Free website offer - worth it?

[Ubiquitous2024]

I took up an invitation for a "we design your website for free" on Facebook and have been contacted by a rep from Webahead - it all looks and seems legit. The payment is 150 for the year for domain hosting, which includes some general maintenance and amendments. I get an account manager apparently.

Is there a catch? I am aware this won't include SEO and as such maybe the website is pointless? My "business" is so niche and small / part time I am unsure. I do creating/bespoke drone videography, and also make adverts using this media. Basically there is no market for this, I have been advertising across social media since December and so far I have made £310 in paid work. This is for a variety of reasons but the demand is almost non-existant and companies don't want to pay for this service. I also don't advertise properly as the cost would be pointless vs what I can fit in around a full time job.

So the question is how valuable is a website on it's own? It would mean posting a link to my website rather than posting demo videos online which is what I have been doing.

Cheers.

[Geoffcapes]

Build your own using Squarespace.

I used a company for about 5 years who did exactly what the 'free' company you mention did.

Then I had a go myself using Squarespace, and I built something so much better without too much difficulty, and I've never built a website before.

I pay £12 a month for it to be hosted.

I've subsequently built 4 others. All look far more professional than what my previous website provider did.

[StevieBee]

Ubiquitous2024 said:

So the question is how valuable is a website on it's own? It would mean posting a link to my website rather than posting demo videos online which is what I have been doing.

Although you're in the early stages of the business and turnover is low, if you did want to make a serious run at it then a website will be beneficial to you, not as a replacement to your existing type of promotion but complementary to it.

Be cautious of free lunches! A friend of mine was burnt very badly having done something similar with a site for one of his businesses. The web company was a one-man band. The one man fell very ill and died and nobody knew how to get hold of passwords and access codes so my friend had to ditch the domain name and build what was quite a complex site again from scratch.

If you use services like Frame or Pixieset to host and distribute your videos to clients, they come with a web builder option (included within the Frame subscription but additional for Pixieset). These are rather good and mean you can streamline content distribution.

[Ubiquitous2024]

Thanks - this is a company in Darlington call Webahead and they have a few people working there looking at reviews. I have decided against it for now, simply as the offer is always there so I may see how the next few months go first.

[Ham_and_Jam]

Ubiquitous2024 said:

Thanks - this is a company in Darlington call Webahead and they have a few people working there looking at reviews. I have decided against it for now, simply as the offer is always there so I may see how the next few months go first.

Read the Google reviews.

Lots of customers complaining that the ‘free website’ is a con as they constantly bombard you with maintenance charges and upselling. With a company like this they seem to hold the cards and will take down your website if you don’t play ball.

For a simple website I would look at a DIY option with something like Wordpress. I think you’ll surprise yourself what you can do over a few nights.

[Geoffcapes]

Seriously. Do it yourself.

This is one I did for my business. It took about a day using Squarespace, and I tweak it now and again and it costs nothing.

For £12 a month you can't beat it.

https://www.gcilimited.co.uk

[Ubiquitous2024]

Yeah that looks better than theirs. Will have a play!

[DSLiverpool]

Free / cheap website companies are crap, if any good they’d be realistically priced.
If your business has any ambition to be a serious entity do it properly.
A basic Wordpress with forms, designs, tech SEO at least £1000 and that’s assuming you write the content.

[Ubiquitous2024]

Yes, I literally have no business as there is no demand, and supply is off the scale as every man and his dog is trying to do what I am doing. I will just carry on doing this as a hobby with the occasional job here and there locally. I have spoken to some other national companies in the same field and they are all saying the same thing.

[jagnet]

Geoffcapes said:

Seriously. Do it yourself.

This is one I did for my business. It took about a day using Squarespace, and I tweak it now and again and it costs nothing.

For £12 a month you can't beat it.

https://www.gcilimited.co.uk

Can't beat it. Can't find it either...



Welcome to Squarespace.

£12 a month, but how much is it really costing when it doesn't even rank for your company name?

Your competitor is getting good value from it though.

[Chimune]

Dont use WordPress unless you are happy to keep a close eye on- and update, the plugins.

[Geoffcapes]

jagnet said:

Can't beat it. Can't find it either...



Welcome to Squarespace.

£12 a month, but how much is it really costing when it doesn't even rank for your company name?

Your competitor is getting good value from it though.

I've not done any SEO on it. That's the reason why.

I get most of my work from recommendations and have never relied on my website for business.
I have a website because everyone has an website.

At some point maybe I'll spend a day doing the SEO. But I've been saying that for about 10 years now.

[Ham_and_Jam]

Geoffcapes said:

I've not done any SEO on it. That's the reason why.

I get most of my work from recommendations and have never relied on my website for business.
I have a website because everyone has an website.

At some point maybe I'll spend a day doing the SEO. But I've been saying that for about 10 years now.

When you say you haven’t done any SEO, have you actually indexed it with Google? It’s not showing up at all.

A site that isn’t indexed is pretty pointless as the only person who knows its there is you.

[P4ulB]

Ignoring the website side of things for the time being, are you sure there's no market for drone videography? I imagine it's competitive, but that doesn't mean there isn't a market for it.

