Free Websites for Texas Window Cleaners

Actually any business can get a free website if you’re doing business in Texas. Google has partnered with a few other companies to provide business owners in Texas with a free website. So if dollars are tight and you don’t have a web presence currently, there is now no reason why you can’t get online and enjoy some search engine traffic.

The link is at Texas Get Online.

I do want to add some thoughts to this freebie. First of all, is it really free? Um…not quite. For the first year it is. But after one year, they will charge you 4.99 per month for hosting and 2.99 per month for the domain name, so make sure you fully understand this prior to signing up.

And here’s another thing to keep in mind before signing on the dotted line. I’m not sure if they register your domain name in their name or register it in your name. If it’s in their name, then I wouldn’t do it. Because what happens if you want to have your website hosted somewhere else after a year? If the domain name was purchased in their name, them more than likely they won’t allow you to take the domain name with you. So there is the possibility that your domain name is tied to your website and if you want to take your website elsewhere, you’re plumb out of luck.

So it’s worth an email to ask ‘em this question.

And just as a general word of caution, this is something you always need to be aware of. Typically hosting companies will offer you a free domain name with a purchase to one of their web hosting packages. But again, if they purchase the domain name under their own company name, be careful. Because you’re basically committed to that hosting company forever.

Of course I suppose you can always just get another domain name in your own name if you want to move it to another hosting company and your current hosting company doesn’t allow it, but what about all the work you’ve done to get prospects and customers to your website? You’ll have to start all over again. Plus you’d have to change all your marketing materials to reflect the new domain name.

As a side note, if you currently have web hosting and you did sign up for a free domain name through that hosting company, you can do what’s called a “Who is” search to see if it’s really registered in your name or not. Go to http://whois.domaintools.com/ and insert your domain name. On the next page you’ll see who the domain name is actually registered to.

So it’s always best to purchase a domain name on your own. There are thousands of domain name registrars out there and domain names are really cheap these days. I remember a few years ago domain names were $70 a whack. But with them now being around $10 to $12 per year, anyone should be able to afford to buy their own domain name. And by doing this, you’ll never be limited where you can have your website hosted.

A good place for cheap domain names is DomainsDirecthq.com. Domain names through them are at $9.99 per year which is low for .com domain names.

One final note on this, if you do the math, after one year of using the Texas Get Online service you’ll be paying 2.99 per month for the domain name which is roughly $36 per year. So I’d recommend buying a domain name anyway simply to save some bucks. You’d save $26 per year by buying it yourself.

Anyway…as mentioned above, I think the Texas Get Online website deal for texas business owners is a good deal for those on a limited budget. They have lots of designs you can choose from to create your own website. For the 2 reasons mentioned above (uncertainty over who actually owns the domain name and domain names being cheap) though, buy your own domain name at a place like DomainsDirecthq.com, but take advantage of Texas Get Online free web hosting for one year and their web designs.

Best,

Steve