Having a website of your own, whether a free one or a paid one, is always a good idea. Not only does it give you a platform to share your ideas with the world but it can also be a good money maker for you on the side or even full time.
I am guessing you want to learn how to build a website free, step by step so that you can get yours up and running in the next few minutes, right?
Well, I will be guiding you through all you need to know and do to build a free website that is of good quality and one that also matches your desires.
So, let’s roll our sleeves and get started.
Things to Do Before Building The Website
Before we get to the actual phase of creating the free website, there are some few things you should have done beforehand that will help give you clarity on why you are building the website, how you are going to do it and how you are going to manage it to get the kind of experience and results you are looking for.
Doing these things will help you have a seamless time with getting the website set up and growing it to become what you currently envision for it.
Here are the essential things you should do before you get to create your site:
1. Be clear about the purpose of the website – Before you do anything, it is always good practice to determine the reason behind you wanting to have a website and what you stand to benefit from it. Think about this, you are going to be spending your time and energy on the website so it might as well be worth all of that.
Some people want a website to give them a place to express themselves, others want to make money from it and others do it to better their various hobbies, among other reasons.
You have to be sure why you are personally doing it.
On the same breath, you also want to be clear on the topic you will be addressing on the website. When you get to create the website, what kind of posts will you be publishing there and who are they aimed at?
You have to choose a niche and be certain about it. And most often, it should be something you love, something you are passionate about or willing to learn more about.
2. Decide which type of website you want to have – There are different types of websites that you can build. You can have a blog, a review website, a comparison website, a forum website, a wiki page, or even a coupon website not to mention an online store.
Many people tend to go for a blog, but we have to agree that we are all different and people might love other options more. So it is worth exploring all the options you have first and then settling for what you feel is your right fit.
The advantage of this step is that it helps you determine which kind of website builder you are going to use and how you are going to grow your website.
There is a unique way of building and developing each type of website and having made a decision on which website type you want will help you identify the way to go for your specific case.
3. Knowing the basics of website and development – It is essential that you know how websites work. You have to understand that it is easy to get a free website but there are benefits and limitations that come with that.
It is also critical to know that the typical path of a website owner is to start out with a free website and after a few months or years, invest in a self-hosted website.
This part helps you plan yourself well and have a clearer vision for your website or idea.
You also have to understand that there are lots of hurdles along the way if you intend to build a really successful website that is well recognized. You also have to comprehend how different concepts of websites work and use them properly. You can learn all this from Google, YouTube, or purchasing an online course that teaches you about websites and the kind of website you want to build.
I would recommend starting with YouTube and Google and giving yourself time to learn as you grow the website. You will buy the course when the real need arises.
4. Have a plan of how you are going to bring the website up to become what you want it to be – I have to admit that when it comes to applying the plan you have for the website in the real world, things tend to be quite different from what you thought they would be. You realize that it will require more time to execute a certain action on your site than you imagined, or you’d have to wait longer for something to work than you had planned.
However, with all these differences, it is always nice to have a plan in place. Without the plan, you literally don’t have a direction that you are following and this is dangerous and one of the quickest ways to fail.
You need to have a rough idea in your mind, and on paper, of your vision, and the plan to make the vision become a reality.
You should do some research and with the results you get from the research, you create a plan that leads you to where you want to be with your website in the next couple of years.
Yes, you may have to make a few changes to the plan down the road but at least you know that you are headed the right way.
The 2 key things I encourage you to have in your plan are the technicalities of the website and how you are going to make the website a well-known and reliable brand, which is the optimization and promotion part.
Having taken care of these, you are now ready to create your website.
How to Build a Website For Free (the steps to take)
So here are the steps you should take to construct your website:
Step 1. Look for a website building service for your preferred type of website – Since you have already decided what kind of website you want to build, you should now go to Google or a search engine of your choice and look for a website builder that offers a free website builder for your type of website.
You should search “your type of website + website builder. So if it is a blog, you should search for “blog website builder” or “create a blog”
Some of the most common website builders include WordPress, Blogger, Weebly, Wix, and Siterubix, to name a few.
These can help you get the most basic foundation of your website established and then slowly you can design and craft the website to be the type of website you have in mind.
Take your time, look through each of the website builders, and see what they offer. Then compare the features and see which one is your best match.
Step 2. Go to the website builder – Once you have chosen your website builder, click on it from your results pages, and create your account. Many builders require that you have an account where you can manage the website that you will be setting up there. Fill out the registration form and confirm your email address, if need be.
I will be using the Siterubix website builder for illustration. It has been my go-to builder since I started building websites since it comes with many features as well and it is good for creating a blog as that is what I have always wanted to create since long ago. And it is connected to Wealthy Affiliate, a platform for teaching affiliate marketing.
You can read my wealthy affiliate review to know the platform and learn about my personal experience with it.
Step 3. Go to the website building page – Now that you have your account, go straight to the website building page where you get to bring your site to life.
For Siterubix, you go to websites, then site manager and then click on build a website.
This step may be different from yours if you are using another website builder.
Locate where your website building page is and open it.
Also, it is going to be different how we build the website. Yours may be a 5 step process while mine is a 4 step process. But you should not worry about it, if you know the basics of building a website, it shouldn’t be hard for you.
The main concept behind website creation is choosing a domain name, choosing a title and a website theme and then go ahead and create the website by clicking the “build my website” button.
The design with each builder might be a little different too but the process is the same. So follow through it and if you get stuck let me know in the comments section and I will help you get unstuck.
To get started with Siterubix, click the “Free domain” button on the first step. It allows you to create a free website easily.
Step 4. Choose a domain name – Here, you get to choose a name for your website that you would want people to identify with it. The name should typically include an idea of what the website will be about. The name you come up with will be used in this step and the next one and it should be a short, memorable and brandable name.
