free websites?

[JustOneUK]

I am toying with the idea of making free websites, what do you think about doing it as both a way of providing a service, and as a method of marketing my business?
I am not talking major ecommerce sites, just a basic 10 page site so businesses can be seen online.
I recently did this one (http://www.reztech.co.uk) free for a local chap and he is over the moon about it.

I can probably charge a nominal fee for updating it too..

any thoughts?..I seem to have fried my brain thinking about it, and it's switched off to any possible problems :?

[Hayles]

Hi

Sounds good and no doubt there's a market for it! I got a site built for free last year then paid £28 per month for it to be hosted. (This included several free amendments each month.)

It wasn't fantasic compared to others I've seen through the forum, but we were pleased with it and it did the job for us (and we got some nice comments about it).

We're now getting a new one built. It could be that you offer a freebie at first (with a monthly charge), and then improve it at a later date when the internet has proved itself to the customer? That's sort of what's happened with us.

Hayles

[Coding Monkey]

I wouldn't recommend doing it for free. You completely devalue your service, and many people will look for the catch. If you offer a cheap service (without using the word "cheap", again, not a nice word) then you will more than likely have success with another business and make money doing so. You could work it out by doing the benefits versus the time factor.

[JustOneUK]

I agree with the idea of a monthly fee.. or at least an update fee, after all I am not going to host the sites (that would definately need paying for)


You could work it out by doing the benefits versus the time factor.
This guy spends a lot of £££'s advertising in local papers and leaflets, which means they will also see my banner when they visit his site ..saves me a lot of time and £'s

also now he has a website I told him to go join as many local forums as he can find :D

I see this as a win win situation. The site took me 1 hour to make.

[Quan]

That's a great idea. And that tempate looks really clean and easy to navigate.