Are you intending to use or already using free web hosting service now? How do you find it? Are you considering upgrading to become a paid member?
Many website veterans debunk the use of free web hosting services. In my opinion, free web hosting may not necessarily be bad. Like any other products, there are pros and cons in getting hosting for free.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Free Web Hosting
Let's talk about the good thing about free hosting. You pay nothing to get your website up and running. This, of course, is the major benefit. Unfortunately, it is also the one and only advantage I can ever think of after scratching my head.
Free web hosting is good for a brand newbie who wants to try out hosting a website but not ready using it for business yet. Of course, you can put up some products (you affiliate with) or AdSense ads and generate traffic to that page hoping to make some spare cash. But that's where the many disadvantages come in.
1. Since the web hosting company offers you a free hosting space, there must be something they need to get back from you; they'll put up banner, popup or popunder ads on ALL your web pages. These eyeball-grabbing ads will distract and steal your visitors' attention away from your content and what you offer.
2. You don't get a professional URL with your domain name like "yoursite.com", but instead you get a somewhat long, hard-to-remember and unprofessional URL like "freewebhostcompany.com/yoursite". Who would remember and bother to go to your website if it's not pro?
The domain belongs to the free hosting company, and you only get to have your ID or nick positioned after the slash. If you want to host with your own domain name, you got to pay for the domain registration, which generally costs more than when you register at some dedicated domain registrar. That's how these free providers make money from you.
3. You only have email support available to you. But how long do you have to wait? That depends on how many issues they got from their paid members (they give priority to paid members over free members) before your turn comes. I've personally tasted 2 weeks just to have my simple query answered. Even if you upgrade to their paid hosting plan, you're still restricted to obtaining support via email only. And you'll get faster response from them in 2 - 3 working days, so to speak.
Dedicated paid web hosting companies (those that do not offer free hosting) provides 3 types of support - email, online chat and phone support. Reliable ones offer 24/7 service. You can get instant help from them anytime, anywhere around the world.
So, these are the annoying "price" to pay for getting a free web hosting service. For that matter, there are even more problems than what I just mentioned above with free hosting. But what you've learned now is good enough to help you make a sound decision.
In conclusion,
-- If you don't care about the forced ads on your web pages,
-- If you don't mind the sloppy email support,
-- If you are okay with the unprofessional and ugly url they provide
-- More importantly, if you can afford to let your website down for a few days should the server crash (free web hosting servers are prone to higher downtime),
Then go ahead and host your website for free.
Remember, there's no free lunch in this world. Even if they promise no forced ads on your website, there must be a catch somewhere that you have to pay dearly for in return for the free service you get.
Want more web hosting tips? Soon Chai shows you more proven strategies on how to choose web hosting provider and helps you find the best web host for small business that maintains your business websites at maximum uptime, loads your web pages fast, makes you more profits and keeps your operating costs down forever.
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