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November 22, 2009

Free Web Hosting Plans vs Paid Plans - The Facts

Do you think that free web hosting might work okay for you? Many people these days have a passion or interest they want to express, and going online with a web site is a great way to do it. Never before have we had the ability to reach the world so quickly and easily. While you can use any of the free social media sites to do this (such as My Space), getting your own domain and hosting is often a better option.

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 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.

Even with pay by the month hosting being so cheap, some folks still like the idea of free web hosting. If your site is small, strictly for fun, and you wouldn’t mind if it went away suddenly then free hosting might be okay for you. If your intention is to promote any business or sell anything, free hosting isn’t a good idea.

On the up side, free web hosting is indeed free. No strings attached, usually. Nonetheless, there are drawbacks and reasons that the hosting is free.

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.

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.

There will be file transfer limits, so you won’t be able to feature much video or other multimedia attractions.

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 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.

Publishing your own web site is a great thing to do!. When choosing a web host, you have many different options. Learn the truth about whether free web hosting is a plan that will meet your needs. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.

Filed under Web Hosting by Bob Martindale

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