Free websites

Image via WikipediaWithout a doubt, websites are cheaper and better than they've ever been before. Thanks to more powerful hardware, opensource software and increasing technology awareness, the barriers to creating a world-class website are disintegrating.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and even infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) business models allow people to completely overcome the financial and knowledge barriers to creating a website for a neglible fee. Many offer a freemium service e.g. you can get access to their technology for free!

Content management systems (CMS) for enterprise and small business to publish content on the website are rapidly being dominated by opensource players. Joomla! and Drupal are some leading examples which use an easy-to-use modular structure, but there is a growing list to choose from.

Social Networking Software (SNS) from companies and individuals to create online communities has attracted a lot of investment and over 100 companies offer SaaS solutions as platforms or standalone websites. Many include freemium models (free for use but with adverts) such as Ning and Liveapps, and an increasing number also contain marketing widgets. However, opensource software is catching up quickly with elgg and dolphin as examples.

Using these opensource or freemium solutions, someone with next-to-no technical knowledge suddenly can build a world class website and at very low cost. Today, you can already buy a ready-made, off-the-shelf, turnkey websites for free and/or create them yourself in under an hour. The website platform itself is not just becoming commoditised.

Moreover, as opensource softwares become more comprehensive and easier to use, they will become more popular, tap into larger communities of programmers and grow faster. Opensource communities can quickly copy new features and provide modular add-on solutions for websites to adopt quickly. This along with increasing competition in the SaaS sector will mean the quality gap between free and not free will get smaller.

So, the software is free and getting really good. What about content? Social networking sites like Youtube let people post their own content. Digg leverages other peoples news to supply their community of users. Opensource technology is available for both these examples already. The site totlol takes pre-vetted videos directly from youtube and repackages them for todlers.

There are even companies like Pluck on Demand which actually supplies website owners with contextually relevant content via an easy to use widget. In other words, if you don’t have enough content, Pluck on Demand will add appropriate stuff to your site for you and give you a cut of the revenue share.

Fine, but what about design and interface? The new CMS are getting very good at design (Joomlashack is a good example of free and low cost design options). And they will get better. New tools also make the cost of branding and design much lower. There are free tools to help you design your website which are increasely targeted to people without a technical or design background. But it is conceivable that prefessional design companies could also start using freemium models in which they embed links and adverts under new business models in the not to distant future. Either way, it is already possible to get a great website design for free.

So, what does it mean to live in a world where websites (the platform, the features, the content and the design) can be created for free? Well, the first thing is the number of websites will increase and they will be more engaging. They will all have free access to the cool features the customer want. Competition will increase. Niche marketing will become more focused. Innovation will intensify as players seek to differentiate. Semantic, intelligent features will take centre stage and generate new value. What we think of as cool will change.

None-the-less, execution is still key in determining the difference between success and failure. Its the intangibles. In an earlier post I listed eight generatives which add value to free content. Many of these generatives have aspects relates to the platform itself. But if we assume the technology to successfully address the platform components becomes free, what is left? The winners will have something the looser can't get for free - a strong relationship with their customers.

As the focus switches from technology to relationships, we might expect this to drive a movement from global back to local models. Aren't relationships easier when you are nearer? Or put another way, aren't long distance relationships harder? The advantage of local communities of users is that is it easier to take them offline. Could old-fashioned meeting someone face-to-face become valuable again and would this mean people who are physically nearer have an advantage because they can meet you, or your friends and persuade?