Webs (web hosting)

Webs, formerly Freewebs, is a freemium, primarily static site-only web host founded in 2001. The service offers free and premium website hosting plans, and their own templated website building service. Unusually, Webs does not offer any dynamic content support aside from their own dynamic "apps", despite offering FTP access and allowing HTML uploads.

History
Webs began in 2001 as Freewebs just after the dot-com bubble. It was a start-up launched by brothers Haroon and Zeki Mokhtarzada after their last year at the University of Maryland, College Park. Their goal was to make the Internet accessible to anyone and to protect users' rights to free speech. Between 2003 and 2007 the company grew 1704%.

As of April 2007, the site recorded 18 million unique visitors a month.

On November 14, 2008, Freewebs changed its name to Webs, but users' URLs remained in the freewebs.com domain unless they chose to change over. Now, new websites are given subdomains of webs.com, but the old freewebs.com/sitename format still works, even for new websites. Users can also upgrade to a premium package and receive a custom web address without a Webs subdomain.

On December 29, 2011, the online printing service Vistaprint completed its acquisition of Webs for $117.5 million.

On June 4, 2012, Webs released a new version of their Sitebuilder product, called Sitebuilder3. The new version includes a new drag and drop interface, more customizable themes, and simple social media integration.

In early 2013, Webs underwent a redesign of the internal site, which overhauled the user’s building experience. It involved the removal of ads, the modernization of the user interface, and the addition of a step-by-step “successful website” checklist.

On May 3, 2013, Webs introduced a SEO Booster, a search engine optimization tool that helps users identify the best keyword phrases to build into their website in order to improve its position in search engine results.

Product
Webs offers "drag and drop" interface and themes for users creating a new website. For pro-level websites, there are additional e-commerce features including unlimited webstore items and Google and Facebook advertising credits. All users can also link their websites to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Webs offers its own themes and site builder, as well as a selection of its own dynamic "apps". Among them are Etsy, Webs Store, and CafePress. Webs also has the option of static HTML-only hosting, which removes dynamic content such as CGI or PHP scripts. Webs also offers FTP access to premium members.

Free websites are limited in features but also do not place banner ads like other free website services. The company offers premium plans with more tools and features and also allows customers to buy custom domain names.