Sadly, there’s no free websites here, the occasional freebee or extra hour here or there maybe…. oh, and coffee, always happy to buy a coffee and love a chat. The ‘free websites’ is something I’ve seen an increase in on platforms like Facebook, within the business and networking groups and it all seems a bit too good to be true.
So, writing this late in January and had spent a bit of time browsing those channels and came across three ‘people’ in the various groups on that particular day offering a free website in return for a favourable review or stating that they’re just trying to build up their portfolio. Irritated initially that people were giving away their services, regardless of good intensions but on further thought they were all very similar in what they were saying and a simple hook. For the free website all you have to do is cover the cost of hosting and whatever your chosen domain might be. Ah, and there it is.
Whatever the cost of hosting, and I didn’t see a figure, it was likely to be cheap, probably good value but this is where an unsuspecting new business or someone looking for fresh start gets locked in. The scam as I’m sure it must be, sees the new client locked in on their cheaply produced website and left footing the bill for something they probably didn’t want. Anything else from SEO and any changes, likely to cost a fortune, if they can even get done at all.
I’m sure there are some legitimate cases of people trying to get into the design market, offing their services for free and building themselves up for the future but its potentially a dangerous approach. Assuming they’re not looking at web design as some kind of side gig, once you need to pay bills, earning money from your work is very much fundamental.
So, like many things in life, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you still think its potentially a great deal, just take some time to step back and double check some details before you get locked in.