9 Blogging Mistakes For The Beginnings Make Has A Bloggers

If you are a professionally full-time blogger or part-time and earn your bread and butter from blogging, people think it is as easy to do as it seems.

But the scene behind this story is far different from that. It is true earning money from your blog is not a cakewalk. It takes a lot of effort and energy along with your patience to make it successful. However, many bloggers especially the ones new to blogging fail to carry on their blogging journey due to some significant mistakes they make at the very scratch.


Here you will learn about 9 significant blogging mistakes new bloggers make in the beginning and as a result, they are compelled to terminate their blog completely. You must be aware of these basic things first and mistakes before you start a blog.

Mistake #1: Getting Free Platform

This is yet another significant mistake new bloggers make at the beginning. Using a free platform like WordPress.com or BlogSpot impedes them from getting a professional look for their blogs.

Yes, if you are serious about blogging you have to invest some money for your blog to get a good custom domain.

Choosing a custom domain along with a hosting not only makes you look classic and professional but also boosts up your website ranking. So before you start a blog choose a platform like WordPress. WordPress gives you full freedom to do whatever you want to do with your site. Besides tons of plugins, classic themes, huge facilities draw many bloggers to it.

This idea recently came to my mind and I will very soon move to a custom domain from the free one. You can also choose an expired domain with high DA instead of a new one to speed up your website ranking quickly.

Mistake #2: Much Post or Irregular Posting

If you have come to blogging you have to maintain a regular posting schedule for your blog. Not maintaining a schedule casts a negative impact on your blog readership.

If you are a busy person at least try to take out as low as two hours for your blog. Whether you post thrice a week or twice a month doesn't make a difference; if you are able to write quality posts your audience and readership will increase gradually and you will be happy too.
So be consistent and regular in your writing both in quality and publication frequency.

Mistake #3: Choosing the Wrong Niche

choosing the wrong niche while coming to blogging is one of the significant mistakes new bloggers make at the very beginning.

What they do is that they grab the niche of what their competitors are writing on and start writing similar posts on them. They have probably read some of their articles and out of impulse they set in writing for their blogs. As a result, after publishing a few numbers of articles they lose the topic. 




But if you want to ensure the long-term success of your blog you should hear your heart first, instead of focusing on others. First, find out in which niche you are interested and knowledgeable enough to provide your audience with the necessary information so that they return satisfied after reading your post. Then start developing your writing gradually.

Mistake #4: Doing Improper SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimization helps your blog receive tons of traffic from search engines like Google and helps in getting a higher rank on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

Including proper keywords, Meta descriptions, tags, image alt and text, heading, etc. help in SEO hand-in-hand. Submit your blog posts to various search engines including Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster. For your convenience, I have given the website link here from which you can submit your blog to a lot of search engines with just a few clicks.

Additionally, submitting your blog posts to directory submission sites, forum posting sites, bookmarking sites, sharing them on social media will help you increase your site authority and become more visible to search engines. So, if you want to ensure your blog's success don't forget to research on proper SEO.

Mistake #5: Too Much Of Ads on Blog

A lot of bloggers dream of making money online by putting ads on their blogs. There is a wide range of popular ad-serving networks for bloggers to monetize their blogs, especially with Google AdSense.

The biggest mistake that many bloggers make at the early stage is they put too many ads on their blogs in expectation of making a lot of money overnight. However, this notion is purely flash. Putting too many ads on your blog irritates readers and heavily spoils the readership quality. This would not be a good thing for bloggers!

Too many ads on site hide the original content and confuse the readers. Hence, an ad above the post title and one in-article ad would be an ideal choice for new bloggers. So be judgmental next time you put ads on your site.

Mistake #6: Lack of Promoting

Lack of promoting blog posts is another biggest blogging mistake new blogger’s do at the beginning.

You are the first person who shares your contents. The more you share the higher traffic you will end up generating. Promote your contents after publishing on different social media, submit them to forum posting sites, PDF submission sites, many bookmarking sites, and directory submission sites to reach more audience. This will help you increase the visibility of your blog and derive a considerable number of engagements.



