Important Tip: FREE Will Cost You In The Long Run - Do You Agree?
The following tip is one of THE most important for a beginner, especially one on a low budget.
Hello everyone, I was going to spend this weekend playing some more much needed catch-up, but I just can’t hold this much longer.
As you know, my principle goal is somewhat of an adviser to those direct sellers that are trying to *take it online*.
This is a particular question I see everywhere, and often. Whether it be forums and message boards or through social networking, it is continually asked…and it scares the jeepers out me every time…
“Where can I find a really cheap or free alternative to…..” and they mention very select things. Things that you should most certainly not go free or *cheapo* on.
Things that are key components to an online business to which going FREE will cost you TIME & MONEY in the long run…..not to mention too many hassles and headaches to count.
I’ll repeat: FREE WILL COST YOU LATER.
No I haven’t not gone insane, it makes perfect sense. I’m not referring to things like eBooks or even some software programs and such.
With the proper research there are many fine and dandy free or low-cost alternatives to just about anything. Trust me, I always try to search them out first 
Case in point: Website Builders/Editors - I personally only use and recommend Xsitepro. IF you can afford it, you will never look back.
Awesome FREE alternative - NVU. Millions (or at least many thousands) use it exclusively and never look further.
(Note: that is a direct download link from download.com. The actual site for NVU seems to be expired?)
The PROBLEM lies in the fact that there are also many NOT fine and dandy free or low-cost alternatives to just about anything.
The key components to which I am referring are as follows…with brief descriptions for why you should NEVER skimp on money if you can possibly avoid doing so:
1. Free Hosting:
Very limited in what you can “do” with your site, design wise and so forth.
Very little to non-existent support.
Company ads and banners on YOUR site…you want to make money for yourself, not THEM. Besides, it will make things way to flashy and a total turnoff to visitors.
You WILL want to upgrade eventually to a paid host. HASSLE HASSLE HASSLE. Save time and start right.
You may or may not have a say in how, or even if you are able to monetize it.
It appears unprofessional - plain and simple. The same goes for free blog hosts - Blogger, WP.com, etc.
2. Free Autoresponder - You know that thing used to deliver your newsletters? Yea, you REALLY don’t wanna go too cheap or lord help you, free on this.
Atrocious deliverability rates. If one out of 10 emails actually gets to your recipient, your doing well.
Little to NO support (see a pattern?)
Very limited in how many names you can collect, types of email you can send, etc.
Good chance they don’t follow all the Can-Spam laws correctly. If someone complains to the right people, it’s YOU that will be taken down…do not expect said company to back you up.
This does happen a lot more often then people think.
Good chance you may have ads under the emails also.
You WILL to upgrade later on, especially as your list grows. On the hassel and frustration meter, this can hit a 10 with little effort.
If I made it clear that switching from a free host to a paid one was a hassle (remember no support), then GOOD LUCK with this one.
For starters, you may lose most if not all the names, with no recourse on your end…nothing you can do.
3. Free Email Address - Yahoo, Hotmail, and a dozen others. It looks unprofessional, plain and simple. Use The email attached to your paid for domain…
4. Domain Registration - Avoid super cheap domain registrars and the gimmicks of cheap or free for the “first year”. Or, “free with hosting account”…
NEVER NEVER NEVER have your domain name with the same company as your hosting…you’re just asking for hassles, and they are only to happy to oblige.
The biggest of which may be that they get peeved when you wish to switch hosts, which you have every right to do. So they decide to give you (maybe) MONTHS of interference in switching YOUR domain name to the new host. Nice ain’t it?
Another interesting point is that some hosts offer to sell you a domain name merely as a convenience…..at a higher rate then normal. (Think 7-11)
Case in point, my host Hostgator. They too offer domain names for a matter of convenience, at $14.95 per year…..NEVER pay over $10.
Why do they do this? Is it a scam? No. The point is, they are a hosting company, that’s all they care about and they do it VERY WELL.
Now, if you really wanna buy a domain “all in the same place”, they will of course oblige…but ya gonna pay for it 
The good news is, you can find coupons for domains from most of the registrars, stay tuned for a post on that
BOTTOM LINE:
You will find it extremely difficult to darn near impossible to run an online business without good quality and support in:
Hosting - Hostgator
Website Builder - Xsitepro
Email Account - Use one associated with your domain name/hosting account “you@yourdomain.com”
Autoresponder - Aweber
Domain Registration - GoDaddy
It’s totally up to you, go free in the beginning and “pay” more later, or start on the right track and feel confident in your business.
