first year. devhub is the next best option, in my opinion, but here's a brief review of the four main ones.

Google Sites
It's free and easy to set up a website through Google, with a Google URL, similar to http://sites.google.com/site/londonaestheticclinic/.  You can use your own domain name, but you will have to pay for it, register it and set it up, yourself.  Although there are over 50 templates to choose from, and you can make layout changes, providing more choice, the layouts are still very restrictive.  You can't have 3 columns for example.  There is a powered by Google Sites footer, but most free sites have something similar.  The main downside of Google Sites is the fact that it strips JavaScript, and other code, so simple things like adding a Facebook like button become near impossible. This is a good place to start for a non-developer who just wants a simple site without having to pay for it, but a developer or someone wanting more than just a simple site will need more.

WebStarts
WebStarts allows you to set up a free website, with a URL like http://demosample.webstarts.com. If you want to use your own domain name, prices start at $4.89/month. WebStarts offers a much wider range of layouts than Google Sites, but some of them are very restrictive (for example, in the demo site, I set up, the text div does not expand with the text, so the amount of text you can use it limited), and the WebStarts toolbar along the bottom is much more intrusive than the Google Sites footer. You can't change the template once you chosen it, or customise it in anyway, like you can with Google Sites, but you can add Flash and Facebook buttons easily.  I'd say WebStarts is worth checking out and if there is a template that you like, exactly as it is, it's worth going for, but if you need the freedom to adjust the design, Google Sites is a better option.

devhub
Now this one is more like a game than a website service.  Like Google Sites, you can use your own domain name for free, but you have to register it yourself. Alternatively, you can register one when you set the site up, but you will have to pay for it.  If you don't use your own domain name, the URL will be similar to http://devhubsample.devhub.com.  There's only 2 free layouts to choose from, although you can change the colours easily.  You can easily add pre-defined social media add ons, such as Twitter feeds and share buttons, but you can't embed your own code with out purchasing the add on, which costs £24.95/year or 990 'coins'.  Each time you change your site, you earn experience points and 'coins' that can be used to buy premium features.  There are various advertising modules that you add really easily, and for free, to allow your site to make money. Earning coins and experience points can be fun and the devhub drag a drop interface is much easier to use than both Google Sites and WebStarts. There is a powered by devhub footer, but it you want something that is free and easy, then this one is the most fun and probably the easiest.

Get British Business Online
This is powered by Yola.com and offers a free .co.uk domain name.  The hosting is only free for the first year, but you don't have to put in any payment details to get it. "After that, you may renew your subscription for £30.90 (23% off the regular price)." I set up a sample site, for this blog, at http://www.webdevelopmenttips.co.uk.  The template can not be customised, although the CSS can be edited, but there are a lot of templates to choose from.  There are a number of widgets that you can add, without needing to put any code in, but if you do need to paste in code you can, by adding the HTML widget. There is no Yola.com or Get British Business Online on your website, although there is a link to the designer of the template.