A Tip about Free Websites

You might occasionally encounter companies offering you a free website. Basically you can sign up, and start building your website for free.

But... a word of caution!

There are things they might not tell you when they're trying to sell you a free website. While a few companies will be completely upfront about these extra costs, others will fail to mention them ...until you've signed up:

• Your "free" website does not have it's own domain name (eg, www.yourname.com). If you want your own domain name, you'll have to pay for it. And you will probably pay more than you should.
• Your "free" website may have ads displayed all over it. This enables the company (not you), to earn money from your website. To remove the ads, you will usually have to pay money for a premium package.
• Most of the really good features are actually part of a "premium" package — which you have to pay for.

So, if you're shopping around, check for those three things before you sign up.

If you do choose the free option, I would highly recommend that you get your own domain name. Registering your own domain name is the best piece of advice I can give. Without this, your website does not have it's own "web address".

This might not sound like much now, but later, once you've built up a fantastic website with loads of content, you will see what I mean. Without your own domain name, your "web address" is not actually yours, it's the company who provides your "free" website. If they decide to change something, you could lose all your hard work. Imagine losing months, or even years, of hard work, just because you chose not to register a domain name!