The Free Website Project

This post is written to help newbies to build their first true site. It’s unfortunate, but I only recently realized how much work goes into a successful site, and how little it actually matters where that site is. If you know someone who wants to try publishing online, feel free to forward this on to them.

Photo by thejas.p.

Are you ready to actually start getting recognition online and making money from advertising? If you are, and you’re tired of deleting free websites that went nowhere, this article is written just for you. The good news is that you can do these things without spending a dime of your own money, but all the easy schemes people offer to suck in newbies, such as “website builders” and free hosting resellers don’t make a good website. What does? Thoughtful, original work, and lots of it.

Now you’re probably wondering why many people make it sound so easy. The reason is that internet publishers like myself get very excited about the chance to reach so many people. If you’re passionate about box kites, for example, not many people in a town of 4,000 or so will really share your views. Online, you could carve out a niche for yourself and have people actually visit, with more work and building up the community this might lead to a steady income for your little hobby.

The beauty of the web lies in giving a voice to those things that aren’t always considered popular. That is why you should be taking a closer look at your own interests. Resist the urge to start a forum about games, or a blog about making money online, or a set of links to funny YouTube videos unless these are things that you’re truly passionate about. There are 2 reasons for this. First, if you have to learn to care about them, you’ll get sick of it pretty quickly. Second, and most importantly, popular topics are very competitive. One thousand people are probably blogging about making money right now, twelve thousand posing on other game forums, half a million have watched a Youtube video today. Ask yourself, what can I offer that’s different? What do I talk at length about, or care about, that is unique to me? The things that people don’t seem to care about in the small circle of people you know locally might have a wider audience on the net.

So, before I overwhelm you, let’s remember the purpose of this article: free hosting, free design, whatever it is, they all are just giving you a place to work. You can squander it all you like by setting up little sites, or you can take hold of the opportunity and really put out something that is worth reading, or looking at, or listening to. Start thinking about it for a while, and more importantly, start reading blogs to see what people are actually doing. Follow problogger.net faithfully for a week, read the comments, and you’ll find yourself already in a network of people doing a lot of work and getting realistic rewards, but more importantly doing what they enjoy.

As you do this, you will also come across other weblogs, static sites, and all kinds of different things that people are doing online, with their own groups of followers. If, at this point, you’re still bored or out of ideas for what you might contribute to the web, publishing online probably isn’t for you. If you do have an idea, though, however silly, email me and I promise I will try to help you get started. We need more unique voices online, and you might just be able to help.