Create a FREE or “Nearly” Free Website

A website makes you look professional and increases trust. It is often the first impression of your business and allows potential customers to find out more about you and your products and services anytime, day, night, or weekend! And, it really is possible to have a professional, one-of-a-kind website in minutes with no coding or website expertise necessary!

There are several choices that offer free and easy-to-use website builders that include a CMS (Content Management System) plus have you up and running quickly. Keep in mind if it's completely free, you most likely will not have a custom domain name (ex. www.yourbusinessname.com) and you may have display ads included for things you might not want advertisied on your site. However, for $10-20/year you can usually purchase a custom domain and utilize it with some of these services.

Most importantly, you want to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. More people than ever are shopping and searching from their mobile devices and if your site doesn't work on their phone, they'll move on to a competitor's website that does.

1. Wix: Wix is a popular no-code website builder. The drag-and-drop feature distinguishes Wix from competitors. This feature allows you to move around the position of a website’s ad components, such as images and text, based on the way you want them to appear, which makes it a lot easier to customize web pages and offers a lot of control for people who want to customize their site without coding. When you choose to build your website with Wix for free, your domain name will include Wix as a subdomain (e.g., www.yourbusinessname.wix.com). If you want a custom domain (e.g., www.yourbusinessname.com) you will have to upgrade to a paid plan. While a custom domain looks more professional, Wix’s free version is a great place to start building, and you can always upgrade later.

2. Weebly: Weebly is another website builder that offers the same services as Wix, a free version without a custom domain, and the option to upgrade to a custom domain with a paid plan. Instead of a drag-and-drop feature, Weebly uses a structured editor, which means you organize your web pages by columns and rows. While this might provide less flexibility, a structured editor is often more than sufficient for a simple custom website. Connect it to your custom domain for $10/month (billed annually, as of July 2024)

3. Canva: This is one of the best options, in our opinion. They have thousands of free customizable templates with easy drag-and-drop tools. They also have lots of free images, icons, and graphics to enhance your site. You can also use Canva for designing social media templates, presentations, posters, and many other marketing materials. If you'd like to add a custom domain with free hosting, you can purchase it directly from them at a cost of $10-$20/year.

4. WordPress: WordPress is a free open-source platform, which means you can build and publish a website, in addition to implementing tons of plugins, for free. It is one of the most popular platforms used by web designers. Web hosting starts at $4/month for a personal site or $8/month for a premium site. Other options are available for businesses who do online sales or need additional features.

5. Square: If you sell online and in-store, Square may be a good option for you. They have a $0/month plan with no setup or monthly fees. They only charge a processing fee when you make a sale and take a payment.