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Many times small businesses wishing to gain exposure online have a limited budget. They seek out services that offer free hosting services to ease their expenses. This is usually true for companies wanting to try an online business for the first time. This type of web hosting is offered by various companies to help small business get started. The whole idea behind free web host services is simple: the web host allows for free service for a small business in order to put a website online. In order to do this the host company puts ads on the client's website so that they can get some return for the space given. This type of free service is supported entirely by the web host's advertisements and comes with some limitations.
The web hosts take advantage of the desires of small businesses wanting no cost websites to make money by utilizing the traffic from those sites. The free websites often display popup advertising, banners, or other sidebar advertisings placed there by the hosts which the client has no control over. There are even some hosts that offer these services with the provisions that the clients themselves that may appear in the control panels or other management areas of the website, or put those advertisements there hoping the clients will click them.
The free web hosts have dominated the personal web site and small business web site arena for a long time but are being replaced at a quick rate by low cost, or cheap web hosts. The cheap, or low cost hosts give all of the above advantages while not placing any ads on the client's site. They also offer dedicated domain names which is a big draw for many, and the prices are very reasonable-usually paid monthly. They offer many more services and set up features for blogs, forums, and more along with more storage and data space and bandwidth for sharing. Many free hosting companies also offer cheap services with no ads.
Are free web hosts reliable?
While they make money off of the advertisements on the client's sites which gives them incentive to stay in business, many free web hosts have stability issues. It occasionally turns out that someone or another company will declare their web host service complaining of spam, or hacking. That can occur if the host company automatically installs utilities like CGI, or PHP. These things reduce the performance of the server drastically. Professional web hosts are rarely affected by such things. However, it would be a good idea to beware of the startup web host as they are more apt to be subjected to downtime and crashes on account of these things.
Pros of free web hosting
1. These free websites are terrific for students, or homemakers looking to make money online in their spare time. It gives users with a very limited budget a platform for their views, as well as products and services. These sites can be used to store data or other information thereby making it a great learning resource for students. Some people use the free websites for testing purposes. When doing that a user can test the website concept to see if it will work on a larger scale for their purposes before investing large amounts of money. As an example boinc.ch gives free space to users in order to test its UNIX applications. Most free websites are aimed at students along with developers, and people interested in creating a personal website.
2. Another valuable use for free web hosting services is to volunteer organizations, and those companies that are not-for-profit. These institutions need to share their messages with the world but often have a very limited budget. The internet is the best way to reach masses of people quickly and free web hosting allows these organizations to do that, and also get donations and other important business on a large scale from many people at once. The same services that are beneficial to students, and personal web site builders are perfect for the volunteer and service organizations as it allows them to get online quickly at no cost. Larger web hosts may provide free service to these organizations for emotional reasons, but the most likely way to obtain free space is with a free host.
3. Another great use of the free web host service is for groups and communities who need to share their information between each other. They can share their ideals, and feelings on many issues great and small for free. The free web hosts are great for groups with limited financial resources but a lot to share with the world, and other like-minded communities. They can share data and mutual links to their websites and allow more people to find them through these services. From a purely SEO standpoint these free services offer great benefits to this type of organization.
4. Free hosting services are ideal for family websites as they can use it personally for sharing photographs, important family events and other unforgettable moments. Though this kind of use is limited, there are websites devoted to such information. As these are personal information, it is always advisable that one goes for an authentic free web hosts only.
The cons of free web hosts
Even though the above organizations and individuals can save a great deal of money on free web hosting there are some things to consider before opting for those services.
1. The free host does not provide domain, or even second-level domain names. You will be allocated a subdomain which can be less impressive to viewers.
2. The bandwidth offered by the free web hosting service provider is reasonably very low and is hardly comparable to paid hosting services.
3. Free space is also very low meaning you have very limited disk space on the server for holding your files and data.
4. The greatest disadvantage most people find with free websites are the banners and other ad like pop ups and pop unders that are placed all over their websites. It takes away perceived value when visitors click on their site and gives off a negative feeling on the usefulness of the company. Some of the ads can be compulsory in nature.
5. The clients are generally not provided any type of uptime guarantee
6. Media and other big files types are not allowed as a rule. Most free sites restrict such files as MP3, MPEG, and ZIP to cut down on space used.
