Have you ever had success using free domains? Debate

IntoTheLight Level 1

July 12, 2016, 12:48 pm

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Have you ever had success using free domains?

I’ve had many free domains in the past, but most of them were just for testing purpose, and to be honest I’ve never considered free domains to do business with them, not because it’s not possible but I don’t like these tld such as : .TK , .ML , .CF or whatever. And another reason is because, these domains are used mostly for spamming, and they will never be considered serious tld domains as .com or .org , etc..

Also,do you think that you can build a website with good reputation using free domains?

Feel free to share your opinion...

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Beverly

I remember using a really cool domain link shortener, not like the ones around today to redirect to one of my subdomains on my site as I didn't have the money to buy a domain for it then. That worked out good until they started spamming people coming through that link with their stupid pop ups. That was probably ten years ago. Stopped using it right after that. I don't think I ever got a domain for that subdomain but it was actually one of my favorites. Even more so than the site I built on the main folder. Wish I had all those early sites now, really miss the time I invested into them.

8 years ago

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TommyCarey

The free domains are not as strong as the paid ones. A while back the .cc extension was a popular, and free, tld and Google devalued it so much that they removed it from all of their rankings. You can't find a .cc domain in any search on Google because, like said in Beverly's post, the free domains are usually used for spamming, which no one likes.

The free domains are for people who don't want to really be tracked so they would get a free domain and and set up a free hosting account somewhere to host their site. They would set up a few hundred websites and spam them to death. I have a friend who ran a free hosting company with the option to switch to a paid membership to remove the ads on the users website. He got to almost 3,000,000 websites hosted and he was working full time to remove the horrible ones that were Kiddy porn, gambling, etc. A lot of the free websites that were hosted with him had a free domain tied to them. So basically Free hosting + Free domain = a spammy website

I've never owned a free domain because it's much harder to brand them than a .com, .net, .org or if you're lucky enough, a .gov tld.

With all of my websites I buy the "premium" .com or sometimes I'll get a .net if the domain I really want doesn't have a .com

Usually I'll just look for a .com domain that is similar and I can still brand easily

8 years ago

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Everett

I've used a plethora of free domains in the past, not to operate a business but to use them as a means to have a free domain to test scripts on. In the past, I actually operated a free mmorpg game with a free domain and that was a slight success due to me not caring about offering paid options.

The site never ranked well in the search engines, but due to advertising elsewhere the site got some members. Would I use a free domain again? Probably, if I needed a quick domain for like demos or something then sure. If you are a beginner I would highly suggest you to use a free domain to learn the basics, you've got nothing to lose.

8 years ago

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EliteWriter

I think there is nothing wrong to use free domains, especially for testing purposes. It would be a waste of money to go immediately for a paid domain, especially if one is just a beginner. Free domains are free, so there is nothing that constrains you from using them. As you go along you can move on to paid options of course, but with the experience you have gotten from free domains you will be better able to make good decisions. Obviously being free domains they have various disadvantages, but at least they are free.

8 years ago

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ssam

I had free two domain one with .com(got free hosting) and another with .net but I never succeed with that, because with .com I have no option to transfer domain to other hosting provider.As I can't add my own wordpress themes and install plugin in it.I need to use the themes which was inbuild.
For .net domain I had used free blogger hosting, which also has limited function.

8 years ago

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Everett

I would never personally buy a domain from a content provider such as wordpress. The options as you have previously stated are often slim. Sometimes you can't transfer the domain, and are stuck using their platform. There would be no way to venture off the platform and use your own script, design or services.

8 years ago

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ajlancer

Hi procoder thanks for asking a good question. I remember that when I was very new on internet, I was created some free website by BlogSpot. And I set theme as look like professional website. But, I when I read the some article about limitation of free domain compare with business domain, I leave all those domain in that time and I never tried to do something more with free domain as business purpose. Reality is free domain never comparable with business domain but you can try with practice purpose. And some of new blogger write something from their wishes and for them free blog or domain may best choose.

Regards by Ajlancer

8 years ago

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MasterA

I used these when I first became a webmaster due to the lack of fund but I have to say that they look very unprofessional and spammy. Not only is it encouraging people to leave your website but it also harms your SEO. Your website won’t rank very well if you use a free domain. Google likes to see TLDs. If you want to create a successful website, then you will need to invest into it. A top level domain is very cheap these days so you can easily get one and there is no reason to use a free domain for a proper website these days.

8 years ago

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Corzhens

It looks like the free domain has many uses but not for a legit site especially for business. Maybe it is good to use a free domain for purposes of spying or spamming. If I would have a business website then it would probably be a paid domain that is either a dot com or dot org depending on the purpose of the website. At least I now understand the better use of free domains and it’s not really bad at all.

6 years ago

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vinaya

I only know about dot tk domain. I did not know that there so many free domains. I have never used a free domain. If I had known about free domains and free hosting when I was registering my first domain, I would have surely tried the free domain with free hosting just to learn how self hosted website actually works. Now I already have a lot of domains with various extensions, I will never go with free domain, even to test a site. I hear that free domains are used for illegal activities or to do some testing.

6 years ago

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SEOClerks

Have you ever had success using free domains? Debate

Have you ever had success using free domains?

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