Some businesses make “FREE” website offers.

Reading their ads, it sounds like the client gets a free website, and pays a small monthly fee to get online visibility and high ranking in search results.

The truth is, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” – Milton Friedman

And there is no such thing as a free website.

The company offering a “free website” to new clients frequently retains the domain name. This means if the client ever decides to try to take their business to a different online marketing company, they will lose any online ranking they had. All of that domain rank stays with the “free” website that belongs to the original marketing company.

And search engines like Google, Firefox, Edge, Bing, and Yahoo have shared numerous articles about how websites can rank well. A website will rank better if the website is easy to use, and has information that is helpful and interesting.

Your local small business marketing should focus on your business, brand, and service area.

Recently we looked at a free website offer that a friend had gotten from a company who said they would help them get more business.

• The evidence that the company was using a content template was clear.
• A quick Google search showed that company was using the same page template for each client. They used the same words again and again. They just changed the business name and service area for each new victim (I mean client)! Repeated text won’t fool people. And it surely won’t fool search engine robots!
• If you want to get clients, you have to give them good, original information and interesting photos and videos of your work to get and keep their attention.

If you have a small local business and would like to get started with a website for your business, or for help improving your small business website, or your digital marketing, please Contact Jax SEO Works.