You see a post on social media – it goes something like this:
I’m looking for businesses offering a service that would like a 1-3 page website designed for free. The only costs you will be required to cover are the running fees if you end up liking the site.
Often the costs aren’t shown but sometimes they can be pretty low – £10-20 / month + hosting. They also often mention ‘ exciting’ or ‘daunting’ times that they’re new to freelance and are looking for 1-3 businesses to help.
Often they claim to be wanting to help ‘businesses in (insert name of your town or area)’ when in fact they live nowhere near the area they are advertising. (This really winds me up!)
Wow you think it’s only £10 / month for a website! I may as well do that than spend a lot more with a different more expensive web designer that will be ripping me off. Why aren’t all web designers that cheap?
You send them a DM and they send you their url & they’re not too pushy yet.
You take a look at their site – their designs are ok – not brilliant, and neither is their site (it’s a bit salesy and doesn’t say a huge amount).
But you’re a start-up or small business & you don’t have the money to spend on marketing just yet. A website for around £100-200 / year – you can’t go wrong!
Or can you?
You fill out an online form or give your details via the DM.
You sign up for the free website knowing it’s just £10 / month.
Happy days!
Within a few weeks you’ve passed over your photos, text and other info and the company has given you a 3 page website.
It’s great for what you need. You’ll get a bigger one when you are more established or have more money.
Fast forward 18 months..
You need some updates to your site – it’s not quite reflecting your business any more. Plus you need some emails linked to the url. The fees to update things are extortionate and don’t reflect the good value you had in the first place.
So you ask if you can have access to the site – after all you’ve paid for it. But you don’t have access and can’t without paying more money.
What you had failed to do was properly look into the T&Cs – they are usually like something below:
Our free websites require a minimum hosting signup of 12 months, during which you can’t transfer your domain or website away from our hosting.
Fair enough – a 12 month period seems fine.
The theme created will remain the property of us and cannot be transferred unless agreed in writing.
Oh crap. I didn’t read that bit. I did tell them in writing but now they’re asking for a few hundred quid for me to own my website. That I’ve already paid for…
The domain can be released or transferred after the initial 12-month hosting period. If you wish to continue with the site created the hosting will just continue on a rolling monthly basis.
Fair enough, but it didn’t say here how much I would have to pay to release or transfer it. I didn’t think that far ahead.
Failure to pay for hosting after a 2-week grace period incur a £25 reconnection fee. After 3 months of non payments, all website data, including emails, will be removed.
Again, that makes sense as I’ve not paid for the site up front. It does explain why, now I’ve put a hold on the site, that I can’t access my emails though.
One free website per customer unless otherwise agreed. Domain renewal is at the customer’s expense and looked at annually.
What they didn’t say was after the initial 12 months, that expense would climb considerably.
Additional costs apply for changes post-completion, extra email addresses, and domain names if needed.
My changes are minor but I am being charged so much for them – I’ve spoken to a friend who is a web designer and they said I’m being ripped off and shouldn’t have fallen for this in the first place.
The free website is up to a 3 page design with no ecommerce functionality. One round of text revisions is included post-completion; additional changes incur extra charges. Terms are subject to change at any time with our discretion.
So basically what this means is that they can change the T&Cs at any time and can charge me what they want – nowhere are there fees mentioned.
You are now stuck paying for a site you’re semi-happy with. Do you pay for a new one, but subsequently losing your url. Often, the web company you used have first dibs on as they bought yours in the first place –they can ‘url sit’ and charge you a large amount to buy it.
As a web designer, I have been approached by people who have fallen for this ‘free website’ scam and either end up paying a fortune to get control of their website, or have to pay for a new one.
I’m happy to see lots of Facebook groups now don’t allow these posts as people are getting wise to these scams.
What can you do to avoid being ripped off?
Ask people for web designer recommendations. Who have your trusted friends and peers used for their websites and have they been happy?
Search for someone local to you who you can have a meeting with. Either look on google or ask for recommendations in Facebook groups.
Look at their ‘about’ section on their website – how much experience do they have? Are their websites all templated and look the same? Do they have real examples and good client testimonials?
Is their website full of AI and claims to have helped ‘hundreds of businesses’. I’m always wary of stats – where have they come from?
Are there any photos or information in their about section? Who are the people behind this site? What are their credentials?
I also think it’s really important to look them up on LinkedIn – that way you can see what their background is and see real testimonials (always be slightly wary of them on sites especially if they don’t have a name or company next to them).
Go with your gut – if something is too good to be true, it often is! But definitely ask for their T&Cs in writing and go armed with a list of questions if you are intrigued. These questions could include:
- Can I buy the url so I have control over it and use you for the hosting.
- If you buy the url how much will it cost to give me control over it after the initial 12 months?
- Will I have access to the CMS of the website (content management system) so I can update things myself? If not, how much does it cost to pay you for changes?
- What are your design credentials? Where did you learn your web skills?
And of course you can talk to me – I’ve been designing websites for over 2 decades. I’ve loads of experience, love helping people and probably charge too little. I certainly don’t add on any hidden costs or keep your site hostage!
I will also look at a website for you and give my opinion as to whether they’re legit or not. I’m also keeping tabs of names of people who are doing this type of website scam!
DISCLAIMER – I CREATED THE IMAGE FOR THIS PAGE IN A FEW SECONDS USING AI IN ILLUSTRATOR – PLESAE DON’T THINK I AM THAT BAD AT ILLUSTRATING – I JUST WANTED TO PROVE A POINT ABOUT AI ON WEBSITES!
