How to Get Free Stuff From Your Web Host
There are numerous free programs and scripts to take advantage of, if you are considering a web hosting account with MySQL and PHP support. These free programs and scripts have powerful shared capabilities. All the web hosting companies, ranging from pricey to free web hosts, have always incorporated certain amount of free stuff. These free stuff ranges from free domain name to free email ID and from free site builders to certain pre-installed scripts such as counters, guest books, and calendars. In fact, nowadays you can also find bells, toys and whistles to install on your web pages, which include a number of applications and scripts. The free stuff enable you to set up one of dozens of online forum, serve classified ads, select from a huge number of photo albums and image galleries as well as to offer dating services and auction listings. As a whole, you can do anything on the Internet with the help of these free applications and scripts.
One of the best free services you can find on the internet is definitely Fantastico. This is a script installer that is web based and allows you to get numerous free gifts to add to your web site. Fantastico will also allow the user to control around 12 systems for managing content. There are also a number of additional packages and features that can be accessed. These products range from blog facilities, forms, carts for the shopping process like Zen Cart or OS Commerce in addition to a range of FAQ makers and half a dozen options to provide customer support. A selection of the free packages a web hosting firm offers:
Some of the free stuff that the web hosting companies offer:
A Domain Name at no charge to you: It is possible to get your domain name for free from your web service provider. This may mean though that you have to use them for web hosting and domain registration. Many firms offer this to give them a level of protection from losing customers. When customers look to make a quick exit from a firm, some providers have been known to hold onto their domain name. This makes it imperative to have the name registered to you.
Systems for Content Management and Portals: A more common name for Content Management Systems is We Site Builders. Using a system like this makes it much simpler to include or exclude pages and content from your site. Many web hosting firms offer these Web Site builders. The majority of them include functions like carts, boards to host discussions, messaging facilities and polls. These extra features can also enable a user to add authentication protocols or security enhancements to a website with very few difficulties. Joomla, Mambo, Xoops, Post-Nuke and Drupal are some of the content management systems that are offered by a number of web hosting firms. These products are all open source software which have a level of additional features which are in addition to the features that your host should provide. There is also likely to be a strong level of additional features to the range that is offered by a standard package.
Blogs: Almost all the web hosting companies incorporate blogs as a free setup script. These blogs are online publishing tools, which enable you to update your website conveniently and as often as you prefer. In fact, they automatically place the latest entries up and shift the older entries down in the reading queue. The most commonly used blogs are Google Blogger and WordPress that your web hosting provider may include with your web hosting account.
Firms who provide web hosting features and offer free goods:
TopCities.com: It is one of the most popular Web space providers and offers you 150 megabytes of space for free. TopCities.com further provides free sub domains and unlimited bandwidth. Moreover, you can also you upload your files very conveniently with the help of FTP or even by using online Easy Upload utility of Top Cities.com. They also offer several free website development options including a message board and a guest book.
007sites.com: This offers a rapid service in addition to 700 megabytes of room and 7,000 megs on bandwidth free each month. It is possible to use an existing domain or get one for no charge. This site also provides MySQL support, FTP access and PHP services.
Zero Catch: Zero Catch is regarded as one of the better web host providers available with one reason being that they offer 100 megs of space for no charge. They provide banner ads but they are known to offer a fast server and reliability. In addition to this, they will provide promotional activity as well as assistance with FTP. If this isn’t enough, there is also the “partnership” scheme that acts as a further incentive to join Zero Catch. This facility enables you to act as a provider of free web space.
2ip.com: What is offered by this site amounts to 100 megs of room and a variety of domains. It is also possible for a user to benefit from web traffic with no upper limit. There is a great amount of free stuff including statistics, a massive mount of FTP access, the ability to offer a guestbook and many sub domains and forums to select from. There is also web site software packages and tool on offer which will enable any user to make a more professional looking site. In addition, there is also an email service where the user can select a range of addresses but where all the mail will finally end up in the same inbox.
Absolutely-Free-Hosting.com: This site is worth a visit as they provide a database that is fully searchable which has reviews of over 200 services that are available for no charge. Included in their vast range of features are ASP, PHP and the ability for domain hosting.
Orgfree.com: If domain and sub domain hosting is what you require from a site then this may be for you. There is also the option of Web space with no upper limit and unlimited bandwidth. There is the incentive that if your site generates a large amount of traffic that a free domain may be on offer. There is also the standard PHP support, FTP functions and MySQL assistance.
5GBFree: As the name suggests, you can get space for 5 gigs with this web host provider and it takes no more than a simple registration. Many people like this site as it does not require you to have any ads on your site. Other benefits of the site include Perl Scripting, just under a dozen MySQL databases and PHP. A user can also decide between having their own domain and taking the sub domain that 5GB offer.
MyHosting247: This is a very popular free Web hosting service that enables you to have a hefty 5 gigs of Web space, 20 MySQL databases as well as 20 gigs of monthly bandwidth. The other lucrative features of MyHosting247 include a file manager, PHP hosting and FTP hosting. Moreover, this web hosting service puts no banner ads your web pages and also allow you to host your own domain and sub domain.
ProHosting: With up to 50 megs of space on the web free, ProHosting is a very popular site. A user is granted CGI access and there is also the ability to have an FTP account. With an online site builder facility and a provision of email services, ProHosting offers a great level of support for customers.
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