Is Free Web Hosting Right For You?
Is free web hosting a good option for you? Just about everyone wants to go online and put something up on the Internet these days. Many people just want to express themselves with a blog or diary where they can tell the world about something they are passionate about. The easiest and least expensive way to do this is through free social sites like My Space or Facebook. However, sometime there is good reason to register your own domain and host your own website.
When you post anything on social sites like Facebook, you are in essence creating a web page that is all about you, but subject to the rules and regulations of the site. If they decide one day they don’t like what you have posted, or make a major change to the site guidelines, your work can go right down the drain. Owning and posting to your own site avoids this.
If you decide that getting your own domain name and publishing your own website is what you want to do, you’ll have a variety of hosting choices, including options for free hosting and paid hosting. The paid hosting is really a great deal now, because many hosts are offering packages sufficient for most users at rates under $12 a month. Some are as low as $5 per month.
Free web hosting, nonetheless, is still popular despite the low cost of superior paid hosting options. For anyone putting up a website as a hobby, or just as a pastime that isn’t a big deal, free hosting might be okay. You would never want to put up a commercial site of any type - free hosting just isn’t right for any business or commercial application.
The positive side of free web hosting is the “free”. However, there are drawbacks.
Free hosting setups almost always require ads on your site. These are set by the host, and while they won’t necessarily be right in the middle of your page, they will definitely be a distraction to your otherwise nice work.
Visitors to your site will also be treated to pop ups and pop unders, which are additional advertisements that the free web host places there.
Free hosting is for small sites that don’t get a lot of traffic, and don’t use a lot of video or file transfers. Don’t plan on having more than a small, simple site with these hosts.
A website hosted with a free provider will not be your own domain name. You will pick a name, which will be attached to the host’s name, for example: yoursitename.freehost.com or something similar. You won’t be able have your own unique domain.
Bear in mind that companies can offer free hosting based on getting revenue in return from advertising. Unfortunately, many people set up free web hosting services on the fly hoping to rake in some decent money from ads and promotions to you and your visitors. If this doesn’t go well, they are likely to shut down without warning and leave you stranded.
My bottom line suggestion is to avoid free web hosting altogether. Paid hosting is very inexpensive now, and the features and control you have over your site are more than worth the small monthly fee. If you have nothing to lose, free hosting is okay, just know the downside of going that route.
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