Anyone who has ever used Geocities can’t have helped but have noticed that Yahoo closed down the service a couple of months ago, to the dismay of many web developers. It’s been a starting block for many developers and designers and continued to fulfill this role until its last weeks.
Many beginners and people who were after a free site relied on the service, and they are now at a loss for what to use. Of course it pays to have a website created by a professional developer, but there’s several solutions out there for those who don’t want to pay for this for whatever reason.
Here I outlined just three potential solutions. I’ve deliberately stayed away from just listing sites that do similar things to Geocities, as there is always a different way of doing things.
Google Sites
Google’s website creation offering is perhaps the most accessible choice, being completely web based that requires only a Google account, and very easy for a beginner to use.
You can choose from dozens of templates, ranging from a site for a classroom to a restaurant site containing pages for reviews, menus, and advertising events. The templates aren’t ugly either, they’re very well written and are of a professional quality. The only problem you might find with using the templates is that they’re far from unique, and the chances that another business uses the same design is quite high. But for free, you really can’t complain. They also make it really easy to add Google elements, such as Google Maps, AdSense and Google Documents.
The biggest downside to Google Sites is their branding is on every page which can’t be removed, and you can’t attach the root of a domain to your site, which means you need to use at least www.example.com rather than example.com.
Overall, a nice service with a large choice of good looking templates. It’s easy to use for an absolute beginner, and it’s all completely free. You don’t even need to buy a domain name, as the service provides a google.com/sites address.
iWeb
iWeb is Apple’s website editor and publisher, where you can create a site and upload it to either Apple’s web servers or your own.
The major difference between iWeb and Google Sites is not only that iWeb is a real application rather than a web based service, but it also has the major advantage of not being tied to a particular hosting service.
It’s extremely easy to use, with inline editing (as with Google Sites) and drag and drop widgets. These widgets aren’t as comprehensive as Google Sites, but there’s certainly enough to make a basic website with video, Google Maps and photos. There’s also a choice of templates to get you started; again the choice isn’t as wide as Google Sites, but they’re much easier to edit.
The biggest disadvantage with iWeb stems from it being an application: you need to run Mac OS. It also isn’t free and is part of iLife which costs £69, but if you buy a Mac it’s bundled with Mac OS for free.
Use social networks
Sometimes you don’t even need a website, the tools out there on the Internet can quite easily be good enough for your needs. Of course you need a website if you’re running a large business, but if you’re an unsigned band or running a club night you might want to consider using social networks. It might just be your target audience are using the networks anyway.
If you are a band, then you almost certainly need to be on MySpace. For no cost at all you have a potential audience of millions of music fans, a blogging platform, and a way to upload your latest release. OK, it’s not perfect when it comes to customising your page and it contains adverts, but the site is still very much active and many popular artists use the site including Mika, Fake Blood and Little Boots.
Facebook allows you to have a fanpage where you can communicate with your fans, fans can communicate with you, and fans can communicate with each other. Facebook also lets you organise events and invite fans, which is a big plus when it comes to advertising your next club night to an audience who have already shown interest in your brand. It’s very basic and shouldn’t be used on its own, but it’s an addition that costs nothing at all.
And to top it all off, you should get yourself a Google Profile to link them all together. Google Profiles is a quick and easy way to make a page containing a biography, contact details, location details, and links to all your social network accounts.