Free Isnt Always Good - 5 Reasons Why You Need Your Own Website

Often time I've browsed sites and seen the same thing - general rep websites or free hosted sites. Pop ups irritate me from the free sites as does the blatant ads getting in the way of the text, and if you have seen one rep site you literally have seen them all. Boring, unoriginal, and unprofessional.

But after all they are free, and free is good right? Wrong - not when it comes to your image online.

Regardless of the business you are in, it's important you have your own website. Meaning you have a unique domain name with purchased hosting. There are many benefits to owning your own website and I'll explain why:

1. Ability to Track Visitors
If you don't know where your visitors are coming from, there is no way to know if your advertising is working or not. It's a shot in the dark, and the internet is too large to take a chance like that.

While some free hosting companies offer the ability to edit your pages and add trackers, general rep sites usually do not.

2. Eliminates unwanted information/ads
Most free hosting company will place their own ads on your website. How many potential customers could you be loosing with this? The same applies for company information on rep websites. Should your potential customer contact the company directly instead of you, you've lost that commission/sale.

3. Ability to give your site a personal feel
Company rep sites of course all look alike. Very few give the option of editing, so you are "stuck" with their design, their content and descriptions, and their information. Many free hosting companies only have templates to use, so your sites would look like many others online. Giving your website a personal feel with your own design, descriptions, and information sets you apart from your competition.

4. Creates a Professional Look
Not only is your website easy to remember when you have a unique domain name, but your visitors will take you seriously. They know you are serious about your online business, and are quicker to trust? and buy. You've shown them you care about your business and your customers as well by creating a friendly site.

5. Ability to Edit Pages for SEO purposes
Many free hosting sites are frowned on by major search engines, and rep sites of course are definitely frowned on. Most company rep sites cannot be edited, which means you cannot add link exchange pages to increase your rankings, nor can you edit the titles for SEO purposes. Many potential customers are being lost from search engines with these types of sites.

There are of course other reasons why you need your own website - such as for many directories that do not accept links from anything but top-level domains (like www.yourdomain.com). Domain names are very reasonable, costing around $8 per year while hosting costs as low as $6/month. Domain and hosting companies are everywhere, it just depends on what your needs are. For small websites I recommend Mommy's Helper ( http://www.mommyshelper.com/web-hosting.html )

This is cost you can't afford to cut out of your business budget.

About the author: Kara Kelso is a work at home mom of two, and the co-owner of Direct Sales Helpers, which is dedicated to helping mothers succeed in direct sales. For more information, visit: http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

Web Development Company CEO elected to NJRCC Board of Directors TransWorldNews (press release) Founder, president and CEO of Web Development Company Hudson Horizons, Daryl H. Bryant, was recently elected onto the Board of Directors for the North ...

Mashable's Weekly Guide to Social Media & Web Development Jobs Mashable (blog) But we'd like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable's job boards are a place for socially-savvy companies to find people like you. ... and more »

topseos.in Recognizes the Best Indian Web Development Firms for November 2009 Online PR News (press release) Online PR News – 18-November-2009 – Plymouth, IN- The Best Indian Web Development Firms have been chosen by topsoes.in for this month. ... and more »

3D Web development critical to HPC growth EE Times India The 3D Web development is critical to the growth oh high performance computing. "Nothing is more important to the long term health of the HPC industry than ...

Twitlicious - Republican/Democrat conceit, joining the Trump Network and ... MarketWatch Quick note to start - I need some interns for web development, stock mkt research and other stuff. No pay to start, but foot in the door. ...

appendTo Releases Industry-Leading Support, Training Solution to the jQuery ... PR Web (press release) “Corporate IT teams and web development professionals are increasingly seeing the value of using jQuery's sustainable, open source JavaScript library for ... and more »

Advaiya, Inc., Announces Cutting-Edge Microsoft SharePoint and Silverlight Web ... PR Newswire (press release) KIRKLAND, Wash., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandy Sharma, CEO of Advaiya, Inc., a leader in new technology and Web site development, today announced Advaiya's ... and more »

ASP Web Development Team Leader ashdowngroup.com This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Classic ASP Developer to take a Team Leader / Project Manager position within this leading online ...

Web Development Innovation Set To Disrupt Matters Scoop.co.nz (press release) The days of spending thousands of dollars on web development fees for small to medium sized businesses are over, that's according to Andrew Hendrie, ...

Web Development Company: For all your Web Development solutions PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) A leading, web development company, Brainpulse Technologies helps you develop, integrate and maintain your online presence effectively. ... Hire Best Website Design Company India at Affordable RatesBest Syndication all 2 news articles »