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Best & Easiest `Free' Website Creator?

Hi All

I would like to create a website for my partner's business but we cannot afford to pay a company to create one.

I've seen many advertisements for creating `free' sites and believe it just involves paying to register a domain name and hosting fee.

Could anyone give me advice on which is the best to go for, i.e. cheapest, easiest in terms of setting up and maintaining (read that as easy for a dummy!). I have no experience, whatsoever, in setting up a website so really do need it to be simpleton-user-friendly.

I think I read on one of the posts that an MSE member had used 1 & 1 (or something like that) but that more costs were incurred along the way when the user wanted to edit the site.

I would be so grateful if I could be pointed in the right direction as I've tried googling `recommended' freebie sites but feel a little bamboozled as I'm not quite sure what to look for.

In case the subject matter of the intended use makes a difference it is for my partner's window blind supply and fitting service, bearing in mind the blinds are made-to-measure so customers would not be able to actually purchase them online.

Thank you :o

Comments

  • EPL
    EPL Posts: 121 Forumite
    Getting British Business Online is the one my friend used for his joinery business - I am not allowed to post links yet, but just google that or gbbo.

    Im sure he said it was completely free. Including domain registration and hosting.

    Might be worth you having a look at that.
  • I'd recommend Moonfruit, lots of professional looking templates, easy to use and customise and you can have a good looking website set up in a day. I've built lots of websites with Moonfruit and have always found them the best.
  • Be very careful with anything that gives you a domain for free, you may well find they own it and if you do outgrow their service they can have very heavy fees to sell you the domain.

    Low/ no upfront cost can be one of the most expensive prices to pay for a business website when you factor in lost sales/ customers etc. Not to say don't do it, and I'd encourage someone to do it for their hobby etc, but certainly think about it carefully. There are reasons why companies spend a lot of money on these things!

    Almost all web hosts will have 1 click install Wordpress and you can find hundreds of free designs (known as Themes) that you can upload to it. With these you again just pay hosting and domain fees.

    Wordpress is very straight forward but a bit more of a learning curve than something like moonfruit but you can take your website to almost any host in the world and it is a scalable solution. Moonfruit your stuck with them and they are set up to host millions of basic low traffic sites not high volume successful ones
  • weebly is really easy, no hosting fee just pay for your domain, if you havent bought one yet then it looks easiest to buy as you're going thru the procedure at weebly.

    coz if you make the website then transfer your domain it's a little technical
  • hotpot1000 wrote: »
    weebly is really easy, no hosting fee just pay for your domain, if you havent bought one yet then it looks easiest to buy as you're going thru the procedure at weebly.

    coz if you make the website then transfer your domain it's a little technical

    Thanks for your advice.

    I've had a look at Weebly and it does look extremely straightforward to set up from an I.T. idiot's point of view!

    I would be interested to know if any other MSE members have had experience of setting up their sites with Weebly, i.e. ease of use, customer service (when hitting a wall!), etc.

    Just want to ensure I choose the right path ...

    Thanks:rotfl:
  • i have 3 websites. all made by weebly. weebly is very easy to make website.
  • At my son's school the pupils are all taught how to build websites using Weebly. My son has made one for me for one of my hobbies. He is 14 and not very technical, so it must be fairly easy to use.
  • Weebly is good, but trying new kids on the block helps get the latest in technology. For example, webstarttoday.com or ucoz.com
  • YoDee wrote: »
    Weebly is good, but trying new kids on the block helps get the latest in technology

    Cutting edge technology can also be known as bleeding edge.

    If you need a basic site then go for a tried, tested and proven solution. Dont basically volunteer to be a late stage beta tester just for the sake of saying your using the latest when the oldest would have done what you needed without all the bugs
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