For instance, if you will be the fitness niche, your domain name could be something like fitnesswarriors or fitnessbeasts.
Please note that I have not left any spaces between the words of the domain names I have given as examples and there is a reason for that.
Domain names are like addresses for your website and they make up the URL of the website, which is pretty much the website address. The website address is made of the www. part, then yourdoamainname part and then the .com part.
There should be no spaces between the words.
Also, because you are building a free website, there will be an extension of the website builder you are using to show that you don’t own the website entirely. In my case, there will be a Siterubix extension before the .com part, making my domain name to read as www.fitnesswarriors.siterubix.com.
To take away the extension, you will have to buy the domain name and it may cost you some money.
There is no need for you to buy the domain name now. You can always buy it later on after you have gotten and grown your free website.
Just use the free domain name with the extension for now.
Come up with a name and write it in the section provided for the domain name. Your website builder may show if the domain name is available or if it is taken depending on which one you use.
If it is available, you can proceed to the next step, if it is not, you will have to choose another domain name and see if it is. When you get one, go to the next step.
Step 5. Choose a title for your website – This is the part where you give a name for your website. The title is usually the domain name but written correctly and with spaces if the name has more than one word.
Now’s where you use the space I was discouraging you in the previous step. You will take your domain name and if it has more than one word, you will space the words and write them in a decent manner.
Using the example of the domain name, fitnesswarriors, the title for the website should be Fitness Warriors.
Step 6. Choose your preferred website theme – A website theme is what makes the design of your website. It is like a website template that organizes your content and other aspects of your website as you build the bulk of the website.
Browse through your options and pick the theme that best fits the kind of content you will be creating and one that has the looks that you envision for the website.
It is worth noting that you may have limited options for the themes you can work with for a free website and most of them will be very simple and basic.
If you don’t get a theme that makes you happy, just choose any theme that is there and then you can later customize it or even replace it with a better theme when you are ready to invest in a good one.
You can always change the website theme any time you like.
Step 7. Complete the website building process – On my side, the only step left is to click the “build your website ” button but it may be a different thing for you going by the kind of website builder you are using.
Although, there shouldn’t be other difficult steps to take for a free website.
Just finish them up and click the button on your end to complete the website building process.
And that’s it!
You now have a website in place.
Step 8. Customize your website – Remember the plan you created for your website which is more like the vision for the website? Now is the time to put it into action.
If you want a blog, you will now have to customize the website to be a blog. If it is a review website, you customize it to that through design.
There are different ways to go about customizations.
First, you can choose the 2 platforms I have mentioned here a couple of times here, Google and YouTube.
The second way is to hire an expert to do it for you. This option will require money and I wouldn’t encourage you to get an expert especially for a free website, because you don’t necessarily own until you buy your own domain name.
So the best way to go about it is to first work on the free website as best as you can and then upgrade the free site to a self-owned website by buying a domain name and a good website theme, and then hire a skilled expert to make the customizations.
It is up to you to know which areas of the website can be skipped at the moment and which ones you can work on by yourself.
How to Make Your Website Successful
You now have a live website somewhere. That is a great achievement and I have to congratulate you on that. Great job.
However, keep in mind that this is only the beginning.
There is a lot ahead of you and more is required from you if you are going to bring your website dreams into reality. You are going to have to put in more effort to make this work.
And for this reason, I have compiled a few easy to work with tips that will reward you in the long term as you undertake this task. Here you go.
– Start working on the website immediately from today onward. Since you still have that fire and motivation from what you have achieved, you should not let it go off. You should build upon it by taking the time to create a list of tasks that you will need to work on, on your website, for the next few days, weeks, and months.
Figure out what is required to improve the website to the level you want it at and then break the process down to simple steps that can be done every day.
Also, write another working schedule that will accommodate the tasks each day. This will make the website a priority in your typical day and you will find it easy to work on it. Also, as you work on it every so often, you find that it has become a habit, which will work in your favor as time passes by.
– Constantly improve the website. Aim to find something that can make your website better than yesterday and work on it. Don’t let it lie around the web for a long time without adding some crucial value to it, whether it is in the form of design, search engine optimization, or content. Make sure you are increasing the value of your website every day.
Based on the type of website you have in mind, use tutorials and even take influence from other people who own websites like the one you want and learn a thing or two from them and then implement the lessons on your website, that is how you become a master.
– Work through failure. One thing for sure is that you are going to have moments of failure and disappointment. Lots of them in fact. But don’t let them stop you. There are times when you will have great trouble trying to work on an aspect of your site but it won’t be as straightforward as you thought. There are times you will wake up to many bad occurrences on your website. But this is part of life. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
So don’t be discouraged by that, and most importantly, don’t ever give up. Keep going and you will see time and consistent effort helping you solve things.
– Have the strongest work ethic in your niche. The one thing that will make you a popular brand in your niche is your work ethic. You have to stand out from the rest in terms of quality and the quantity you put into your website. You have to work harder and better than your competitors.
You have to be willing to offer the highest kind of value, something that other people are not willing to. This way, you will come to see your brand grow rapidly and rise to the top.
A good work ethic is something pleasing to your imaginations but tiring to your efforts but you can do it. You have the capability to do it.
So please make good use of it.
Ideally, building a free website is not as hard as it is used to be, especially with the help of countless website builders there are today.
You only need to set your goals and have a plan for the website. From there, go ahead and build the website within a short time, as I have shown you.
The only other task you will have after that will be implementing the plan and growing the website to become what you want it to be, through work.
That is all there is to it.
I hope you enjoyed the walkthrough and if you have any questions, please feel free to let me know about them in the comments section and I will be more than happy to help. 🙂