Almost all of the links in this article are affiliates of mine. ALL come with my highest personal recommendation, as these are the same tools I use on a daily basis.
————————————
OK, I must take my leave now and return to my (bottomless pit of hell?) game of catch-up, but I hope I painted a pretty clear picture of why the cliche` became a cliche`…..
You Get What You Pay For. (Or don’t pay for as the case may be )
You agree? Disagree? Think I’m outa my bird? Tell me what’s on your mind, I’m very interested
Never stop pushing forward!
Dennis
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Tags: Aweber, Domain Registration, forum, Free Autoresponder, Free eBook, Free Email, Free Hosting, Free Software, Hostgator, NVU, Social Networking, Website Builder, Website Editor, Xsitepro
Jaq @ Net Age Web Design
Kev
Latief@AnotherBlogger
sherry
September 28th, 2008 at 8:03 am
do you recommend host gator?
joe gelb´s last blog post..probably one of the sweetest youtube videos out there
September 28th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Absolutely 100%
September 28th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Hi Dennis,
I agree with you fully… well, almost…
The one thing I often tell newbies that have never
had a presence online, is to give it a try… just
to see if they like it… because keeping and maintaining an Online business means hard work
(and we both know how much!)
And one of the best ways to do that, IMO, is with
one of the Free blogging platforms. But wait, I’m
not saying to try and build a whole network or a
very rich content site with these, I’m talking getting
your feet wet… Learning the ropes… getting a feel
for what is involved.
Once those crucial steps have been taken, then consider the options that every successful Online business NEEDS… Hosting, autoresponders, HTML editors and so on…
And if by any chance someone builds a great blog that they want to keep using, then they’ll need to learn to move it to their own domain and hosting!
The process is pretty straight forward. I’m about to
move my Home Made Online Income blog to its own
domain and hosting (the one year bet it was created for is almost over, which I think I’m going to win by the way ;-)) and I was thinking of Camtasia’ning it… could make for a good video and post…
OK, this comment is past it’s usefulness… I too
use Hostgator and Aweber and I’m very pleased with
them!!! I also use NVU which is pretty good also,
but nothing like XsitePro I hear…
Great Post Dennis, we’ll talk soon…
Regards, Pete
Pete from Home Made Online Income´s last blog post..An FREE Alternative To Mike Filsaime’s Traffic Fusion
September 28th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Hey Pete, awesome comment
I was the exact same way for quite some time. The problem is they DO get into that comfort zone way too fast…
Then after 4-5 HUNDRED posts, they decide to test drive WP.
Begging for help a week later as they can’t switch over, the controls are too complicated or whatever….not listening to the help they do get and decide to just make a career outa blogger and wondering why it isn’t working.
Start SLOW yes absolutely….but on the right side
September 28th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Agreed 100%, this is a great post. Free hosting really hurts in the long run. Nothing sucks more than your website disappearing
I disagree about the email though. your business at gmail.com is fine as long as you have a professional one as well. Just set up a redirect…
ideas to make money´s last blog post..Does Your Blog Have The Proper Call To Actions?
September 28th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Hey Mattaw, thanks for dropping by
Hmm, well I suppose gmail is the lesser of all evils as far as free email, and ONLY if using the redirect starting from a paid address…
I still wouldn’t recommend it to a beginner though, perhaps after one knows their way around a bit.
Interesting option though
September 28th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
4, 5 hundred posts… hell of a test drive!!! LOL
“Begging for help a week later as they can’t switch over, the controls are too complicated or whatever….not listening to the help they do get and decide to just make a career outa blogger and wondering why it isn’t working.”
That’s a bit why I was thinking of recording the whole process with Camtasia… with the number of blogspot blogs out there, could get some decent hit numbers I would guess??
Pete from Home Made Online Income´s last blog post..A Lesson In Entrepreneurship From EntreCard’s Graham Langdon
September 29th, 2008 at 3:48 am
That’s what they always say, “Good thing no cheap, Cheap thing no good and Free thing is worst.”
Interesting piece of thought but certain free offerings are worth more than paid version. In case in point is WordPress as a free blogging platform and fact is some free WP themes are better than the premium ones if you ask me.
Great writing skills..
YS
September 29th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Dennis you are completely right!!!