7. There is generally no, or very little technical support for customers of the free web hosts since it is not their priority. At most they may offer a month or two of support.
The web hosts take advantage of the desires of small businesses wanting no cost websites to make money by utilizing the traffic from those sites. The free websites often display popup advertising, banners, or other sidebar advertisings placed there by the hosts which the client has no control over. There are even some hosts that offer these services with the provisions that the clients themselves that may appear in the control panels or other management areas of the website, or put those advertisements there hoping the clients will click them.
The free web hosts have dominated the personal web site and small business web site arena for a long time but are being replaced at a quick rate by low cost, or cheap web hosts. The cheap, or low cost hosts give all of the above advantages while not placing any ads on the client's site. They also offer dedicated domain names which is a big draw for many, and the prices are very reasonable-usually paid monthly. They offer many more services and set up features for blogs, forums, and more along with more storage and data space and bandwidth for sharing. Many free hosting companies also offer cheap services with no ads.
Are free web hosts reliable?
While they make money off of the advertisements on the client's sites which gives them incentive to stay in business, many free web hosts have stability issues. It occasionally turns out that someone or another company will declare their web host service complaining of spam, or hacking. That can occur if the host company automatically installs utilities like CGI, or PHP. These things reduce the performance of the server drastically. Professional web hosts are rarely affected by such things. However, it would be a good idea to beware of the startup web host as they are more apt to be subjected to downtime and crashes on account of these things.
Pros of free web hosting
1. These free websites are terrific for students, or homemakers looking to make money online in their spare time. It gives users with a very limited budget a platform for their views, as well as products and services. These sites can be used to store data or other information thereby making it a great learning resource for students. Some people use the free websites for testing purposes. When doing that a user can test the website concept to see if it will work on a larger scale for their purposes before investing large amounts of money. As an example boinc.ch gives free space to users in order to test its UNIX applications. Most free websites are aimed at students along with developers, and people interested in creating a personal website.
2. Another valuable use for free web hosting services is to volunteer organizations, and those companies that are not-for-profit. These institutions need to share their messages with the world but often have a very limited budget. The internet is the best way to reach masses of people quickly and free web hosting allows these organizations to do that, and also get donations and other important business on a large scale from many people at once. The same services that are beneficial to students, and personal web site builders are perfect for the volunteer and service organizations as it allows them to get online quickly at no cost. Larger web hosts may provide free service to these organizations for emotional reasons, but the most likely way to obtain free space is with a free host.
3. Another great use of the free web host service is for groups and communities who need to share their information between each other. They can share their ideals, and feelings on many issues great and small for free. The free web hosts are great for groups with limited financial resources but a lot to share with the world, and other like-minded communities. They can share data and mutual links to their websites and allow more people to find them through these services. From a purely SEO standpoint these free services offer great benefits to this type of organization.
4. Free hosting services are ideal for family websites as they can use it personally for sharing photographs, important family events and other unforgettable moments. Though this kind of use is limited, there are websites devoted to such information. As these are personal information, it is always advisable that one goes for an authentic free web hosts only.
The cons of free web hosts
Even though the above organizations and individuals can save a great deal of money on free web hosting there are some things to consider before opting for those services.
1. The free host does not provide domain, or even second-level domain names. You will be allocated a subdomain which can be less impressive to viewers.
2. The bandwidth offered by the free web hosting service provider is reasonably very low and is hardly comparable to paid hosting services.
3. Free space is also very low meaning you have very limited disk space on the server for holding your files and data.
4. The greatest disadvantage most people find with free websites are the banners and other ad like pop ups and pop unders that are placed all over their websites. It takes away perceived value when visitors click on their site and gives off a negative feeling on the usefulness of the company. Some of the ads can be compulsory in nature.
5. The clients are generally not provided any type of uptime guarantee
6. Media and other big files types are not allowed as a rule. Most free sites restrict such files as MP3, MPEG, and ZIP to cut down on space used.
7. There is generally no, or very little technical support for customers of the free web hosts since it is not their priority. At most they may offer a month or two of support.
About the Author:
Republished with permission from http://www.webhostingmadness.com. WebHostingMadness publishes web hosting articles, industry reviews and ratings of the best hosting companies on the Internet.
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