How to create websites for free

Do you have a passion for writing and would like to publish on the Internet some articles you have made to show everyone your talent? You would need to create an Internet site for your company but, not being very experienced in the use of computers and not even in the field of IT, are you afraid that this is too complicated an operation to perform? Don’t worry, now I’m here to help you.

If you find yourself in situations that I have imagined or a similar one, and therefore want to know how to create websites for free, you will be happy to know that you have come to the right tutorial and at the right time. Nowadays, in fact, creating a basic Internet site is an operation that does not require technical skills, as there are several Web portals that allow you to create sites for free through the use of CMS (content management system, in Italian system content management) and other tools for creating sites, both amateur and professional, which can also be used by the less experienced. In this guide of mine, I will list some of them, explaining step by step how you can give life to your website in a complete freeway.

Now that you understand that it is actually possible to create a website for free, would you like to know more and can’t wait to get started? I can imagine it, so I suggest you sit comfortably in front of the computer, take a few minutes of free time so that you can calmly read the instructions that I will give you in this tutorial of mine. Are you ready to get started? Yup? Very well! I wish you a good read.

Index

• Aruba SuperSite
• Shopify
• com
• org
• Blogger
• Wix
• Other tools to create websites for free

Aruba SuperSite

One of the first solutions that I invite you to consider if you want to create a website for free and you want to do it in a simple way, is SuperSite from Aruba.

Thanks to Aruba’s SuperSite, you can create professional-looking websites, including blogs and e-commerce, through an editor that does not require the knowledge of any programming language. The service works directly from the browser and allows you to choose preset graphic themes (with the ability to customize them down to the smallest detail, if desired) and to build Web pages simply by dragging the elements of interest to them: blocks of text, image galleries, videos, social widgets and much more.

Aruba SuperSite offers various plans: the one you can try for free includes a third-level domain (eg. iltuosito.mysupersite.it) And allows you to create sites optimized for both mobile devices and search engines, including blogs, e-commerce, cookie policy and free assistance 24/7. At the end of the 30-day trial, you can decide to upgrade to the Aruba SuperSite Professional plan (39 euros + VAT for the first year for those who activate by July 30, 2020 and then 99 euros + VAT/year) which includes a second level domain (e.g. iltuosito.it), 5 email boxes and the SSL DV certificate, or the Easy plan (39 euros + VAT/year) which does not include the e-commerce component.

To activate the Aruba SuperSite trial, all you have to do is connect to the official website of the service and click on the button for the 30-day trial. Then log into your Aruba account (or create a new one, if you don’t already have one).

Once logged in, accept the Aruba SuperSite service supply conditions and specifically approve clauses of the Aruba SuperSite service supply conditions, click the Continue button, access the SuperSite editor and follow the guided configuration procedure to start of your site: first indicate what type of website you are creating, then the name of your website, choose the style and type of home page to use and click on the Create your website button (top right), to access the page creation tool.

Now you just have to select the page to edit (using the drop-down menu located at the top center) and act on the elements on the screen. As mentioned, it’s all very simple: to change a text, a photo or any other element, just click on it and take advantage of the options available on the screen.

To add new elements, instead, you have to click on the button with the icon of the four squares (bottom right) and select the object (widget) to add: there are images, texts, buttons, image galleries, maps, modules, PDF documents, YouTube videos, Facebook and Twitter social widgets, blog posts and comments, product/category lists for e-commerce and much more. The (+) button then allows you to add new sections to the page.

By clicking, on the other hand, on the ☰ button located at the top left and selecting the items in the menu that appears on the side, you can access the sections of Aruba SuperSite dedicated to managing the blog, creating the store and adjusting the site settings.

For more information, I invite you to read my tutorial on how to build a website with Aruba and consult the official SuperSite guide on the Aruba website.

