The Cost of using Free Web Hosting

In the battle of web hosting, there is a duel sided battle that tends to draw in people on both sides. This is the free versus paid war. The more that you know about this subject, then the better that the overall results will be for you as well as your site. It is important that you make sure that you are making this decision with the best interest of your site in mind.

Free always sounds like a winning proposition, this is because people love to hear the word free. The more that they hear this, then the better that the end result will be in that person's mind. Taking a little of this information in mind will give a person the impression that they are making a wise choice in the long run. But be careful, the old adage that there is no free lunch applies here. Free has its limitations and sometimes they can be major.

One drawback that is also free, is that you are losing a lot of the customer service that paid accounts will have. An option to offset this is to go with a basic and cheap paid plan. While it is still technically a paid account, it is cheap enough that it will seem like it is a free account. This is ideal if you are a single person looking to just get a personal web site out onto the web.

If you are looking for more out of life than a cheap single page website, then you will be best served with a site that is paid. This is simply because of the many advantages that are able to be had from one of these accounts.

Added features are always a nice touch. The more of these that there is, then the more enticing that the host will seem to you. The most important part of this entire process is that you take an honest assessment of your needs and look at what it is that you desire the most. There is a lot that comes from the use of these extras and can often lead to a person getting a wonderful host whom they do not want to ever leave.

All of this can be the thing that makes or breaks a site. The more that is looked at, then the better the results will be. Take a little time to ensure that you are getting the best type of host for your hosting needs. In the end, the decision is all yours about
Starting a small e-commerce business? Looking to create a website to promote that business? Need to find a web host service to host your website?  One option to consider is the multitude of free web hosting services found on the Internet. Like anything else that is free, it may seem like the perfect solution. However, nothing in life is truly free, so be cautious and search out the best one.

There is a downside to using free web hosting in that many do not offer any technical or other support at all. Most offer web site building tools and HTML editors, but you are basically on your own when it comes to creating your site. Some require that you accept their “terms of service” which may contain language that has you giving away all right to the very site you worked so hard to create.

Because they host your web pages for free, they feel that they have a right to own them. One such site that utilizes this practice is Yahoo. By posting a site on Yahoo, you give up any legal rights of ownership. So beware of this when using a free hosting site and always read the terms and conditions very carefully.

Free Hosting Sites

The following are a few samples of Internet sites that offer free web hosting services:

 · Yahoo.com  - No setup fee with 35 emails allowed. 350mb-disk space for your web pages and 35gb for transferring files.

 · Catalog.com – You need to register or transfer a domain to get free web hosting here. Not sure of what features are offered.

 · Doteasy.com – Offers no setup fee, 20mb-disk space and 1gb file transfer capability. This is a site that does offer free technical support. If you want more capabilities, you need to upgrade and pay for their Ultra Host package.

· Fortunecity.com – No setup fee. Free ad supported plan with 25mb-disk space and 3gb-file transfer capability. No email is offered but free sub domain is. Contains banner ads.

 · No-frills.net – No setup fee. Free domain name for your website is offered. HTML editor and various web page creation tools are available. No email but free technical support is offered.

 · 50megs.com – No setup fee. Offers 50megs of disk space. Not sure of transfer capabilities. Has web site building tools, webrings, but no technical support is offered.

These are just a very small sample of what is available on the net by way of free web hosting services. Most if not all are ad driven which means that those annoying ads and popups appear everywhere and all the time.

If you are an e-commerce business looking for web customers, you may want to go with a service that you have to pay for because these ads and popups take away from the professional look and presence that an e-commerce business should have.

Congratulations, you have your first site built and are ready to place it on the web. That is when the panic hits you as you realize that you have two options for your hosting needs. The first is to go with a free hosting plan; the other is a paid plan. This has been the basis for a battle over the years and will surely be a battle for a long time to come. Let us take a look at many of these advantages and disadvantages of each to determine what is exactly the best option for a person to go with.

The first type of hosting is that of a free host. The first obvious reason to go with this is the fact that it is free and will not cost a person a single penny, unless of course, they upgrade their plan. This is preferred for an individual who is looking to simply host a personal website and really does not want to invest a whole lot of money into the endeavor. Another reason that a person would want to use this is if they are a little strapped for cash and needs a way to host without spending a lot of money in the process.

A free account will include a domain name something to the effect of freehost.com. This can affect the image that a person is seeking out to present to potential clients and customers. This should be thought about closely in making a decision for the type of hosting plan that you are going to go with. The more that you know, the better the end result will be for a person's business image.

There is a limit in the amount of space that is given for free as well as the amount of bandwidth that you can use for your site. This needs to be considered carefully when making the decision to use a free host.

A paid account can be a good deal if you know what to look for and what to consider when making this choice. You can have your own domain name without all the added parts to the end of the domain name. This makes transfer a lot easier and help to prevent you from losing some of your business. Uptime is also increased as you are placed on a more reliable server as well as back up servers being in place.

If you need to contact support for help, you are often given 24/7 access. This is a great point that many people see when they take the time to use a paid server. This allows for a lot better results as well as increased odds of having the best results for your business.