Mistake #7: Giving Up a Compelling Title to Blog Posts

more another big blogging mistake new blogger’s make is they fail in generating a good and compelling title for their blog posts.

The title is the first thing that draws a visitor to your site. If you give a dull or commonplace title for your blog post, you are likely to get lesser readership. Try to glue a catchy and compelling title to the very first of your blog post. This will make visitors attracted to your site and see what the inside holds.

If you want you can start your blog with some kind of questions that supports it. For example, you are writing a post on how to make money online from blogging. You can start the post by including sentences like who doesn't want to make money these days? Or maybe are you passionate about making money online? Etc.

This will trigger interest in your audience and they will definitely sacrifice some time to go through your entire post.

Mistake #8: Giving Up to Follow Passion

Blogging is all about patience and passion as I already said in my previous articles. If you are passionate about blogging you are fixed to achieve your dream as a blogger.

To be personal, blogging is my first hobby and at the same time a passion too. Most of my days I spend reading other bloggers, following what they are reading and interacting with others. Remarkably, many of them, like Harsh Agarwal, suggested every new blogger should follow and chase their passion first to come out successful in blogging. They asserted passion makes one love work by heart. And what is loved by heart always ends up being successful!

Mistake #9: Giving Up Too Early On Blog

This is the last but not the least mistake.

Many bloggers start blogging hoping to make money within a few months or even some think overnight. However, this is like building a castle in the air.

Pelt a glance at some of the most successful persons in the world like Bill Gates, Jack Maa, Thomas Alfa Edison, Albert Einstein, or Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of mouth-watering KFC - they all faced one thing in life which is a failure. Still, they were reluctant to give up. Their obstinacy and continuous hard work brought them where they are today.

So if you want to reach a well-established position with blogging never ever give up. Success so the result of continuous efforts. And you have not chosen blogging to give up eventually, right?

Hope these few significant mistakes will make you more conscious next time you start a blog. Have you enjoyed reading this? What experience have you got after reading this post? Do let me know in the comment.

How to Find Plagiarized Content Using Google Alerts

I love Google Alerts to find out when someone has stolen my content. It’s a great tool that is completely free and will warn you when someone copies your articles. But in order to be useful for catching plagiarists and content thieves, you have to set up your Google Alert properly.

Using Vanity Google Alerts for Name and Blog

It’s common for bloggers and those active in the social media arena to use Google Alerts for what are known as “vanity alerts”. This means the blogger creates Google Alerts to search for their name, and their blog name. For example my vanity alerts search for AngEngland, Angela England and Untrained Housewife (which yields some interesting results by the way).

Creating Google Alerts to Catch Stolen Blog Posts

When you create a google alert to monitor your content you want to set them up a little differently. Take a unique sentence from your blog post or article and make THAT statement your search parameter.

BUT (here’s the really important part) be sure to use quotation marks around the unique sentence or you’ll get total spam and unrelated results. So for example, if I were creating a google alert for this post I would put a unique sentence from the middle of the post in quotes and it would look like this: “For example my vanity alerts search for AngEngland, Angela England and Untrained Housewife (which yields some interesting results by the way).”

Here are some tips to keep in mind:

1-Take your sentence from the middle or middle-end of the post. Content thieves will often rewrite the title and intro paragraph and then cut and paste everything else over.

2-Search everything – News, blog posts, etc so you can catch plagiarism of your content in any location. I’ve found my articles published on college websites, customer newsletters, EBay sales pages….everywhere.

3-Don’t forget to use quotation marks so the search results will yield exact matches only. This will prevent your inbox from being flooded.

4-Once you’ve created your Google Alert, search Google.com using that same sentence IN QUOTATION MARKS to catch any current theft (this would apply to posts more than an hour old) since google alerts will only catch additional plagiarism moving forward from the time you create the alert.