Shopify

If what you want to create is an online store, I would like to recommend Shopify, a service already used by over 1,000,000 stores around the world that allows you to create e-commerce in a few clicks (or taps, since is also available as an app for Android and iPhone / iPad ) having the possibility to insert unlimited products and to take advantage of unlimited secure hosting, free unlimited bandwidth and free domain name shopify.com (with the possibility to buy a custom one or use one already existing).

The service is free for the initial trial period (with no renewal obligations, no need to enter payment information) and includes everything needed to manage orders, products, customers, payments, shipments and inventory. It also allows you to start marketing campaigns via social networks, email or SMS and to use the Facebook sales channel to synchronize your products with a catalog on Facebook, create marketing activities on the famous social network and take advantage of the Instagram Shopping function. After the trial, you can choose one of the plans available for Shopify, starting at $ 29 / month.

To open your shop on Shopify, connected to the official website of the service, type your email address, click on the Start free trial button, enter the password and name to use for your shop in the appropriate fields, click on the Create your shop button and indicate if you have already started selling, what your current income is, what sector you want to operate in and if you are creating a store for a customer.

Then, click on the Next button, fill out the form relating to the address to receive payments, click on the Enter the store button and use the items you see in the side menu to set up your e-commerce: Orders, Products and Customers to manage the elements in question; Analysis to visualize sales data; Marketing to set up marketing campaigns; Discounts to integrate discount codes in the store; App to expand the functions of e-commerce with apps and Online Store to customize the appearance of the pages. For more details, read my tutorial on how to create an e-commerce with Shopify.

WordPress.com

One of the major web portals that can be used to create free websites is WordPress.com, a platform known for its CMS of the same name, which allows you to create websites even without any knowledge of the programming language.

WordPress.com allows you to create a website for free with 3GB storage space (without the possibility of inserting advertising banners and with limited customization functions for themes and plugins), but also offers paid plans starting from 4 € / month with annual billing. The payment of a subscription is used to remove all the limitations listed above and to obtain a second-level custom domain name (e.g. nomescelto.com ), instead of a third-level one, such as nomescelto.wordpress.com.

To use WordPress.com, connected to its official page and click on Start now, fill in all the text fields you see on the screen, indicating, among other things, the name to give to the site, the topic and the objective you want to reach.

Then click on Continue, enter the domain name, click on Select, corresponding to  WordPress.com in order to continue for free. Then click on Start with free and create an account, indicating your email address and a password of your choice in the respective text fields, then click on Continue. To complete the operation faster, click on Continue with Google.

After this step, confirm your email, using the link that you find in the email sent to the address provided, and click on Continue from the WordPress.com website, to finish the configuration.

The user interface of the WordPress CMS is very simple to use and allows ample customization possibilities. To modify your site, refer to the buttons located in the sidebar, such as Customize which is used to customize the aesthetics of the site). WordPress.com will also show you various tutorials on the screen relating to the use of the various CMS features.

If you want to know more about how to create a site with WordPress.com, read my guide in which I will explain in detail how to do it, or refer to other guides related to using the  WordPress CMS.

Altervista.org

Another platform to consider to create a website for free is Altervista.org. This portal uses WordPress as a CMS and is used by many users for the possibility of inserting advertising banners, and obtaining income with their Internet site.

To start, go to its official Altervista website, click on  Create site, then on Continue and fill in the required text fields concerning your personal data (indicate your name, your surname, your year of birth, gender and an email address ), or press the Facebook button to log in via your social account. Refer to the text field located at the top, in correspondence with the wording, http: // to choose the third level domain name of your website ( www.nomescelto.altervista.org ).

Continue by placing the checkmark on the box I am not a robot  (for identity verification), select the boxes that refer to the acceptance of the conditions of use and the privacy policy, and possibly also those relating to marketing.

Then complete the registration by clicking on the link sent to the email address you provided, and you will be redirected to the login page of your website, which will be created instantly.

Altervista.org uses the WordPress CMS, so I suggest you refer again to the guides indicated in the previous paragraph, to find out in more detail how to bring your content to life and how to customize your website.

