How to build a website for free in 5 simple steps (2024)

A website for your business is crucial to attract customers, sell your goods and services and amplify your brand messaging. And while add-ons, features and domain hosting for a website can get expensive quickly, if you’re on a budget, you can do it for a low cost.

Different website-building platforms can make it easy for you to go the DIY route and get a functional, eye-pleasing website up and running quickly. You can build your site with templates, drop-and-drop features and widgets.

Learn how to create a website for free and how to go about it with popular website providers.

1. Figure out the type of website you want to make

There are a handful of different types of websites. Exploring your different options will help make the website creation process easier. These have features and capabilities that pertain to your specific kind of business:

• Blog. Blogs are designed to relay insights, brand messaging or thought leadership to position you as an expert in your space.
• Online portfolio. A portfolio website showcases your work and skills and can help you land new clients.
• Product-focused websites. These e-commerce websites are designed to attract customers and process orders. They typically have inventory management and order tracking capabilities.
• Professional services websites. If you’re a coach, consultant or own a company in the legal, architectural, financial or medical field, a website can relay your services to clients and show your proven track record.

2. Pick a website builder platform

A website builder platform has a content management system (CMS), which helps you create, run and tweak a website without much technical know-how. You can make a website for free and get it up and running quickly.

Besides featuring the option to make a website for no cost, you’ll have the choice to upgrade to a paid plan down the line to access more advanced design and functionality features. To decide the best website builder for you, check what “free” entails. Otherwise, you could end up paying for the features needed to build the website you want.

“Look to understand what services are included, the potential limitations and any future costs tied into the free offering,” said Garry West, creative director at Imagefix, a design and marketing agency based in Bedfordshire, UK.

3. Pick a domain name

Your domain name is a unique online address. It’s important to spend time landing on the right one for your business, as it’s used to identify your small business, is a big part of your branding and sets you apart from your competitors.

To obtain a domain name, you can search to see if the domain or web address you had in mind is available. This is called a whois search. You can conduct a whois search through a domain registrar like GoDaddy, NameCheap or Hostinger.com.

If the domain is available, add it to your cart, just as you would when buying a tee shirt or carton of orange juice online, and checkout.

Instead of buying your domain through a website builder, it’s best to buy your domain through one of the separate registrars listed above, recommends Bethany McCamish, a brand strategist, website designer and founder of Bethany Works.

“It’s especially important not to use the ones they give you — like yourbusinessname.[nameofwebsitebuilder].com,” said McCamish. A custom domain will serve your business best.

4. Make your website for free

Once you’ve picked a website-building platform and a domain, it’s time to get to work. Look carefully at the accessible features of a platform and play around with the different tools. Chances are, it’ll be a reasonably straightforward process.

Just be mindful of the limitations that come with using the free option. Some free platforms will display ads on your website and lack many bells and whistles.

5. Share your website

Once you’ve created your website, it’s time to link it to other places online — like your company’s social media accounts, business pages and review sites such as Google Business and Yelp.

As you know, your website engages current customers and attracts potential ones. It’s a platform for potential customers to learn more about your goods and services, company mission and objectives and its founders.

Your website also serves as another channel to sign up for your newsletter, make an online order or sign up for a free consultation or introductory call. Making your website as visible as possible can help grow your business.

Pros and cons of free websites

Let’s take a look at the pluses and minuses of a free website:

Pros

• It can be a budget-conscious way to build a basic website to launch your business.
• It is often easy to use, especially if you’re not a designer or tech-savvy.
• It is a good choice for personal websites or if you need a barebones website with few features to fully brand your site or sell goods and products.
• It can serve as a testing ground to explore building a website without incurring costs.

Cons

• Your website will likely be required to run ads.
• It may be co-branded with the website builder.
• It may come with limitations, such as a cap on pages and storage and few customization options.
• Usually, it doesn’t have search engine optimization (SEO) tools and features, which helps your website rank higher in Google searches.
• You might need to upgrade to a paid plan for the desired look and functionality.

“Free website builders offer a financially accessible entry point for those on a budget or just starting,” said West. “They come with trade-offs, such as feature limitations and branding impositions.”

Creating a free site with popular website builders

Among the sea of website builders offering the option to create a website for free, a few stand out as providing a bounty of free features and are easy to use. Let’s take a look at a few popular website builders and how to create a free website:

Weebly

Weebly has some of the most robust features to create a basic website for free, not to mention eye-pleasing templates.

To start building a website for free on Weebly, use its free website builder. Choose a template from various options, then use its drag-and-drop tool to refine your site. You can add flourishes with custom fonts, video backgrounds and pop in custom HTML/CSS javascript. There’s also basic inventory management and an automatic tax calculator for sales.

Note the limitations: You’ll only get 500 MB of storage, a domain name with “Weebly” folded in and Square ads. Plus, you can only upload files with a maximum size of 10 MB.

Strikingly

According to Strikingly’s website, building and publishing a simple website in under 30 minutes is possible. The platform’s website editor offers a selection of templates and the option to put up a blog and online store. Plus, you can create sign-up and contact forms for potential customers.

Another standout feature of Strikingly’s free website editor is that you can contact its customer support 24/7 through email or chat. One downside: You’ll need to use a Strikingly domain. If you upgrade down the line, you can register a new or existing domain.

Square

Square offers a free e-commerce website that syncs up to its payment processing. It’s free, easy to use and offers basic inventory and tracking. Plus, you can easily sync a brick-and-mortar retail location’s data to the inventory, pricing and product data on your website.

Unlike some free website builders, expect limited design options and a barebones aesthetic. The tools aren’t as intuitive and can feel clunky. Plus, you’ll need to incorporate your domain with Square’s URL.

Understanding website costs

• Web hosting services. Some web hosting services offer a free month or domain, but only if you sign up and pay for a plan.
• Domain name registration. Registering your domain name can cost anywhere from $2 to $20 a year per domain, depending on the domain extension (.net or .com, for example) and the promotions and discounts available at the time of purchase.
• Marketing. To make the most of your website, you might pour money into marketing it or run a newsletter or email campaign to engage with your customers, share updates about your business, offer special discounts and share upcoming sales. Associated costs include those for marketing software and labor.
• Website development. After building your website for free, consider working with a professional to refine it further. “Once you’ve found what works and you’ve solidified profitability, then it’s time to look at hiring a pro to build your website,” said McCamish. “They can consider [the] user experience and SEO setup and can help communicate your value to your ideal clients.”
• Maintenance and upkeep. If your website is more robust or runs into a complicated snag, you might have to hire a tech professional to perform regular maintenance and upkeep. They might offer a flat monthly rate or an hourly rate.