Often time I've browsed sites and seen the same thing - general rep websites or free hosted sites. Pop ups irritate me from the free sites as does the blatant ads getting in the way of the text, and if you have seen one rep site you literally have seen them all. Boring, unoriginal, and unprofessional.

But after all they are free, and free is good right? Wrong - not when it comes to your image online.

Regardless of the business you are in, it's important you have your own website. Meaning you have a unique domain name with purchased hosting. There are many benefits to owning your own website and I'll explain why:

1. Ability to Track Visitors
If you don't know where your visitors are coming from, there is no way to know if your advertising is working or not. It's a shot in the dark, and the internet is too large to take a chance like that.

While some free hosting companies offer the ability to edit your pages and add trackers, general rep sites usually do not.

2. Eliminates unwanted information/ads
Most free hosting company will place their own ads on your website. How many potential customers could you be loosing with this? The same applies for company information on rep websites. Should your potential customer contact the company directly instead of you, you've lost that commission/sale.

3. Ability to give your site a personal feel
Company rep sites of course all look alike. Very few give the option of editing, so you are "stuck" with their design, their content and descriptions, and their information. Many free hosting companies only have templates to use, so your sites would look like many others online. Giving your website a personal feel with your own design, descriptions, and information sets you apart from your competition.

4. Creates a Professional Look
Not only is your website easy to remember when you have a unique domain name, but your visitors will take you seriously. They know you are serious about your online business, and are quicker to trust and buy. You've shown them you care about your business and your customers as well by creating a friendly site.

5. Ability to Edit Pages for SEO purposes
Many free hosting sites are frowned on by major search engines, and rep sites of course are definitely frowned on. Most company rep sites cannot be edited, which means you cannot add link exchange pages to increase your rankings, nor can you edit the titles for SEO purposes. Many potential customers are being lost from search engines with these types of sites.

There are of course other reasons why you need your own website - such as for many directories that do not accept links from anything but top-level domains (like www.yourdomain.com). Domain names are very reasonable, costing around $8 per year while hosting costs as low as $6/month. Domain and hosting companies are everywhere, it just depends on what your needs are. For small websites I recommend Mommy's Helper ( http://www.mommyshelper.com/web-hosting.html )

This is cost you can't afford to cut out of your business budget.