Your site can have unlimited storage and traffic even with the free version. Optionally, however, if you want to register a second level domain with Altervista.org and that is to obtain an Internet site www.miodominio.it (instead of www.dominioscelto.altervista.org ), you must pay € 19 + VAT/year.

Blogger

An equally good platform for building easy-to-use free websites is Blogger. I want to talk about it in this tutorial of mine, since it is the service of Google, the company of the search engine of the same name.

To use this tool it is necessary to create a Google account, a procedure that can be completed in an extremely easy and fast way both from computer and mobile devices. If you need to perform this specific operation, please refer to my dedicated guide.

To create a free website through Blogger, connected to its official website, click on the item Create your blog that you see on the screen and log in with your Google account data, typing the email address or the number of phone, password and pressing Next when prompted.

Once the account is created, click on the item Create new Blog, then in the box you see on the screen, type the title and customize the address (it will be of the type www.nomelto.blogspot.com ), choose the theme, by clicking on one of those that are shown to you and, finally, click on Create the blog.

If, subsequently, if you are asked to find your domain name and connect it with the Google Domains service, click on No thanks, as this option relates to the purchase of the second-level domain name, whose prices they vary according to the domain name chosen (it can cost for example 12 € / year).

Once the creation of your website is complete, you can use it to create your articles which will be visible in the Post section. However, if, for example, you want to start with the aesthetic customization of your webspace, refer to the Layout button or the one called Theme.

Internet sites created with Blogger can host advertising banners (and thus allow you to earn) thanks to the use of the native Google Adsense platform. For more information on how it works, read this tutorial of mine, while to learn more about how Blogger works, read this guide in which I talk about it in more detail.

Wix

Another tool I recommend you turn to create a free website is Wix, a platform that allows you to create websites thanks to easy-to-use tools that can be customized through templates and themes. The Internet site created with Wix will have a third level domain ( www.nomelto.wixsite.com ) but it is possible to purchase a webspace with a second-level domain included by purchasing one of the subscription packages whose prices start at € 4.08 per month.

To start creating an Internet site with Wix connected to its main web page, click on the Start now button and create an account by clicking on the Register item. As an alternative to manually entering the data required for registration ( email and password ) you can quickly register by pressing the Continue with Facebook or Continue with Google buttons.

Once registered, choose whether to create an Internet site automatically, by clicking on the Start now button and answering some questions, or by pressing the Choose a template button in order to create a website in manual mode.

The selected templates can however be edited and changed at any time as this web portal offers a variety of customization possibilities and a really simple user interface that is also suitable for those who have no experience in creating Internet sites. Also integrated into this website creation tool is a tutorial that explains step by step how to customize the website and create articles, so I’m sure you won’t have any problems using it.

Other tools to create websites for free

Creating a website for free is now possible, as there is a huge choice of platforms for the creation of Web spaces. The ones I mentioned in the previous lines are in fact just some of the numerous portals that allow you to do so, available to users with easy-to-use tools suitable even for less experienced users. In the following lines, I give you other alternatives, to create a website for free.

• Jimdo– is another website that provides a tool for creating a website in record time. Two tools are made available to create a site for free: one fully automated ( Creator ) and the other manual ( Dolphin ). There are also paid plans dedicated to the purchase of a second-level domain (the free one is third level and is called. Jimdofree.com ) prices start at € 6.50 / month with annual billing.
• Strikingly– this is another free platform for creating websites which, however, is only available in English. To purchase a second-level domain, it is necessary to purchase a subscription package with costs starting from $ 8 / month with annual billing.
• Weebly– is one of the many tools that allow you to create Internet sites for free in a simple and fast and immediate way through tools within the reach of even the less experienced. It’s free, but it allows you to get a com third-level domain with 500MB space. The paid plans for the purchase of a second-level domain start at 4 € / month with annual billing.