Using google alerts can be a great way to monitor your blog posts for stolen content and help you fight plagiarism of your work. It’s an epidemic but there’s a lot you can do to stop thieves in their tracks. Tomorrow I’ll post how to handle things when you’ve found someone has taken your blog post or article.

What to Do When Someone Steals Your Blog Post

If you’ve ever found your articles reprinted without your permission — and I’m talking more than what’s considered fair use — then you’ll love today’s article. Ang England explains what scraping is and how to approach a website that’s stealing your content. (Hint: You may be able to turn it into a lucrative opportunity!) Please welcome Angela as this week’s guest blogger and feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts or experiences with content theft. ~ Melanie

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Unfortunately in the blogging world there is one thing we’ll all have to deal with sooner or later — content scraping. This is when someone steals a post or article you wrote and publishes it on their own site.

While this used to have some serious SEO implications, these have been recently minimized by Google in new algorithms that help determine which post was the original and which is the duplicate. However, this content scraping is, quite simply, theft. Theft of your work. Theft of potential readers. And a sign of incredible laziness (or ignorance) on the part of the thief.

Perhaps you discovered the theft in a Google Alert you set up (and you should definitely be doing that), when a friend DM’d or emailed you to say “Hey — isn’t this your post you wrote last month?”, or just by pure happenstance. Whatever the method of discovery, I have some tried-and-true ways of dealing with content thieves you might find useful.

Stay Calm and Be Polite When Dealing with Content Thieves

My initial knee-jerk reaction is usually, “How dare they!?” but this is rarely a useful response. If this is a live human being, it’s probably better to try emailing them or using their website contact form if possible to inform them that you are the copyright holder of the post in question (Be sure to link to which post you are talking about). My initial email or comment usually goes something like this:

“Hi! My name is Angela England and I’m glad you found my article about lavender essential oil useful, however this article is protected by copyright and cannot be republished without permission. You can remit a one-time reprint fee of $XXX via paypal to . Alternatively, I am available to create an original piece on this topic specifically geared towards your audience for $XX. Otherwise this article needs to be removed within 24 business hours. Thanks so much! “

There are a couple of important things to notice in my sample email above:

1. I used a statement rather than a question. A question can be answered negatively and legally can be ignored. Had I asked, “Would you mind taking it down?” They could have replied, “Yes I mind”. You must say “This article needs to be removed….”
2. I invited the content scraper to hire me or pay me. Obviously you can only offer a reprint fee option if that option is available for that particular post. However, I generally charge about $50 more for a reprint fee than I offer for creating an original article for that person. I would rather them hire me to create a new piece than to have duplicate content floating about all over the web. Besides, lots of people don’t realize that blog posts and websites aren’t a free-for-all. Educate them by offering to hire yourself out. This not only creates a potential win/win situation, but also makes it very clear that your words have VALUE and aren’t up for grabs.

Filing a DMCA Complaint Against Content Thieves

One time out of 10 I get a new job when I send that email. One time out of 10 I get a reprint fee paid to me. Five times out of 10 the articles disappear — usually without a single word of acknowledgement to me at all. So what happens the other three times when there is no response, no reply, and most importantly, my article is STILL up there?

Sometimes, especially if it looks like a legitimate website, I will actually just send an invoice via Paypal. In the invoice I price it higher than my initially stated reprint fee (call it a pain-in-the-butt tax), and will include a notice that payment needs to be remitted with 48 business hours or else the stolen article at http://yourthievingwebsite.com/mystolenpost/ needs to be removed. Sometimes this will work, but sometimes it won’t.

If that doesn’t work, you move to filing a DMCA complaint. I usually will do a WHOIS search and find a contact email address and resend my request to that email. I will also contact the host of the site with an official DMCA complaint. And I will contact Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. It’s not hard to fill out the form and it is, in my opinion, important for bloggers and writers to protect their work. The more often content scrapers “get away with it”, the more the problem will continue.

