You may have created your free website in order to express yourself, but it's important to also consider whether your self-expression could offend anyone. You shouldn't necessarily censor yourself to avoid potential problems, but you should know what to expect so that you can plan ahead.
Decide how you will react to certain types of feedback, and remember that almost everything on the internet will be found offensive by somebody. That said, certain topics are almost guaranteed to draw negative attention. If you choose to include some of these topics when you build your own free website,
Potentially Offensive Topics
· religion
· politics
· world news
· local news
· negative views of children or families
· civil rights
· stereotypes about races or classes
If You Choose to be Non-offensive...
...You will probably avoid a lot of negative attention and feedback from unhappy readers. It is possible to create a free website online without using any of the major hot-button topics. You can create blog content easily without sharing your opinion on any of these issues. An art portfolio or photography portfolio while avoiding these topics entirely. Avoiding potentially offensive topics can keep your website peaceful and harmonious. However, some people find it difficult to consider the opinions of a multitude of readers when creating a free website.
A lot of websites are generally neutral. Along with art websites, hobby sites are also easy to keep calm. Personal blogs and sites that track news and current events will have a much more difficult time avoiding offended readers. If you decide to keep your site as non-offensive as possible, you may end up with readers asking you to remove content. This is best handled by removing the offending text or pictures, and replacing them with a simple and polite explanation. “A concerned reader asked me to remove this picture/post” is plenty of explanation.
If You Choose to be Offensive...
...You may see a lot more traffic as offended people share their outrage. You may also see traffic from the resulting controversy, which can drive up site traffic significantly. A potentially offensive website can actually be a goldmine for advertising, but you will have to continue to add content to prevent your site from becoming a one-hit wonder on the internet.
You will probably contacted at some point by an offended reader, and you should decide ahead of time what your response will be. Some bloggers choose to simply ignore the negative feedback, which is a wise choice. However, some people have discovered that email arguments can be turned into great content. However you choose to run your free website, make sure that you stay within the legal limits.
Legal Do's and Don'ts
· don't post anyone's personal information
· do post information that is publicly available and easy to find
· don't steal images or content
· do use screenshots and quotations that are properly attributed
· don't make false statements or make things up, this is known as slander
· do use factual information that can be easily proved, if it's true it isn't slander
· don't be intimidated by threats of legal action, these are often bully tactics
· do make sure you are not doing anything illegal on your free website
6 Things Every Internet Marketer Should Know
After you create a free website, you want to make sure you find ways to get noticed. There are several ways that you can build into the market and get recognized by search engines and traffic.
What to Do with Duplicate Content
When you decide to make a website, one aspect that should always be considered is that in the all important world of the search engines duplicate content is penalized, the penalty being negative filtering which will hugely affect your page ranking and friendliness to the search engines.
Why You Should Always Backup Your Blog Data
It is way too easy to forget about backing up your blog data. You have decided to make a website that features your witty and interesting blogging and you get carried away submitting new content and looking for ways to get your traffic figures up and in the mean time you are so busy that you forget to back up your blog data.