If you are completely dedicated to an online biz, then free Hosting is the lamest move. Gotta say, Hostgator Rules, there is not better service for hosting on the Internet!
RE: NVU, you might as well go get a Webdesigner degree!
September 29th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Pete - Absolutely and a great idea. Promote it in the right spots and you should get flooded!
September 29th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
LOL Yan, I’ve never heard that saying before.
If you’re referring to free WP.org on PAID hosting, then yes of course…WP.com is useless.
September 29th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
LOL JR - so true so true on NVU….helluva program for free ain’t it?
September 29th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Nothing in this world is free. so expect that you have spent some money! Thanks for this good post!
September 29th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Very true James. Even if it don’t cost in money, you still “pay” one way or another
September 30th, 2008 at 4:17 am
Hi Dennis,
Awesome post, but in some cases there are exceptions.
There are times when free is totally free and it wont cost you in the long run.
It’s a matter of finding these things in the right place.
Example is Firefox, its free right? And I think it will not cost you something in the future.
The point is, there are things that you will never notice that it is free. Thinking of wordpress as whole hmmm, its free and you are using it, right?
Regards,
Wyndell
September 30th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Hey Wyndell, you just proved my point, thanks for agreeing
There are many things out there that are good for free or low cost…like FF and WP for starters…as long as your referring to WP.org which is uploaded to your PAID hosting
I was referring to the specific things that I listed throughout the article.
September 30th, 2008 at 5:54 am
It’s not just in online business, it happens in everyday business as well. I know a company that saved hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a cheaper machine only to lose more than they saved because it turned out an inferior product.
One has to remember that you only get what you pay for.
Sire´s last blog post..WassupBlogs New PageRank Is Now PR2
September 30th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Exactly right my friend. As I said, that’s how the cliche’ got that way
Ya really gotta be careful with “bargain shopping”
September 30th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Man you hit the nail on the head. I wasted sooooo much of my time trying to find my way around every product that would cost me money.
I understand when you are just starting out and if you have no cash to get rolling, or your wife has lost patience with yet one more “scheme” however if you have the cash, or are starting to generate even a few dollars online then you need to Wyndell’s advice. Reinvest in your business and watch it grow.
- James
September 30th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Absolutely, it’s the only way to go
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I agree with you on all of this… it will definitely come back to bite you. However, I hardly ever use my host email address and always tend to use gMail instead, at least when commenting. I don’t have really any reason for it, I just feel more comfortable giving out a ‘personal’ email address instead of a business one.
Gary R. Hess´s last blog post..What Type of Blogger Are You?
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Hey Gary, I honestly didn’t even think of gmail when i wrote it, I don’t know why…other then the larger percentage of beginners I come in contact with use Yahoo and the like…
The ultimate demise as far as professionalism goes.
As I said to one of the others, yes I would consider gmail to be the lesser of evils if one had too.
Don’t get me started though on the issues I’ve had with it.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
You will always get what you pay for. No matter how much or how little you spend on it.
Even when someone recommends a program to buy.. you may never agree that it was worth the money you payed for.
People rag on GoDaddy all the time but personally I think they are the best bang for my buck.
Domain Structure´s last blog post..Building Traffic Tip Of The Day
October 4th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Hey Brian, I couldn’t agree more, especially about Godaddy
With recommendations however, unless it is perhaps the very first one I got from this person, I would hope that the rec. would be trusted enough to not question worth.
KWIM?
October 7th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Great point Dennis…you have to spend money to make money. Yes you can start out using free tools and cutting corners but if you really want your profits to grow you have to invest back into your business and make yourself more productive and efficient.
Mike Collins´s last blog post..Using Htaccess To Mask Affiliate Links
October 7th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Exactly right Mike, keep in mind though that I was really specifically referring to those things I mentioned…
Those 4 or 5 things that one really HAS TO HAVE in order to run an online business.
Like I mentioned when it comes to other things…ebooks, some software programs, tools, scripts, etc., I almost always look for an acceptable free or low cost alternative.
Lots of times with things like that, they’re even better!
October 14th, 2008 at 2:30 am
I’ve had this problem with a domain. I’ve register it for a year for FREE and the second year I had to pay $35 for another year registration (normally that goes for $10 tops).
Andrei Buiu´s last blog post..Buiu for President
October 14th, 2008 at 2:51 am
I’m sorry to hear that Andrei. Yea, the free domain names are one of the biggest falsehoods.
October 27th, 2008 at 7:20 am
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