Depending on how much time I have and my feistiness level, I will contact any advertisers on the website as well. All ad networks have rules in place about the type of content that is permissible, and illegally obtained content isn’t usually approved content. Sometimes the ad networks will remove ads before Google gets to the DMCA complaint — either way, mission accomplished. (Usually I only contact a website’s sponsors if someone responds to me with an ignorant email saying something like “But it was on the internet and everyone knows if it’s on Google it’s free to use”.)

I hope this helps you as you battle content thieves and scrapers. Don’t be afraid to contact them and tell them your posts need to be removed. Your words have value and deserve to be respected.

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Angela England’s mission is to empower and educate others about blogging, freelance writing, and social media. She is the author of 30 Days to Make and Sell a Fabulous Ebook. You can read more of her helpful articles at AngEngland.com and Untrained Housewife.

Beginning Blogger Checklist: 5 MORE Mistakes to Avoid

1.  Choosing an uninteresting or redundant blog name.

If you are starting a blog, whether you think you might be in it for the long haul or not, please consider your title seriously. Try to avoid words like musings, ramblings, thoughts, mommy, etc. Trust me when I tell you it’s been done. Your goal should be to set yourself apart from the crowd. Choose something reflective of your personality and niche, but be creative.

Some things to think about when naming your blog:

• Is the title flexible? Does it allow you to grow your niche if you decide to? For instance, if you are starting a mommy blog and your title is My Pregnant Belly, what happens when you’re still blogging in 18 months and you’re no longer pregnant? The entire focus of your blog has changed, but your title hasn’t and it no longer reflects your topic.
• Does the title reflect the blog’s topic? Your title is a great way to increase your SEO if you choose your words carefully to reflect your blogging niche.
• Does the title match your domain name? Your URL should match your blog’s name. It’s terribly confusing and hard to remember if your blog is called The Nelson Three but the URL is maxlovespie.blogspot.com. They are totally unrelated.

2.  Not owning your domain name.

Your domain name is the URL, or address, of your blog. For example, yourblogname.comor yourblogname.net. There are several reasons to own your domain:

1. It’s less than $10/year to own your domain and it’s an incredibly easy process.
2. It’s easy for your readers or new contacts to remember your blog’s name & how to find it.
3. As you build your blog, you build your brand. Your URL is an important part of that branding.
4. Like it or lump it, people take you more seriously if you own your own domain name and use a .com or .net URL.

When you buy your domain name, it’s best to buy the .com and the .net. Most people are used to typing in the .com, but the .net is a close second. If, for some reason, you can’t secure the .com, go with the .net.

3.  Your header is huge.

Digital scrapbooking is wildly popular and I understand that. However, blogging is not digital scrapbooking. I see so many blogs (particularly mommy blogs) that have a header that takes up most of the homepage. The reader has to scroll down several times just to get to the content. In a book you have a title page; on a blog you have a title bar. The title bar should be visible and eye-catching, but it is not the thrust of your blog. Keep it simple and small. Focus on your content.

4.  Not considering privacy issues.

It’s important to consider how transparent you want to be online. It’s impossible to tell whether your blog will take off or not. If you’re insanely popular in a year, do you want people to know your child’s real name or where you live? For some people out there, it’s a game to see if they can figure out specific, private things about your family or your life. It’s creepy and it can be dangerous. I say this not to scare you, but to make you aware of the problems that can occur when you give too much to your audience.

On a lighter note, if you write about your family or personal life, you may wish to use pseudonyms. As you choose these names be aware that your baby is going to grow up. Calling them SweetPumpkin on your blog isn’t going to go over well when they’re old enough to know you’re writing about them and have a pet name for them. I called my children Max and Wild Thing (after characters in my favorite children’s book). As my second child grew older, she took exception to being called Wild Thing and insisted I change her name. You’ve been warned.

