When ever I see the statement “Free sites do not build trust and credibility.” It makes me ask, “What hosting service is this person promoting?”
Folks, in today’s world of here today gone tomorrow .COM’s, how can you really trust that any of these so called “Trusted and credible” registered domains will be around for years to come? Short answer…You can’t.
First, let me tell you why I think the way I do. I’ve always understood that trust was something you earned and credibility was something you had to build. So now these folks are telling me that I can have instant trust and credibility just by registering a domain name? Get real!
I’ve been in business much too long, and I’m not just talking about online, nope I got my start in direct sales/mail order back in 1978 when I was only 18 years old. The first business(?) I started was a publishing business, well really I purchased the rights to a report that I sold by placing ads in magazines and small newspapers.
I can remember back then the phrase was, “you needed a business address and not a post office box if you wanted to build trust and credibility.” While granted people are more likely to buy from a person using a real street address than they are from someone using a PO box. This in not why these so-called experts said it, you see they also said that your business address could not be your home address. Why? Because, they offered a mail forwarding service that had more scam artist as clients than you could count using your fingers and toes and mine too.
You see, crooks can register a domain name just as easy as you or I can. So the only “REAL” way to earn trust and build credibility is one customer or client at a time.
Although you may get more business faster by registering a domain name, you may not also. The time to register a domain name is when you have proven that there is a real market for your products or service and you want to make it easy for people to find you on the web. The reason that so many dot com’s go belly up is because they are spending money on web hosting, and paying for advertising to unproven markets.
So if you are new at running a business online go ahead and save yourself a buck or two during the research & development stage in building your business by using free services. I can point to many successful online business owners that got started in this manner. As a matter of fact I know of two that have never registered a domain name and they make their living using just email.
So now you see why I question people when they say, “Free sites do not build trust and credibility.” If people are truly interested in becoming your clients or customers one of the last things that they would want to know is why you are using a free web site. To see how a free web site don’t have to look free, take a look at my site by clicking on the link below.
David Hallum is the owner and operator of “The eBook Catalog” an online service that provides authors and publishers with cost effective advertising for their ebooks. To learn more about his catalog and their service go to: http://theebookcatalog.com/
