This article is dedicated to those who want to create an Internet site (or blog) for free with maximum simplicity and without having any technical knowledge. Luck is on your side because today, the network offers dozens of online services (hosting platform + second-level domain), dedicated to the creation of free websites. Precisely because they are many, we have selected 5 illustrating their characteristics to our readers. The element that unites all the listed portals is the price, since they cost nothing, at least in the basic version that we will illustrate.
In our article we will talk about 5 selected hosting platforms that offer free creation of a site / blog and the second level domain.
WEEBLY.COM – Offers over 100 responsive templates, ready to be selected as the basis for your site or blog, a free subdomain (www.example.weebly.com) and a graphic creator with dragging system, which offers everything you need to create a quality site without entering a line of code. It’s very easy to use, you can create pages , integrate images , videos, texts and other interactive elements such as contact forms, maps, buttons, polls, social icons, forums and more, simply by dragging individual items from the menu to the your page. The possibility of using the e-commerce module is very interesting, which could be useful to turn your site into an online store (unfortunately, to make the most of this functionality you need to switch to the Business Plan which costs $ 19.54 per month). Finally, SEO integration (positioning in search engines and on the web) seems to be good thanks to the possibility to insert title, Meta description and tracking codes for each page.
WIX.COM – Based entirely on HTML5 graphic editor, less intuitive than Weebly but with the same features and functionality. The nomenclature of the free subdomain is not very pleasant (http://username.wix.com//example) but still free and is accompanied by a good SEO and Social integration, the templates are numerous and are divided by category. There is an internal market to install plug-ins and alternative modules within the site. The Premium version, for a fee, also in this case eliminates all the limitations of the basic free package. If it were less confusing it would have a better judgment. Good however the quality and availability of material.
WORDPRESS.COM – Free hosting to create blog with second-level domain included (example.wordpress.com ) and pre-installed the CMS WordPress platform with limited and pre-packaged features, ideal for beginners and beginners. The free plan offers 3GB of space and the basic settings of the popular PHP CMS. There are many free templates and you can buy Premium ones. The free version is called “beginner”, to use it simply register and enter the name of your blog. For those who already know WordPress, this platform is not possible install plug-ins, modify code, integrate banners and perform SEO optimizations. Unfortunately, within the articles there are advertising banners managed by the host that can be eliminated by switching to a paid plan.
ALTERVISTA.ORG – Free hosting that offers a second level domain (example.altervista.com) and the possibility to access your host space via FTP and the installation of any PHP platform. It is therefore possible to preload WordPress (complete), Alterpages, Joomla, Drupal, PHPBB and Zenphoto and have 1GB of space available for your documents with a monthly 15GB band to manage. Recommended for those who want to take the path of free Joomla and WordPress CMS with no functional limitations. It is also possible to access the database via PhpMyAdmin and integrate their own advertising banners.
ONWEB.IT – Second level hosting (www.example.onweb.it) for a simple, purely entry-level project. The portal allows you to build your website using a basic template that can be changed in the window color only. It is possible to create menus, pages and upload photos. Among the active functions is to create a simple download area to upload your files and make them available from the network. It is possible to integrate the tracking code of Google Analytics but not to set the Meta tags and delete the OnWeb logo. Unfortunately, there are commercial banners managed by the host. Modest project, for beginners who have no pretension and poor technical knowledge.
Clearly, the article is aimed at those who want to open a free website, without having budget and technical preparation, essential to deal with more complex and professional projects.