5.  Allowing blogging to become a chore.

When you begin your blog, you have the energy and the ideas for fifty posts. You have a shiny new toy and you’re ready to jump in with both feet. I say harness that energy and write those posts. Then put those posts on auto-publish and give yourself a break. As you write more posts, add them to the queue. If you only write your posts the day before, you may end up (as so many of us have) resenting the fact that you have to write a post or you’ll lose your readership (which isn’t really true). Finally, remember that blogging isn’t life. Many a blogger has found that she’s so wrapped up in blogging her life that she forgets to focus on the people in her life. Step back every once in a while and take stock of how things are going. Adjust as necessary. If you’re hitting a wall and can’t think of anything to write, allow yourself to take a break (just don’t apologize for it when you come back).

I have many awards that are on my sidebar and I wanted to create a separate page on my blog for them. Can you tell me how to do that?

Moving these awards and graphics off your sidebar is a good idea–it will help declutter your design! (Pay no attention to my own sidebars; do as I say, not as I do!)

TypePad
TypePad offers a feature that allows you to make a page instead of a blog post. Pages are great for things like blogrolls, listing awards and recognition, or anything else that is fairly static but may need to be updated periodically. Pages also allow you to choose a specific name/permalink. For instance, if you are making a page for your awards, you can choose to call it awards/. The name is descriptive and easy to remember. It’s worth noting that Pages do not show up in your blog’s feed.

1. Go to the Compose Tab.
2. Click New Page.
3. Compose your page as you would any other blog post. You can add a title, headings and sub-headings, graphics, and links.
4. Scroll down to the area below your textbox (where you compose your post). You should see a box with Filename above it.
5. Type the filename you’d like your page to have (e.g., awards). You don’t have to type / because that will automatically be part of the URL.
6. Save your page.

Blogger
From what I can tell, Blogger does not offer a way to make a page like TypePad does. However, you can get around this.

1. Compose a new post listing your awards. You can put the award picture, a link, whatever you think is appropriate.
2. Save and publish your post.
3. Find and copy your new post’s permalink.
4. Go to the Layout tab.
5. Click on Add a Gadget in your sidebar.
6. Choose Link List by clicking on the + sign.
7. Paste your post’s permalink in the New Site URL box.
8. Type Blog Awards (or whatever title you want that page to have) in the New Site Name box.
9. Click Add Link.
10. Click Save.
11. Move the new gadget/link list to its proper place in your sidebar (simply click and drag up or down in your sidebar on the Layout tab).
12. On the Layout tab page, click Save.

Blog Design For Dummies – Book Review

I have the perfect book recommendation for you guys: Blog Design For Dummies by Melissa Arce Culbertson of MomComm.

I have a list of the things I’ve been meaning to do for this blog and some others I have. It’s a long list. I haven’t gotten to it yet. Then Melissa asked if I’d review her new book, Blog Design For Dummies. Y’all this was the kick in the pants I needed. I’m not only working on my list, I’m excited about working on my list. I’ve gone through this book twice already and I currently have 20 pages bookmarked.

I know writing and editing. I know understanding your audience. I know usability (which is one of the things I’ve been meaning to update). But what I don’t know is design.

Melissa, on the other hand, knows a thing or ten about design and usability – two topics that can be daunting even for experienced bloggers. She has over 12 years experience with marketing communications. She got started with a personal blog (Adventeroo), but quickly discovered she was strong resource for the blogging community and created MomComm. Her regular series of blog critiques is wildly popular.

Getting Started with Blog Design

“Before you embark on designing your blog, you and your blog need to sit down and have a little chat.”

If you’re just learning about blog design or this is your first time considering usability, there’s a lot of information being shared in this book. It could be overwhelming, but don’t let that deter you. Melissa helps you easily prepare for the process of designing your blog by suggesting three key exercises in Chapter 3: Getting to Know Your Blog (Even Better):

• setting goals
• defining your writing – including choosing a niche (or not)
• understanding your audience

Approaching Blog Design the Right Way

“Decisions, decisions. Blog design is full of decisions.”

If you’re most interested in blog design, skip to section two: Choosing the Visual Design Elements. This section in particularly is meaty. It covers the specifics of how to approach design from creating mood boards to using Google Analytics, and from choosing fonts and colors that compliment each other to creating a blog layout that helps your readers find what they’re looking for. Then Melissa ties it all together by helping you with some basic coding to get you started.

