The Pros & Cons of Making Your Own Website vs. Creating a Free Website

This section quickly summarizes the pros and cons of creating a free website compared to making your own website in bullet point format. For a complete discussion on this topic please read "Why Not to Create a Free Website".

Disadvantages:

• Uncertainty of existence
• You don’t own your domain name
• You don’t have your private email
• Domain name does not look professional
• Domain name not personalized – difficult to remember
• Ignored by search engines
• Ignored by other webmasters for Link Exchange purposes
• Limited number of web pages
• Limited total space allowed
• Not scaleable – can’t add functionality (i.e. forums, email forms)
• Convoluted with non-relevant banner and pop-up advertisement
• No support provided by hosting provider
• Uncertainty in existence and functionality

Advantages of your own:

• Full control over your existence
• More credible and professional
• Personalized and professional domain name – easy to remember
• Generation of brand recognition and goodwill over time
• No annoying advertisements
• More opportunities for Link Exchange relationships
• More visible and credible to search engines
• You have a personalized email address extension
• Scaleable – can expand however much you want and when you want
• No limit of web-space (can upgrade hosting at will)
• Better support from service provider
• Complete control of aesthetic appeal
• Can expand and add functionality
• Can sell the domain someday for a lot of money

The above summary points are just a few reasons why you should not consider taking the free route. Click here to go back to a complete and detailed discussion on this topic.