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If you are looking for free web hosting, chances are you are fairly new to websites, and you are looking to save time and money by doing it yourself. Although html is easy to learn, like anything else, it takes time. What you need is a free web host with a very easy website builder. Following are three websites you should consider.

Yola.com

Yola recently changed its name from Synthasite, but it is still a very good website and continues to improve. Once you sign up for an account, you can make as many websites as you like with no limits on storage or bandwidth. You must choose from one of their templates (a very limited number) and their color selections. Some templates do not have extra colors to choose. Only a handful of templates have backgrounds that can be changed. However, there is still a lot you can do to customize it and everything is drag and drop. You can change the number of columns, add widgets, Google ads, You Tube videos, custom HTML, and other goodies. You can also easily add Paypal buttons or a Paypal shopping cart. You cannot access the code or CSS but you can add things like a favicon and Google Webmaster verification codes.

Yola has a good help section with tutorials that are downloadable pdf files. It also has a very active community forum at Get Satisfaction. The questions seem to be answered promptly, and everyone seems very friendly.

Yola does not put ads on your site except for a small link to Yola at the bottom. The only way they seem to make money is through selling domain names. You can choose to have a free subdomain if you wish or you can redirect a domain name you already own. Pages can also be password protected if you need to.

Webnode.com

Webnode is from the Czech Republic and offers a free website with 100Mb of storage and 1GB of bandwidth. If you need more, it offers premium plans that are fairly reasonable - 300MB storage, 3 GB bandwidth for $2.95/month up to 4000MB storage, 50 GB for $24.95/month. With Webnode, you can make as many free websites as you like and assign them to another user if you wish. This makes it easy for web designers.

Webnode's website builder is very easy to use with drag and drop features. There are not many templates to choose from but they are customizable. You can download the templates, change the CSS style sheet and upload the new template. You can change the favicon and add Google codes as well but it is a bit trickier than Yola. Widgets, forums, photo galleries, and blogs are easily dragged and dropped where you want them.

Webnode does not have ads except for a small link to Webnode in the footer - this can be removed with the premium paid packages. Password protection and regular support is also paid. They also provide a free subdomain or you can buy a domain name from them. You can also redirect if you have your own domain name. Webnode's forum is a bit hit or miss and they do not give support for customization of the templates for free websites. They do provide good statistics on site visitors, page hits, etc.

Devhub.com

Devhub is relatively new but seems to be growing. There are no limits on bandwidth or storage except you can only upload images not files (at least not yet). They do limit you to an initial number of ten websites, then they have some kind of quality check before you are allowed to have ten more websites. Devhub's builder is also drag and drop (Their widget and text modules are a bit buggy, but they seem to be improving it.) with easy integration with their Internet partners so you can easily monetize your site with revenue sharing. The percentage of revenue that Devhub shares is difficult to find but is between 2% to 10%. You can also add your own affiliate codes and Google ads. Devhub provides reports on visitors and revenue.

Devhub has a limited number of templates but one of them does allow you to use your own colors. The background can be changed as well. Devhub does say they are working on the CSS being more accessible in the future. Code (such as the Google verification code) can be added to the header and footer. There is a small link to Devhub in the upper right hand corner. You control any ads provided in the modules and share in the revenue.

Devhub provides tutorials and a Get Satisfaction community forum. It does seem to take some time to get answers, and it looks like only one employee is working on forum questions.

These are three of the best free web hosts. They all have easy website builders that will help you get your website up and running in a short amount of time.

Learn more about this author, Diane Wolf.
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