In Choosing the Visual Design Elements, Melissa shares five tips for defining your blog design (each one with its own chapter and complete discussion):

• gathering design ideas (Tip: Check out Chapter 18 too; it lists 10 well-designed blogs that may inspire you.)
• selecting fonts and colors
• developing your overall blog layout
• customizing your blog’s header, footer, and background
• customizing the design with coding basics

Believe it or not, most bloggers have already started choosing their elements without even recognizing it. If you’ve ever made a note about another blog’s header that you love or a color combination that speaks to you, you’ve started creating a mood board (check your Pinterst boards — you probably have some things already there!).

Understanding Usability in Blog Design

“No matter how awesomely designed a blog looks, visitors won’t stick around if a blog is hard to navigate.”

If you’re just starting to think about usability but aren’t quite sure what it is or how to implement it, then section three of Blog Design For Dummies is your home. For those of you not quite sold on the idea of usability or think it’s too much work, consider this: Good usability = good SEO (flip over to chapter 10 to learn why).

When your users can easily find what they’re looking for, they’ll come back. This is especially important for resource blogs. And if you think you’re not a resource blog because you talk about fashion, food, or home decor, think again. When someone sees a great idea on your site, they may not bookmark it or pin it right away.  But later, when they’re ready to use that idea, they’ll return to your site and try to search for it. If they can’t find it, they’ll move on to another place that may have similar information.

The Importance of Using Pictures on Your Blog

“Think about it. Would you flip through a magazine if there were no images? Probably not. Like magazines, blogs come alive with images.”

Any part of good blog design is going to include images. Flip to section four, Creating Design-Friendly Content, to learn:

• how to choose images to use on your blog
• where to find pictures to use legally use on your blog (and how to attribute them)
• how to edit your own pictures

This isn’t one of my strong suits so I’ll probably spend a lot of time referring back to this section.

The Parts of Ten – My Favorite Part

Finally, like most Dummies books, you’ll find the Parts of Ten in the back of the book. I love the Parts of Ten. It’s where you find quick lists of the best resources. Blog Design For Dummies shares 10 places to extend your design (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, printables) and 10 well-designed blogs that follow the tenants shared throughout the book.

Recommendation: Buy Blog Design For Dummies

In Blog Design For Dummies Melissa explains design and usability with easy-to-understand tutorials and discussion without being condescending. That’s a talent I can appreciate since many of the topics she covers can be fairly complex.

Whether you’re just getting started blogging or you’re a blogging veteran, I can’t over-emphasize how useful this book is. It’s a great tutorial for beginners, but it delves into each topic in ways that are satisfying for bloggers who’ve been around the block a few times. Buy Blog Design For Dummies and use it as a resource — flip around, mark what’s useful, and get started tweaking your blog design!

You can find Melissa’s Cheat Sheet on the For Dummies website.

Other For Dummies Books You May Like:

• Facebook All-In-One For Dummies by Melanie Nelson
• Online Community Management For Dummies by Deborah Ng
• Klout For Dummies by Andrea Updyke
• Web Hosting For Dummies by Peter Pollock
• Raising Digital Families For Dummies by Amy Lupold Bair (review coming soon)

6 Ways to Get a Free Domain Name in Less Than a Minute

A domain name is commonly known as a website address. It has three parts, including a website name, a dot (or period), and an extension like “com” or “net” like fitsmallbusiness.com. Some domain providers offer truly free domain names, while others offer a free domain name as part of their paid hosting packages.

Here are the six best ways to get a free or almost free domain name.

Option 1: Get a Free .com Domain With Affordable Web Hosting

Bluehost offers a free .com domain name if you purchase one of its web hosting packages. Because .com URLs are in high demand, it isn’t possible to get one completely free. However, you can get an excellent deal with Bluehost by signing up for a hosting plan that costs only $2.95 per month, which includes a free .com domain.

