Starting a Website

[countrygirl12]

Does anyone know where you can make a website for FREE?  I have debated for a couple of days and finally decided to start on one today on a site I had found but then after you get started you finally see there is a charge per month.  I have had my own website before (the space came with my internet service and email) but I didn't have a lot of traffic.  I can't even get people I know to look at it.  Or it is a one time thing and that's it.    

I don't have a problem with paying a monthly fee to have my own website IF I have traffic to the site.  I would like to have a free site for a while and see if I can get some hits to the site.  I can always make a paid one later.

People are always saying how "easy" it is but no one seems to be able to tell me HOW to do it.  Or if they do they are extremely vague in what they say.   

[gaby_ro_2004]

I was trying to find a free website before but nobody wants to help me.Or a free blog.

[countrygirl12]

lol.  I KNOW how you feel.  I have found several sites online but when I get started and get farther into it then it pops up and tells me how much it will cost me a month.  I am not going to pay for something that nobody looks at.  I don't know how you get traffic.  And it is not as easy as "just tell people your web address".    And sites like this you are not allowed to post link to your other stuff.

I can design websites and have designed several.  But years ago there were several places where you could have your own site and it was actually free.  One was yahoo.  Your space was limited but that was fine and for what I want to do I don't need a lot of space.  I have also designed a couple of sites for a local company.  But they pay for the web space.  So designing is not my problem.  I want to find some where that hosts free websites.

[minioncookies]

That is a tough one because most websites offer a free trial for about a year or so and then you do eventually pay a fee..  Here is are a few websites that might help or you can look into i am sure there are many more out there if you are not satisfied with any of the below websites

yola.com
web.com
wix.com
weebly.com
moonfruit.com
jigsy.com
buildyoursite.com
webhostinghub.com
ipage.com
sitebuilder.com
websitebuilder.com
sitey.com
sitelio.com
squarespace.com
godaddy.com
webs.com
webstarts.com
doodlekit.com

[countrygirl12]

Thank you.  I have already been on web.com and webs.com and both sites wanted me to pay to start with.  Even though it says it is free when you first start.   I also was on the weebly.com site and they wanted money as well as godaddy.com.  You can build your site, I guess, for free but then you pay per month for them to host the site.  I need something totally FREE.

IF I had it free for 1 year then I would know if I wanted to let it go or continue and then pay for the service.  That would be fine.

I will check out the other sites you listed.  Thanks again for listing them.  : )

[lvstephanie]

You may also consider various blog-hosting sites. They tend to offer free blog sites although they may also limit how you can monetize the site by adding banners, etc. so as to keep the pages true blogs. Still if all you are wanting is a way to see how to attract visitors to the site, then being able to monetize the site may not be necessary; if you find that you are getting enough visitors to monetize the site, then you could move the site over to a host that requires a monthly fee.

[countrygirl12]

NONE of those sites are free.  Every one of them wants me to pay a monthly fee.  That's the problem.  I do not have the money to pay a monthly fee to have a website especially if I am not getting any traffic.  If I find I am getting traffic and the site is getting hits then I have no problem paying a fee to generate more traffic.  I know how to find sites that I can have a site on.  I would probably go with godaddy if I were going to pay.

lvstephanie- Basically I want to have a place I can post referral banners to sites like this one that I am a member of.  That is how people make money on these type of sites.  They have a ton of referrals and the referrals make their money for them.  But I need for the site to have traffic for that to happen.  I had a blog page at one time but no one looked at it.  I at the time posted on a facebook page I had and asked friends/family to look at it.  I gave the link to a couple friends and sent email links.  NO ONE even bothered to go see the page.  And I can see how many people were hitting the page.

Other than that I don't know or even care what is on the page.  I read something last night that said it doesn't matter if YOU like it but if the audience likes it.   I know a girl who use to have a couple of *bleep* sites.  She was not into *bleep* but other people were.  She was making thousands of dollars a month by offering the site with a paid subscription.  She had the know how of how to run the sites.  She was not interested in what was on the site but was interested in the money.

[countrygirl12]

A couple of p - o - r - n sites.  Good grief.  We can handle seeing that word!

[countrygirl12]

You may also consider various blog-hosting sites. They tend to offer free blog sites although they may also limit how you can monetize the site by adding banners, etc. so as to keep the pages true blogs. Still if all you are wanting is a way to see how to attract visitors to the site, then being able to monetize the site may not be necessary; if you find that you are getting enough visitors to monetize the site, then you could move the site over to a host that requires a monthly fee.

Do you know of a good blog hosting site?  Obviously I am not smart enough to find them on my own. lol.  I don't know exactly what to "blog" about.  My life is not that interesting.  I tried doing one before and doing like product reviews but obviously no one cared. lol  : )

[oldbuddy]

With all the problems free web hosting is infamous for, why would anyone use them to same $1 a month? That's all it costs for an account with AngryHosting and you don't even need to buy a domain name. You just use your user name followed by their domain name and you are good to go.

[countrygirl12]

oldbuddy- I was thinking godaddy had something for $1 a month and I was thinking about doing that but it's only for a short time and then the rate goes up.  I was not aware there were a ton of problems with free web hosting.  I would rather have my own domain name instead of something.their domain name.  I have never heard of angryhosting. 

So can you tell me this - what if I go with godaddy and set up a domain do you know if I have to sign a contract?  I want to be able to stop using them at any time if I so choose.  If they work well then I would stay with them.  Also, can you tell me if they have something I can use to build the site?  I built one with FrontPage, actually 3 with FrontPage, and then had problems uploading because the host didn't support that software.

If I do this I am fine with simple if it will just work and work all the time.  Front Page allowed me to make the page more fancy.  : )

[sanglee]

there are plenty of website free sites out there one is yola.com and another is godaddy.com

[articx]

The free hosts I use are 50webs, freehostia, and byethost.

[countrygirl12]

there are plenty of website free sites out there one is yola.com and another is godaddy.com

godaddy is NOT free.  I am on their site right now.  It starts at $1 a month (which is NOT free) and then after a year it goes to $11.99 a month.

[countrygirl12]

The free hosts I use are 50webs, freehostia, and byethost.

The 50webs actually has a link to set up a free site but it still wants my credit card info.  IF it is really free they do not need my credit card info.

Thanks to everyone who has commented.  I am seriously looking at the godaddy and paying for it.  Now I just have to figure out what software I need to design the site and how to upload it. lol