How to Build a Website for Free in 2023: A Beginner’s Guide
Are you looking for a solution on how to create a website for free?
Having your own website is a great way to reach people across the internet, but you may not have the money to pay for a website right now.
Luckily, many companies now offer a way to set up a free website. By familiarizing yourself with some of the most popular options, you can get your ideas in front of more people.
In this article, we’ll first examine whether a free website is right for you. After that, we’ll discuss some of your options. Finally, we will show you how to create a website for free using two of the most popular platforms. Let’s dive in!
📚 Table of contents:
Deciding if a free website is right for you
Setting up a website usually requires some financial investment. Paying for web hosting, a domain name, and premium extras can add up quickly. Luckily, this route isn’t your only option. You can also create a website for free.
The most obvious benefit of the latter approach is the lack of a price tag. For free websites, all you have to do is invest your time and effort. Additionally, many free services these days are both advanced and user-friendly. Therefore, you can usually build a beautiful website without paying any bills. Plus, you can always upgrade to paid options later if you see fit.
Additionally, a free website can greatly simplify the design, setup, and build process. These free page builders don’t typically give you much granular control. This means you can worry less about the technological side of operation and more about the display and content.
However, there are also some disadvantages of a free website. For one, most providers add their branding to your website. For example, there might be a logo in the corner or a mandatory credit on your website’s subdomain.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, your website may not feel quite like your own. Also, third-party branding and advertising can sometimes look unprofessional. If you care about your own branding or your website has a business connection, this can be a big negative factor.
You may also find that the features of free website builders are rather limited. Put simply, functionality costs money. Therefore, you may sacrifice the ability to fully deck out your online store or use an expert-designed theme to make it look unique.
On the other hand, knowing how to build a free website can be invaluable when you’re on a tight budget. It can also be the answer if you’re not ready to commit to a paid solution or aren’t quite sure what kind of website you want to build. Since the process is free, you have the opportunity to experiment and try out several options.
Choosing a platform for your free website
wix
Wix is known for being a beginner-friendly option:
You can work with over 500 pre-made templates and use an intuitive drag-and-drop editor to rearrange and add new elements. You can also include dynamic features like animations without a single line of code.
However, the accessibility of Wix doesn’t mean it lacks advanced features. You can choose to start building a website from scratch. You can then use basic search engine optimization (SEO) and analytics tools to test your site’s performance.
The free version of this platform also allows you to create unlimited pages, albeit with the Wix branding still in place. If you want more functionality or want to personalize your website, the website builder also offers paid plans that make scaling easy.
Weebly
Another popular option is Weebly:
If we compare Weebly to Wix, then Weebly is arguably even more user-friendly. A large part of this is due to the real-time editor. Combined with designs that are out-of-the-box for mobile use, getting started with Weebly is easy.
However, this simplicity means that you have less flexibility than with Wix. For example, Wix allows you to embed audio in three different ways for free. In contrast, Weebly only gives you this freedom on its premium plans.
Weebly still has some useful free features. You can create unlimited pages, which allows you to create complex websites. If you enjoy using Weebly, you can also upgrade a current site to a premium plan.
Other Free Website Builders
While they’re the focus of this post, it’s worth noting that Wix and Weebly aren’t the only two options out there. If you are interested in a strong artificial intelligence (AI) experience, you should also consider using it Jimdo. Both online stores and professional websites can be created with this solution:
Alternatively, you can go for the ultra-simple page 123:
These two builders can help you create a basic website in no time. However, since they’re not as widely used as Wix or Weebly, it’s not as easy to find support and helpful documentation, which can come in handy when you’re learning how to build your website.
How to Create a Website for Free (Two Methods)
What it’s like to build your free website depends a lot on the platform you choose. The process is similar from tool to tool, but what you have access to and the interface you use will vary.
To give you an idea of what to expect, let’s walk through the process on both Wix and Weebly. We’ll show you what it looks like to start with each builder and start building a simple website. Let’s go to work!
1. How to create a free website with Wix
Once you’ve signed up for an account, Wix will provide you with a quiz to learn a little about your needs. The questions are short and can help you customize your experience. However, you can also skip it if you are not interested:
When you start editing your first page, you have two options: you can use the Wix Editor or the Wix ADI. With the Wix editor, you can start customizing the website right away. On the other hand, Wix ADI provides an AI-powered builder to help you.
In general, Wix’s editor gives you more flexibility, while Wix ADI is the simplest option but offers less flexibility as the AI makes decisions for you. However, we will focus on the Wix Editor approach.
You will then be presented with a few template options:
You can scroll through over 500 options to find your perfect starting point. Once you’ve selected your template, you can access the editor. This is what the Wix user interface looks like:
As you can see, there are two separate menus with multiple functions. For now, let’s cover the three basic operations:
- Editing the topic
- add pages
- Including apps.
To change your display you can navigate to the left menu and select topic manager. Wix then offers options to adjust basic settings such as: B. the color scheme and font selection.
If you want to add more pages, navigate to the menu on the left again. This time select the tab labeled pages:
You can add either main pagessuch as B. a section describing your services, or Blog Pages to organize your writing. You can also insert page transitions, including dissolves and other dynamic elements.
Finally, let’s take a look at your possible uses:
Web apps are important because they add functionality to your website. They are required for tasks such as accepting bookings or creating analyses. Wix offers several premium apps, but there are also free options.
Once you’ve customized your design, finalized your pages, and added a few apps, you can click Publish. This will make your website live! Of course, you can always come back and make changes to it.
👉 For a more in-depth guide, check out our full tutorial on creating a Wix website.
2. How to create a free website with Weebly
As with Wix, the first step to creating a free website with Weebly is to sign up for an account. You will then be asked if you are creating a personal or business website. You can select your preference to view your theme choices:
You have several categories to choose from. When you find a theme you like, click on it. Then choose your domain name (e.g. “mysite.weebly.com”).
After that, you will get to the main editing interface:
As mentioned, Weebly offers fewer options than Wix. However, this can also make navigation easier. Note, however, that all options marked with a lightning bolt are only available to premium members.
If you want to customize the overall look of your website, you can navigate to the top tabs and select Theme. This will open a special menu for personalizing your pages:
From there you can set different fonts and colors. You can also switch between a light and dark mode and add your own custom code. Alternatively, you can choose Choose the topic if you want a new template.
Once you’re done with this step, you’re ready to navigate pages Tab. Adding more pages is easy: all you have to do is rearrange the existing entries or add new ones from a template. As with the editor, page customizations work using a drag-and-drop system.
Finally, you can add many different features through apps. To do this, navigate to applications Tab to bring up a selection of add-ons:
You’ll see a screen that categorizes potential apps based on their purpose. Some will be free, others will be paid. You can search by category or search for a specific tool.
When you’re done, you can click Publish Button to expose your website to the public. Again, you can return to this interface at any time to make changes to your site and add new content.
Create a website for free today
Websites are an essential part of any online presence. There are a variety of platforms that you can use to create a fully functional and complex website. However, if you’re working with few resources and a small budget, you may need to know how to build a free website.
In this article, we’ve covered two of the most popular ways to start your own free website in 2023:
- Wix is an easy-to-use option with a plethora of startup templates and customization options. Check out our full Wix tutorial.
- Weebly is a simpler yet powerful alternative that will get you up and running quickly.
Another option would be to consider free open source software like WordPress and free website hosting. However, we do not recommend free website hosting for legitimate websites.
* This post contains affiliate links, which means that we earn a commission if you click on any of the product links and then purchase the product. Don’t worry, you still pay the standard amount, so there are no additional costs for you.
