Pet Palace Dog Hostel in Pune is a dog-and-cat boarding facility that has existed for more than five years. But it is only now that the owner, Vinod Kale, has built a website for his business and that, too, for free. Like many others, Kale always believed creating a website would require design and technical skills and would be a costly affair until he created one with the help of Google solutions. "Having an online presence has worked in our favour. We have been running the hostel for a long time but have started getting more queries since the website came up," he says.
Kale is not alone. People from all walks of life - students, homemakers, bloggers, independent consultants, business people and professionals - have embraced the Internet as a mass medium connecting the masses without any entry barrier. What's more, you need not do it in the traditional way, buying a domain name and hosting space, and writing a big cheque for a coder/designer. Instead, opt for the fast-sprouting do-it-yourself site builders and their bevy of affordable DIY services. You can create a single-page website with minimum details or add a photo gallery, display client testimonials or facilitate payment gateway as per your requirements. Popular names like Net4, BigRock and GoDaddy - mostly into web hosting and domain registration business - are out there to help and you can also get a trial run before paying the annual fee. Interestingly, one gets to use some genuinely free web builders, coming from the Internet giants Google and WordPress. Here is a quick look at who offers what and how much you have to pay.