The Process
This lays out the step by step process for how you obtain your free website.
We have to remind you that though our service of design and setup are free domain and hosting will be required. A domain name and hosting is a fee that is unavoidable no matter what avenue you take to get a website. We simply could not afford to provide these services for free as we would have to absorb the costs. However, we have located a few of the lowest cost options on the internet, which are pretty affordable at any budget.
You Domain Name is the address which your customers type to reach your website (i.e. www.yourcompany.com). This is necessary and can cost you upwards of $30 plus. It is usually charged on a yearly basis. We have found the lowest price to be through yahoo domains at a cost of $1.99 for the first year. They charge $34.95 for each year after that. You have the option of transferring your domain to another provider before your term is up. There are many lower cost solutions for the follow up years and we can help you with that as well, but for the first year $1.99 is by far the cheapest.
There are options available for a free domain, but it will be to the benefit of the provider as it won't be as simple as 'www.yourdomain.com'. It is usually something like www.freeprovider.com/yourcompany or something of that nature. This isn't recommend if you're trying to portray a professional business image and is easy for your customers to forget. We recommend paying the small annual fee as the name will be more professional and personal to your needs. We will work with you no matter what type of domain name you decide to go with.
A Website Hosting Service is a place where your websites information will be held. Just like images and files take up space on your computer's hard drive, so does the information contained in the design of your website. Without a hosting service nobody would be able to view your sites content. We have found that one of the best prices and services to be through HostGator. They have a plan for $8.95 per month for a single domain name, $4.95 per month if you pay for 36 months. Plus you can register your domain name through them as well, but it'll cost you about $15. We recommend sticking with the Yahoo option and calling us to combine the two services.
HostGator also has a sitedesigner that you can choose a layout and add your own content. If you feel comfortable with giving that a shot, feel free. We will be more than happy to give you a hand with that as well at no charge. If you choose a template from us, however we have the capabilities of changing the layout to suit your needs. Choosing a template elsewhere may have restrictions on what we're allowed to do as the design may be copyrighted. The decision is entirely yours and we're here to help you either way.
Your Content is needed to make your site your own. It's up to you to provide your content in order to make it personal to your business or service. This would include images, logos, text, contact info, whatever it is you need to display on your website. The reason we need you to provide this information is we can't simply make up information and images to represent a business/service we know nothing about. It has to be your information, not ours.
So the content fully depends on what you want to represent your company. You have five pages to fill and it's up to you what you want those pages to consist of. Your home, or index page as it's referred to is the first page users land on after typing your web address. The information here can consist of a welcome intro, mission statement, company photos and links to your other pages. The other four pages can be whatever you want them to be. Some common pages would be services, contact information, about us page, photos and testimonials.
We can help you with ideas, but the content must be worded to ultimately represent you or your company.
