Free Business Websites: 4 Easy Steps to Get Online

Thanks to the rapidly evolving internet, it is now simple to set up free business websites, and while there's a little bit of a learning process, it certainly isn't rocket science, as they say. Thanks to Wordpress software and the opensource developers who constant push it further and further forward, creating a near push-button web development solution, there's no excuse to not be leveraging modern tools for your business. And there is no reason why you should not be extending the far-reaching hand of the web.

Here are some basic instructions to make a website for free:

1. Go sign up for a web-hosting account. I recommend Hostgator. They offer packages with unlimited domains as low as $7.99 a month and have a reputation as one of the best hosting services on the web. Now, it might seem strange to talk about a monthly bill when we're discussing free websites, but you need to realize that hosting isn't the same as your website.

Let me explain.

If someone gave you a free house, but you had to pay for the property it was sitting on - a monthly bill - would the house still be free? Sure it would, and that's what hosting is all about. It's like your monthly payment to use the property, or to have a claim on a piece of the internet.

So now, pick yourself a great domain that represents the image you want to convey and, if you know SEO, is search engine friendly.

2. After you set up your web-hosting, upload the free Wordpress software through a simple program on your cpanel called Fantastico. Wordpress software is an opensource blogging platform which has revolutionized free webpage design and is excellent for search engine optimization. To upload, open Fantastico, select "Wordpress" on the upper right sidebar, and follow the directions.

3. Add content and images to your free business websites. Once you have uploaded the software and selected a professional theme, development is a breeze, though you may want to research setting up a more custom theme then the ones provided. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the many features, and once you understand the program, use posts to create a dynamic blog page with a constant flow of relevant content or static pages to advertise your business or services. Images can be added to the sidebars by editing the html, but a user-friendly image uploader is available to put pictures into individual posts.

4. Advertise your site through online classifieds, writing articles, or participating in relevant forums with a link in your signature file. Also, learning about search engine optimization, PPC, and backlinking can grow your online success exponentially.

This evolving technology is certainly not perfect - no technology is - but all it takes is a little learning. Sometimes things won't look quite how you want them to and you may have to do a little research to figure out how to customize around the kinks, but there are many resources on the web to find out everything you need to know about maintaining your free business websites. Once again, there's simply no reason for you to not be online.