- Estate agents and property developers
- Hotels & venues
- Golf courses & tourism
- Outdoor events & festivals
- Surveying & inspections
- Weddings
- Content for luxury brands or cars

Just a few ideas. I'm sure there are a load more.

How are you marketing it and who are you trying to sell to?

Earning just over £300 sounds like you might be undercharging somewhat, although I've no idea what the going rate is for that type of work. Pretty sure you should be able to get more than that per project though.

Onto the website....

Yep, you should absolutely have a website, but paying £150 for some off the shelf template based site isn't going to do it I'm afraid.

Unfortunately, web design & development has been made to look too cheap with every man and his dog apparently able to build one.

Easy to spot a self-build or £100 website a mile off and are about as much use as a chocolate tea pot.

Edited by P4ulB on Tuesday 27th May 19:07

[Ubiquitous2024]

P4ulB said:

Ignoring the website side of things for the time being, are you sure there's no market for drone videography? I imagine it's competitive, but that doesn't mean there isn't a market for it.

How are you marketing it and who are you trying to sell to? You need to sell a solution to a problem rather than "I do drone videography".

Maybe look at it like "I help [whoever you are trying to sell to] showcase their [property/event/product] using high-impact aerial video that increases engagement and sales".

Earning just over £300 sounds like you might be undercharging somewhat, although I've no idea what the going rate is for that type of work. Pretty sure you should be able to get more than that per project though.

Onto the website....
]

Thanks for the reply. I have covered some of this previously but will provide you a snapshot of some of your points:

- Estate agents and property developers - the last people that want or need this. If they do they have bought their own drone already and are satisfied with some simple / amateur / non colour graded shots for their needs when they wheel out their youngest agent having dusted it off from the cupboard. They are sick of being pestered every week by another local drone hobbyist, and aren't prepared to pay £ for much let alone aerial footage that nobody can really measure the impact of. Look at rightmove, the general drone shots are all generic, washed out and soulless but it does the job for the 2 seconds people move through adverts.
.
- Hotels & venues - all have their own marketing department who have existing relationships with companies or businesses who they use. I have done some free showcases for various, none of them engage reply or have any interest.

- Golf courses & tourism - Haven't engaged golf courses much but tend to find these kind of outfits don't want pesky drones buzzing around their high net worth clientel. I may reach out as have a lot locally in Surrey that are nationally renowned. I am fairly certain they won't engage though.

- Outdoor events & festivals - yes this could be a go er however this is where reach comes in. I don't advertise other than on social media which I have worked out is a waste of time. Of the few that I have been made aware of they want stuff for free more or less. and certainly won't cover the true cost of travel, footage time and edit time. Tried getting on board with wedding photographers but all attempts to reach out and collaborate ignored.

- Surveying & inspections - companies and roofers all have their own drones to avoid paying people like me.

- Weddings - don't fancy these, long griefy days for only a few decent windows of imagery. Would also need to collaborate with existing photographer however they don't engage.

- Content for luxury brands or cars - yes would love to do this - but advertising needed. Big brands are googling this service when they need it and going to top names, spending thousands no doubt. They won't be contacting Joe Bloggs from Facebook.

I use Youtube to demo all my videos, which helps, but people don't have the time to sit down and watch the things that are on there in full as everyone is so busy whizzing around with their lives. Recently as a last ditch I contacted some of the leading local"ish" people offering the same that do have decent websites, and had open and honest conversations with them around it all. They have each said there is no career to be made out of this, treat it like a hobby that you may get the occasional job from. So I am pretty confident I now know where the land lies. I have been spending huge amounts of time since Jan capturing, editing and posting on social media, the result compared to my efforts are embarrassing. But I am not prepared to spend the money on websites, SEO and marketing because I would never see it back and would be operating at significant loss. All I need is a couple of local jobs a month, I work full time so need to fit it in around that on weekends.

[P4ulB]

Sounds like you've had a good try at most of these (can't blame you about the weddings though, wouldn't fancy that either!).

I just threw down some words and thoughts in my original reply so hopefully it didn't come across as patronising.

Good luck with it, hopefully you can find something that works as I imagine it can be quite fun and rewarding.

[Ubiquitous2024]

I'm on board with a local independent agent, if and when she makes it solo we will be a partnership going forward. But she's all I have. Nothing read as patronising but it's seriously hard to get work in general at the mo let alone something so niche.

[Geoffcapes]

Ham_and_Jam said:

Geoffcapes said:

I've not done any SEO on it. That's the reason why.

I get most of my work from recommendations and have never relied on my website for business.
I have a website because everyone has an website.

At some point maybe I'll spend a day doing the SEO. But I've been saying that for about 10 years now.

When you say you haven t done any SEO, have you actually indexed it with Google? It s not showing up at all.

A site that isn t indexed is pretty pointless as the only person who knows its there is you.

Not sure.

I've just logged on (for the first time in months). And this is my traffic. Mostly thanks to Pistonheads!

Edited by Geoffcapes on Wednesday 28th May 10:26