When it comes to choosing a domain name for a website or professional email address, most people are looking for a .com URL, such as www.yoursite.com. This is the most common and professional-looking domain extension, so choosing a hosting provider that includes a free .com domain name — included with a website and a business email account — is best.

Bluehost is a great option for this. You can buy hosting starting at less than $3 per month that includes a .com domain, a professional WordPress website with easy installation and customization in under an hour, and up to five professional email accounts. In other words, you not only get a domain of www.yoursite.com, but you can create a high-quality website and get up to five email addresses that use the same domain. Click here to sign up for Bluehost.

Visit Bluehost

Option 2: Get a Free Website Domain for One Year Plus Site Builder

Wix offers a .com domain free for one year when you pay for a Wix website builder package. For solopreneurs, the $11 per month Combo package comes with 2GB of bandwidth, 3GB of storage, and a free domain. The small businesses $14 per month Unlimited package gives you the free domain, 10GB of storage, and unlimited bandwidth.

The limitation here is that, once that year has passed, you do have to pay a fee for your domain. The pricing for this domain will depend on the type of domain extension you chose, the number of years you’d like to pay for at one time if you’ve added privacy protection, local taxes, and more. You’d have to look in “Billing and Payments” in your Wix account, then find your “Subscriptions” tab to learn what you’d pay after the first free year.

The beauty of Wix is that it offers a highly customizable website you can edit with no coding skills via drag-and-drop tools. It best serves small business or solopreneurs looking to avoid web design costs and need an intuitive site builder they can use themselves. You can also click on the “Features” tab on Wix’swebsite.

Visit Wix

Option 3: Get Free Domain Name & Limited Web Builder

DreamHost offers a free .com domain name for one year when you choose its annual Unlimited Shared or DreamPress hosting plans. The annual Shared Unlimited plan starts at $5.95 per month, and the annual DreamPress plan starts at $16.95 per month with a cloud-based server for better website reliability and faster performance.

DreamHost is pricier than Bluehost for a small business website but comparable for a solopreneur or starter website. Because its shared Unlimited plan offers storage that’s shared with other businesses, speed can sometimes be unreliable. Its Remixer website builder, included in both plans mentioned above, isn’t as customizable as Wix’s but can be used to import a website design into WordPress for additional customization.

DreamHost is best for companies that want a free domain name with affordable hosting, a drag-and-drop builder able to create very basic websites, and one-click install of content management systems like WordPress and Joomla. You can learn more about DreamHost’s hosting packages by clicking on its “Hosting” header menu tab, then “Hosting Overview.”

Visit DreamHost

Option 4: Get a Free Subdomain From a Website Builder

Weebly can help you build your simple website with a free site builder and sub-domain (a website address that includes the host-name as well as your site name, such as yoursite.weebly.com). This is a great option for solopreneurs or early-stage startups. With Weebly’s website builder, you drag-and-drop shapes and photos to design your site as you would to design a PowerPoint presentation.

The only catch is that the builder is somewhat limited at the free level. Storage and features are truncated, and you cannot remove ads placed by the website builder. Further, the included subdomain is a bit clunkier than a custom domain name. For more information, read our article on comparisons of the best website builders.

The Weebly free plan offers a subdomain (www.yoursite.weebly.com), 500MB of storage, and a footer link ad for Weebly. By upgrading to the paid $8 per month plan, you get a free domain name (www.yoursite.com), unlimited storage, and no footer link ad inviting visitors to also sign up for Weebly. For information on setting up your site, read our free guide on how to create a website with Weebly.

Some of the other big website builders include Wix and Squarespace (although Squarespace doesn’t have a free version). Weebly is our favorite among the three for its simpler editing tools and faster speed. Get started with a Weebly plan that includes a free subdomain or purchase a paid plan with a free custom domain by visiting its web hosting plan pricing page.

Visit Weebly

Option 5: Get a Free .Tk Domain Name

Powered by Freenom, the website dot.tk offers .tk domains (www.yoursite.tk) completely free for up to a year. It also has .ml, .ga, .cf, and .gq domains available at no cost, but it offers no site builder or additional hosting features.

