Website Design With Zero Cash

WHAT IS A DOMAIN NAME?

There are three basic things to getting your website online for global access.

1. Domain Name
2. Web Server
3. Web Design Skill

The first is DOMAIN NAME is also popularly called WEBSITE ADDRESS which I can also divide into two: Premium Domain Name and Free Domain Name. PREMIUM Domain Names are the ones you subscribed to own from the Registrar while the FREE Domain Names are not paid for hence are prefix of the major Domain.

PREMIUM Domain Names usually look this way:

• www.ojoosamuel.com,
• www.facebook.com,
• www.ischools.ng etc.

FREE Domain Names on the other hand look this way:

• www.ayuba.wix.com,
• www.kafayat.blogspot.com,
• www.denilson.website.com,
• www.biola.weebly.com,
• www.samuel.famous.com etc. Read more about HOW TO CREATE PREMIUM ACCOUNT HERE

This Session concentrates on HOW TO CREATE FREE WEBSITE since I have addressed how to obtain PREMIUM HERE.

FREE Domain Names are usually provided by cloud-based web development companies who allow creation of HTML5 websites and mobile sites through the use of their online drag and drop tools. Examples of these include the following

1: WIX,  2: WEBSITE, 3: GOOGLE BUSINESS, 4: YOLA, 5: WEEBLY, 6: SITE123, 7: WEBNODE, 8: FAMOUS, 9: BLOGSPOT, 10: WORDPRESS

You might have small business setup and unable to cough-out cash for premium websites, that is the reason for the free websites.

LIMITATIONS OF FREE WEBSITES

There are two main disadvantages: The technical one (how you build and how you customize your website) and The strategic one (you have no full control over it). You will have to please bear with me on these listing here as I won’t spare the hidden limitations

1. LIMITED Bandwidth.
2. Limited Storage Space Allocation (Challenge for heavy-media web owners).
3. Limited or No Online Payment Solution/Gateway.
4. Your Domain Name / Address is an Abridged one connected to the HOST.
5. Unsolicited Adverts From HOST.
6. Usually unresponsive Design.
7. Usually NO GUIDE for setup or installation.
8. Limited third parties’ applications/themes/widgets/templates etc.
9. Controlled Traffic & Visitor Analytics.
10. Some may slam HOST LOGO / FAVICON on all your pages or make customizing it hard or unchangeable.
11. Some disallow Social Media Integration.
12. Limited or Zero Support.

STEPS TO DESIGN A FREE WEBSITE USING WIX

Let’s take one of these to practice on how to build website (FREE) by choosing WIX’s a blogging platform:

STEP 1: Visit www.wix.com

STEP 2: Click on GET STARTED button

STEP 3: Fill the colons meant for Account Creation (if you are new to the platform)

STEP 4: Make a choice between going through the newcomer’s guide or skip

STEP 5: As a first-time designer, I will advice you choose from wix’s existing free template by clicking START NOW. If you have experience in web design, you might opt for the second option I marked (2)

STEP 6: Enter the best caption for the best category your new website falls and click NEXT

STEP 7: Indicate what features you will like to have included on your new website out of the lists provided for free by wix. Scroll down using the arrow sign to see more options and then click NEXT

STEP 7: Give brief detail about the new website. Make it as short as possible.

STEP 8: Disregard the first colon if you are new web design but fill it if you have an existing website address where there are contents to be imported, and then click on NEXT

STEP 9: Enter your basic website information such as LOGO, Name, Social Links etc.

STEP 10: Select your choice theme from the available free themes. This will structure of your website in terms of coulours, appearance etc. Make your choice on the pallete and the colours and select NEXT

STEP 11: Make your choice on the appearance of your website first page (Homepage / Landing Page) and wait patiently while the page loads. This might take few moments.

STEP 12: Your website should be ready in a few minutes after the landing page has loaded. Mine looks this way below. The little room for customizing it can then taken.

STEP 13: Finally, click on PUBLISH AND CONTINUE by the top right hand side corner of your page and type what ADDRESS you wish to attach as the suffix to the wix’s address.

Click the circled region to view your full website address and page.

Congratulations!

Your website should be LIVE by now. Kindly share your experiences, questions and feedback in the Comment Section below.