Free Web Hosting – Revealing the Truth of Free Web Hosting
Choosing free Web hosting over a paid option should, in theory, be based solely upon on the type of web presence that you are contemplating, rather than cost. The alternative can ultimately end up restricting your growth down the track.
By understanding the advantages and disadvantages of free Web hosting you can make an informed decision. The following is a common sense summary of the advantages and disadvantages of using a free Web hosting option.
Advantages:
- A no cost/free service allowing you to get a web presence.
- Good for non-business purposes – such as students, who might want to upload small text documents, non profit organizations and/or families – all who don’t need large disk space and bandwidth.
- Best when there is only limited traffic to the site.
Disadvantages:
- The web host provider will often insist that their name is in the domain name. For example, http://WebHostName.com/YourSiteName instead of http://YourSiteName
- Limited bandwidth is offered. OK to start but limiting to future growth.
- Linking to files not offered. For driving traffic to your website this is an especially important SEO component.
- Restricted storage space
- Uptime – often not guaranteed. Unreliability of your site for even short periods can instill lack of confidence amongst your customers.
- Distracting and annoying web page/ad banners that are often unrelated to the site, can often be added to the site.
- Limited or no guaranteed customer service support.
- Special features are limited” i.e. PHP, MySQL, FTP accounts and POP email.
- Susceptible to spamming
- Limited graphics – as they restrict the amount of advertising space available to the free web provider. This can restrict your brand presence on your site.
Any debate between free and paid web hosting is further clouded by the fact that for as little as $5 a month, you can now get a host provider promising 24/7 customer service, plus a list of other special features, including:
- Disk space unlimited
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited domains allowed
- Choice of UNIX or Windows operating system
- 24/7 telephone customer service and support.
- The option to a shared or dedicated hosting environment, depending on your needs.
Any decision to go with either a free or paid hosting provider should be made with your current and future needs in consideration. Further it is good to remember that so often the short term gains are not worth possible long term problems.
Popularity: unranked [?]
