How To Create A Website For Free
If this is your first foray into the world of website building you should know that things have improved dramatically in the past few years – especially if you lack experience, time, or money.
Once upon a time, you needed finely honed design and development skills to build your own website, or the budget to hire expensive skilled website design experts. No longer.
Now website builder platforms are so user-friendly that anyone can build a professional website in a matter of hours. Better yet, many of the top site builders allow you to create a website for free, either with a free plan or a free trial. We’ve also included website builders that offer free features.
Recommended Website Builders
These are some of the most recommended website builders with free plan options:
Reasons to Choose a Free Website Builder
There are plenty of good reasons to choose a free website builder in the UK. These are the big three that will help you to create a website for free:
Experience
Using a free website maker to create a website for free are a great way to test the waters. You can try out the product to make sure it has all the functionality you need, and put your own skills to the test, without spending a dime. You are presented with dozens (if not hundreds) of free website templates designed by professionals to choose from. You can easily edit the text and images, rearrange elements via drag and drop editors, and add plugins. Then, if your final free website meets your expectations, or your free business website idea shows potential, it’s easy to upgrade to a paid package without having to start from scratch.
Speed
Whether you opt for the best free website builder or the paid plan, website builders make building an attractive site much less time-consuming than the traditional developer and designer route. They offer hundreds of modern templates to get you started, drag-and-drop tools to customise the look, and plugins as well as widgets to add any type of functionality you might need. All the user-friendly tools mean you can build a site in just a few hours instead of waiting weeks, or potentially months, for a professional designer to build a site for you.
Cost
If you’re creating a website for a business or product, the best free website builders give you everything you need to test the market while keeping upfront costs low. While there are some limitations, you can still get an attractive, functional site online without spending any money. For the best free website builder in the UK, it’s a good idea to try out a few options first to find the one that suits your needs best.
What You Get with Free Site Builders
There are lots of great business website builders out there. Although they all differ in their details, all offer a user-friendly graphical interface designed to make all the complicated coding and design work of creating a website simple. Luckily, most of the key functionality of paid website builders is available even if you opt for a free package. Below are some features you will need to consider in order to create a free website.
Drag-and-Drop Editor
These are what make free website builders perfect for first-timers and those who don’t want to pay a web design agency to create their site. Drag-and-drop editors allow you to piece together websites to your exact specifications using a simple graphic interface – no HTML or Photoshop required. You literally just have to drag and drop the elements you want wherever you want them on your site. It couldn’t get much easier than that!
Templates
Alongside the drag-and-drop editor, a solid collection of professionally-designed templates is one of the most important things to look for in a good website builder. Most free site builders offer hundreds – if not thousands – of modern, mobile-optimised free website templates. If you’re building a site for your business you should find plenty of options for your specific industry. You’ll also have a choice of blog and portfolio templates. Once you’ve found a template you like, you can add your own images, add and remove pages and widgets, and generally customise it to your precise needs.
Free Hosting
As well as the tools you need to actually build a site, you also get free hosting as part of the package. That means potential UK customers will actually be able to visit your site. Without hosting the only person who’ll be able to see your site is you!
What You Don’t Get with Free Website Builders
There’s no doubt that you get a lot for nothing with the best free site builders, but it’s important to know what functionality you only get with a paid plan.
Dedicated Domain Name
Unlike with a paid website builder, with a free plan, you don’t get the option to have your own distinct domain name. So instead of www.yourbusiness.com, you’ll get something along the lines of www.websitebuildercompany.com/yourbusiness.
Ad-Free Site
Another downside of a free website builder is that your site will include irremovable adverts placed by the website builder company. This is a way for the company to recoup some of the cost of hosting your site for free.
eCommerce Capabilities
If you’re planning on selling a product or accepting payments on your website you’ll have to pay up for a premium plan to get a shopping cart and payment processing functionality.
Unlimited Storage and Bandwidth
Storage is the amount of space that you have to store your website data whereas bandwidth indicates the speed with which your site loads and updates. Free plans offer more limited storage and bandwidth than paid premium plans.
Final Thoughts
Despite the limitations that inevitably come when you get something of value for nothing, we think free website builders are a great tool for many people in the UK. They are easy to use and edit, offer free hosting, and are a great way to dip your toes in the water without a financial commitment. There’s no better way to get started than creating a website through one of our top-rated recommendations.