With dot.tk, you get a clean URL like www.yoursite.tk. It’s also free to transfer the domain to a hosting service to create your website or professional email address. The catch is that dot.tk only lets you register the domain for up to a year at a time. In addition, dot.tk domains don’t rank as well as more common extensions like .com or .net. While renewals are currently free, we can’t guarantee it will remain that way in the future.

If you’re looking for a domain you can use in the long term (two or more years), it’s wiser to pay the small fee for a .com domain instead. After all, this looks more professional and is generally more trusted by visitors. On the other hand, if you only need a temporary domain and aren’t too concerned about appearances, dot.tk provides a simple and free alternative.

Visit dot.tk

Option 6: Get a Free .Co.nf Domain Name

At Biz.nf, you can register a .co.nf domain name (www.yoursite.co.nf) completely free. Unlike dot.tk, which only allows you to register one year at a time, biz.nf lets you own the domain for an unlimited amount of time, provided you only use it with its website hosting services.

To help solopreneurs and small businesses get started, biz.nf provides a free website hosting and domain package. You get 5GB of traffic per month, although there are some significant limitations, like no files more than 15MB can be uploaded.

Another key limitation is that you cannot transfer your free domain name to another host like you can with Bluehost or even .tk, although this is likely to be available in the future for a surcharge. Also, unlike dot.tk, .co.nf is technically a subdomain owned by biz.nf. While this makes little difference to visitors besides the slightly longer URL, it does mean you will lose the URL should biz.nf ever discontinue service.

If you’re looking for a long-term solution, a low-cost hosting plan with providers like Bluehost or DreamHost that offer a .com URL is a wiser option.

However, if you’re looking for a simple informational website and aren’t particularly worried about expanding or keeping it up for long, biz.nf provides an impressive free service. Click below to sign up.

Visit biz.nf

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What Is a Domain Name in a URL?

A domain name has three parts, your website name, a dot or period, and an extension like “com” or “net.” For example, in the URL www.fitsmallbusiness.com/marketing/, the domain name is fitsmallbusiness.com.

What Is the Difference Between a Paid & Free Website Domain?

A free website domain has either uncommon extensions like .tk (versus common extensions like .com) that don’t rank well and lack credibility or require a sign up for other paid services like web hosting services. Most small businesses can get a free domain name with a credible extension for a few dollars a month or for free by signing up for quality hosting services like Bluehost.

Which Free Domain Name Is Best?

The best free domains are ones with credible extensions readers or customers trust, like .com, .org, .net, and .edu. These make your readers feel more at ease by offering a professional look that puts your website in the same class as reputable organizations’ and businesses’ websites. To get a free, credible domain name, you can purchase web hosting packages with a company like Bluehost that include a free domain name.

Can You Buy a Domain Name Outright?

Since registering a domain name means you are leasing the name, it cannot be purchased outright. Just like renting a house, you have possession of a domain for a certain period of time. However, some providers allow you to register a domain name for anywhere from one month to 10 years before having to renew it.

How Can You Create a Domain Name in Less Than a Minute?

This depends on your domain name provider. For Bluehost, for example, register for an account by clicking “Create account” on the homepage. Select the hosting package you’d like by clicking on the green “Select” button under your package description. From there, enter the domain name you’d like under “New Domain” and the extension you’d like (we recommend .com). Enter your contact and credit card information, then click the green “Submit” button.

The Bottom Line

A domain name is a website address made of a website name, followed by a dot, then an extension like .com. You can receive a free domain by purchasing web hosting packages or via domain registrars with little-known extensions like .tk allow people to access business websites and are best for entrepreneurs and small businesses that rely on an internet presence for sales, brand awareness, or content marketing.

If you’re creating a website for your business, we strongly recommend paying the small fee for a .com domain instead of a free domain like .tk. You get a more reputable domain name and don’t have to worry as much about price increases or service interruptions. With Bluehost, you can get a domain name, website hosting, and a professional email account for $2.65 per month. Click below to get started.