Microsoft is getting into the free website hosting business

Microsoft is set to compete with Squarespace and Wix by offering businesses an easy way to set up an online presence, and unlike those companies, their offering will be free.

Microsoft’s Digital Marketing Center‘s new website creation service provides a free and simple solution small businesses can leverage to get started with a website, with unique features such as importing your website information from a Facebook page or an existing advertising campaign.

Companies can select from a number of templates without having to know any code.

Sample website built with Digital Marketing Center’s new website builder.

How to create your free website with Digital Marketing Center

When companies sign up for a Digital Marketing Center account they will be asked to provide a website during your advertising campaign creation. Users simply need to select the option: I don’t have a website. Help me build one for free. At this point, you’ll only need to decide on your website URL and will be able to continue with your campaign creation. After sign-up, you can begin creating your website.

Microsoft says according to the Small Business Association, more than 36% of small businesses do not have a website but a recent study shows that 80% of customers will research a company online before visiting or making a purchase with them.  Therefore without a website, a small business is at risk of losing these potential customers.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in VPS hosting, this solution promises blazing-fast performance and scalability for any business size.

Read more about building a free website with Microsoft here.

via Gizmodo