by S.Walker
Over the years, I have helped many small businesses with their online business and identity. One question that pops up early in my relationship most clients is, “Can I use free web hosting or do I need to register a domain name and pay for hosting?”
While this seems like a straightforward answer, the truth is that the answer isn’t always that easy. For a small business controlling operational costs, this can be the difference between being competitive in a tough market and failing to compete with big brand name giants.
A lot of small businesses decide to start a website using free hosting services. The advantage of using this type of hosting services is that setup is free (not including time invested in creating the website). Most free services offer a portfolio of templates to assist the non-technical user to set up a website quickly.
The disadvantage of using free web hosting is as follows:
1. The business does not own your domain name.
2. Free websites cover their expenses by loading the small business website with their affiliate / third party advertisers.
3. Other businesses may have the exact same website layout as yours (looses branding)
4. It is difficult to transfer a free website to professional hosting. (usually costs money) shopping carts, etc
5. Free websites creator software still require some level of design and writing knowledge to create “good material”.
Before we continue this conversation, let’s look at a few scenarios:
Company A decides to purchase their own domain name and hosting. They build their own website. To get to their business online, a customer will type www.CompanyA.com, which will bring them to the home page. From there, they may wish to visit products by clicking the products button on the page. This will load the products page – www.CompanyA.com/products.html
Company B decides to use free web hosting. They go to a free hosting website and fill out the online form and this becomes a subdomain on the free hosting website. The domain URL is displayed as http://companyb.freewebhost.com. When the customer clicks the products button, the URL displayed is http://companyb.freewebhost.com/products.html.
Another option that is becoming somewhat more popular is “hover” or “stealth” modes. For this scenario, Company C purchases a domain name and then signs up for free web hosting. On their business cards, they print Visit Us Online! www.CompanyC.com When the customer types www.CompanyC.com, they are automatically routed to the free hosting location. No matter what other page they visit on the company’s website, the URL will not change. It stays www.CompanyC.com. With this said, hover and stealth modes are not perfected yet and quite often will have varying results across different internet browsers (i.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, SeaMonkey, etc.)
Your head spinning yet? Hang in there! Let’s take a look at what this really means.
Company A – This method offers a strong branding and identity foundation. The business cards, the letterhead, the customer receipts, the sales promotions (landing pages) can all be coordinated together. If the business wanted to create a special introductory offer page to entice people on marketing collateral, the business can easily put www.CompanyA.com/IntroOffer While this may cost a bit more in the beginning, it has the most potential for growth—such as adding a shopping cart or a client tracking database.
Company B – This method offers a low cost way to advertise your business. Whether this will work for your business or not depends on the level of branding and identity you are willing to sacrifice. Also, as a company grows they may decide to change their hosting to update their company image. This migration to another service can be costly—as you may need to have someone migrate data from the old location to the new location or at the very least will take time away from you focusing on your business while you provide technical support for your website.
If you want to run a sales promotion, adding long web address can be cumbersome. This address does not have the same psychological effect as having your own website. Part of promoting is having the customer connect with your company on a regular basis – “be front of mind”.
Company C – This strategy may be an acceptable solution, however, you will still encounter similar issues as Company B (i.e. migrating, tech support, etc.) In addition, the hover and stealth modes offer an extra layer of technology and therefore add another layer of things that can possibly go wrong. Can you imagine spending $5 on a door hanger to promote a new special only to find that the link didn’t display or work when it was typed in? Gah!
Conclusion
While there may be good reasons to use strategy 2 and 3, strategy 1 offers the best company appearance and least amount of headache as your company grows.
