A good product is only good when it is visible to your customers
Well, in today’s time, a website is a must if you want to do any kind of business. But what if you do not know whether it is the right way to go ahead or running on a tight budget?
Below are some solutions you can look into if you have similar questions.
What are the things needed to start your own website?
You would require a domain name, where people (and google) will try and find you. That could be your business name or something that might tell people about your business.
Then you will require hosting to store information (the website content) and display it when requested by the customers.
There are a lot of others things to make your website popular, but today we are going to just try and understand the basics of creating a website and making it live.
Domain
Free Domain
Yes, you can get a free domain as well. If you are just starting up and need a place to try new things, add some static information to a website to make sure you have an online presence, then you can use a free domain.
The pros are –
A. Of course, it is free.
B. Somewhat reliable.
But the cons are –
A. It is hard/not possible to get TDL’s domains (Like .com, .co, .org) with such providers.
B. They are free for a short duration of time (Max 1 yr)
C. Do not provide any type of privacy or security features.
D. No business email
Let’s see where you can get free domains.
Freenom
Freenom is best recommended for testing purposes when you have doubts. You can use a combination of a free domain and free hosting for some time and learn/test it out and then switch to a paid provider.
You can just register for free and pick your domain, They usually have .tk, .ga, .ml, .cf, .gq domains.
Freenom has been there for quite some time (More than 12 yrs). They have raised more than $3 Million in funding so far.
GetFreeDomain.name
As the name suggests getfreedoman provides free domains as well. They provide .us.to, .eu.org, .tk, .ml, .ga domains.
Again they do not provide SSL for free or any kind of security. You actually do not own it, it’s more like renting it out. It is free for 1yr.
Free domain with Web Hosting
Well, I think this is the best way to go forward. A lot of hosting companies will give you free domain registration (Including .com, .co, .org etc) if you buy any of their hosting services. And this will be wise. Because you will actually own the domain, will also get an SSL certificate (Given free most of the time but not always) at the price of hosting your website.
You can choose from any of the below companies that provide this offer.
Hostinger
BlueHost
Hostpapa
PorkBun
Web Hosting
Free Hosting
Again this should be used primarily for testing. If you want to see how your content will look like, or what your customers think about your website this is a good way to go about it. There are some pros and cons as well with such providers.
Pros:
A. Free
B. Uptime (A lot of them give upto 99.9% uptime.
C. Free emails
D. Free Storage (Limited but reasonable in most cases)
Cons:
A. Low bandwidth in the Free package. (They will not entertain a lot of traffic) That means if your site becomes popular, it will shut down. So just for testing and demo purposes only.
B. Security and safety
InfinityFree
Infinityfree is a well-known platform for free website hosting services for quite some time now. In InfinityFree web hosting, you are provided with unlimited disk space and but the bandwidth is limited. Also, you can host an unlimited number of domains. InfinityFree doesn’t offer domain registration services on its platform. There are no time restrictions for free web hosting, you can use it for as long as you want. You are not required to place any unwanted ads on your website.
Highlights:
Unlimited Disk Space
400 MySQL Databases
Ad-Free Hosting
Free DNS Service
10 free email accounts
99.9% uptime
No credit card details are required for a free account.
000webhost
000webhost is actually a sister concern of Hostinger. It is also a very popular free web hosting provider. In 000webhost free hosting, you will get a cPanel, a WordPress auto-installer, a website builder tool, etc. They support PHP, MySQL, CSS, JavaScript, etc., and also, there is no need to place unwanted ads by the service provider (i.e., Ad-free hosting). You can use 000webhost free forever, with an option to upgrade.
Highlights:
300 MB of Disk Space
Ad-Free Hosting
Complete PHP & MySQL Database Support
One-Click Installation Process
Various Free Templates
Upto 2 Active accounts
Not required to share Credit card details for a free account.
FreeHostia
FreeHostia is a good platform with many advanced features. Due to its easy-to-install feature, reasonable disk space, and bandwidth, it is the most popular with free web hosting users. The platform has a user-friendly cPanel, inbuilt scripts installer, load-balancing cluster technology, advanced security, etc. Freehostia’s load-balanced cluster platform is much faster in comparison to conventional shared hosting setups.
Highlights:
Storage up to 250MB
5 Hosted Domains
Various Free Templates
Better security
Includes Site Management Tools
6GB bandwidth
So those were the free Domains and Hosting services that I think are good for beginners or testing purposes. Below are some of the cheap but good options to start and keep running a small business. They are small business friendly and you can upgrade as your business scales up.
Free Domain with Paid Hosting
Hostinger
In the last few years Hostinger has proven to be the fast-growing and most reliable hosting service out there. They started with free hosting and quite gained a good reputation and now they are leading hosting providers worldwide. Their pricing is still most reasonable for the features they provide. They also bundle free domains with their hosting services.
Below are their features for their minimum price package:
$2.99/month. ($6.99/month upon renewal) (NOTE* This is a 4-year package price)
Unmetered traffic (Unlimited GB)
100 Websites
100 GB SSD Storage
Free Weekly Backup
24/7 Customer Support
Unlimited Free SSL
Free Domain
Free Email
Optimized for WordPress
Website Builder
For full pricing details Click here
BlueHost
Bluehost is more like a one-place al solution kind of platform. They not only provide domain, and hosting, they also provide complete store builder for additional charges. They are more into selling advance services than just providing hosting. So if you think you need assistance with such kind of services without much technical knowledge, Bluehost is the place to be.
For their basic 1 yr plan they offer:
$2.99/month ($9.99/month upon renewal)
1 domain – 1 yr free
Free SSL only first yr
Free CDN Enabled
Support only one website
SSD Storage 10GB
24*7 Customer support
For full Price list and features Click here
Hostgator
HostGator is an amazing choice for web hosting service with a varied selection, including feature-rich WordPress, VPS, dedicated, and cloud server packages. It also includes useful tools, such as the terrific Gator website builder. HostGator lets you select a Windows-based server, something not offered by every web hosting service.
For their basic 1 yr plan they offer:
$2.75/month ($9.99/month upon renewal)
1-year domain registration free
1 website & domain transfers
Unmetered Bandwidth & disk space
1 SSL certification
1 Free Email
MySQL transfer & script transfer
For the full Price list and features Click here
There you go. Some of the most economical ways to start your own business website without much hassle or spending. Go through them, test them out and choose which one suits your requirement the most.
Best Wishes!