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.
Anything you put on a free social network site really isn't yours. You are subject to rules and regulations regarding what you can post. There is nothing wrong with having standards, and this usually isn't a problem for most people, anyway. The biggest reason to have your own site is ownership. If you spend a lot of time building content on a free social site, it can all be wiped out if that site changes the rules or decides there is something about your site they don't like. It happens.
If you choose to register a domain and create your own site, you have a choice between traditional paid web hosting and free web hosting. Paid hosting is a bargain these days, with many hosts charging $10 for less a month for just about everything you need. Most hosting plans in this price range include enough disk space to host several different websites, or one big site, depending on how much content you create over time.
Just a quick note about "unlimited" bandwidth or "unlimited" domain offers. There really is a limit, but for 99% of users it won't be an issue. Web hosting companies know that the average user will only put up maybe one site or two, and the amount of resources they use will be tiny. I guarantee you if you buy a $5 a month web hosting package that advertises unlimited domains and bandwidth, and go into business selling web space to other people, you'll soon find there is a limit. Again, for most this isn't an issue, I just wanted to touch on it briefly in case you were wondering how web hosts could offer unlimited services at such low prices.
Despite the low cost of standard paid hosting, some people still want free web hosting. If you are just putting up a site as a hobby, or a personal blog or diary for fun, free web hosting might be a great option for you. If you are planning to sell anything from your site, or promote some sort of business, don't even consider free web hosting.
The positive side of free web hosting is the "free". However, there are drawbacks.
- in most cases, the hosting provider reserves the right to run ads on your site, usually on the top or side margins. This won't disturb your content, but can make viewing it annoying to others, and make your pretty design and setup look pretty lousy.
- other forms of advertising are often used, including popups and other types of advertising that greet your visitors upon entering and leaving your site. These are perhaps more annoying than anything.
- you will have pretty serious limits on how much bandwidth you can use, so don't plan on putting up a lot of videos or other heavy multimedia content.
- your website address will the hosting companies name plus something you create, for example "petejohnson.freewebhostingcompany.com" - not exactly a personalized or glowing expression of you or the impression you want to make on the world.
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 advice is to avoid all free web hosting services, unless you simply don't have the money or don't want to commit to a few dollars a month for a regular host. The bottom line is, never put anything up on a free host that you really don't want to lose. It is definitely a risk.
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