What do you think about free website design?

[newwavegraphics]

Its been a while since I have posted on the forums, life had me pretty busy. I am back though and wanted to ask you what do you think about someone offering free website design if you hosted with them? You would not pay for the site itself, you would just pay for the hosting they offered.

[alwayshome]

I read about this on another broad and thought about doing this. I was going to have them sign up for an affililate program. I might work but you should make a list of what could go wrong. Maybe offer a free basic site and charge a small fee for bigger sites.

[lindastacy]

The big questions I would have about an offer like that would be who owns the design and what happens if I'm not happy with the hosting? If I decided to change hosts would I be able to take the design with me?

[newwavegraphics]

Originally Posted by lindastacy

The big questions I would have about an offer like that would be who owns the design and what happens if I'm not happy with the hosting? If I decided to change hosts would I be able to take the design with me?

The answer to your questions yes and yes.

[Aviva B]

I would want to see examples of other sites that you've done. I recently spoke to someone who had done a similar type of deal with a large, well-known domain registrar and the site design was awful. Both aesthetically (and it was an art sale site) and also from an SEO perspective. I basically told her that it was worth her while to cut her losses and get a site redesign before she should work with us to promote it - and she agreed (she just didn't have money at the time for a redesign).

So I would be very wary of a deal unless I could see proof of what I was getting (and check it to make sure it was SEO-friendly).

[newwavegraphics]

That's a given that people are going to ask you for examples of your work, even if you offer your services free or otherwise.

[jesslyn]

If you're doing completely custom design work, I think the support involved (e.g. iterations of design changes, minor fixes here and there, etc.) would destroy the economics, since hosting is a fairly competitive and low margin business.

On the other hand, it may be economical to offer some standard templates/designs that the customer can easily modify/customize him/herself.

[vanny12]

If you want to get some money from your website then free web design is not for you. because there is not enough good looking style or not enough program for professional use.