Using a free web hosting service can be a tempting proposition for anyone creating a new website. Whether you’re building a personal blog or an ecommerce website one of the things that may be holding you back is the start-up cost. While the price of web hosting in general has come down over the years there are plenty of free hosting options available that may be right for you.
However, people are naturally suspicious of anything that seems too good to be true and free website hosting is no exception. For this reason it’s important to know how free hosting companies work in order to understand how they can offer these deals.
It goes without saying that free web hosting companies make money too – they aren’t charitable organisations – but they have a different way of doing so. Instead of charging on a monthly basis most free hosts will require you to display adverts on your website. Whenever one of your visitors clicks on one of these ads the web host has a chance of making money.
In many cases free website hosting companies will also have a paid option that removes all adverts from your website. Many customers who use the free services will go on to become paying customers when their website expands. A lot of free site hosting companies also provide an incentive to any of their users who refer their friends and family which allows them to grow quickly and without much effort.
Free hosting companies provide new website owners with a way to get their site up and running without having to worry about the cost of hosting. Free web hosts have become more advanced in recent years and now offer services comparable to paid hosts. For example, you can get free cPanel hosting from some companies such as http://www.host-blaster.com/.
Whether you’re buying web hosting or have chosen to use one of the many free services available the primary goal is still the same – to find a host that will provide you with a high quality service. This article will take you through some of the more important considerations that you must factor into your decision when choosing a web host.
Speed and Reliability
There’s nothing more frustrating as a website owner to find that your website is frequently unavailable to your visitors because of poor quality web hosting servers. Whether you choose free web hosting or not you need to ensure that the host can guarantee a certain level of uptime. You also need to make sure that their servers are fast enough to cope with the number of websites they host because the vast majority of hosts provide shared hosting plans.
Security
No matter what your website is about the security features of the web hosting you choose are important. However, if you run an ecommerce website then security becomes a vital factor in your decision.
Space and Bandwidth
Many free cPanel web hosts will claim to provide you with unlimited bandwidth for your websites. However, you also need to look at the space they provide for your sites files and databases. Most small websites will not need more than a few hundred megabytes but whether you will require more is something that depends on the size and complexity of your site. Image and video files will use up hosting space quickly so if you plan on using many of these then having a lot of space available becomes important. For example, http://www.host-blaster.com/ provides you with 15GB of space which should be more than enough for all but the largest websites.
If you’re looking to use a free web hosting company then there are some obvious factors that you need to consider such as reliability, server speed and how much space is provided. However, aside from the basics there are some other important features that your website may need so it’s essential to find out whether a free hosting company provides them before making a decision.
1. MySQL databases – If you want to use content management systems such as Drupal or Wordpress then having at least one MySQL database is important. The database is where content management systems store all the information about the website such as post content, comments and titles. If a free hosting company doesn’t provide a database then you may be limited when it comes to software options for your website.
2. Addon Domains – If you only need hosting for a single website then having the option of addon domains isn’t important. However, if you’re planning on running multiple websites then using a free host that supports addon domains will make things a lot easier. Addon domains allow you to direct various domain names to different folders in your hosting account which effectively allows you to host many domains under one account.
3. cPanel – The vast majority of free hosts will provide cPanel but not all do. Free cPanel hosting is essential if you aren’t in expert when it comes to running a web server as it provides you with a graphical way of editing all the server options.
Finding free hosting that comes with all these features can be difficult but not impossible. For example, http://www.host-blaster.com/ is a free cPanel host with unlimited addon domains and unlimited MySQL databases.
If you’ve decided to use free hosting instead of a paid option then the next thing you need to do is start looking for the right host. While there are many similarities between choosing a free host and a paid one there are also some differences which will be discussed in this article.
In the past, one of the biggest problems with free hosting plans is that they had large amounts of downtime. Today, many free hosts are more reliable which means that your website will be up and running most of the time. However, it’s still important to find out what the average downtime is for a web host before you decide to use them for your website.
The next thing you need to look at is which kind of advertisements the host will use on your site. Free hosting companies make their money by displaying adverts on the sites they host and it’s important to pick a company that doesn’t overload your site with irrelevant adverts. If the host uses multiple pop-ups then it may be best to consider a different company because this will put off the majority of your visitors.
Finally, if you’ve never created a website before then you need to find out which tools a web host provides to make the process easier. For example, some free web hosting companies have templates available to use on your website. Some hosts may offer free cPanel hosting that comes with Fantastico to allow you to install website software without requiring any technical knowledge. An example of a free cPanel hosting company is http://www.host-blaster.com/.
If you’re planning on creating a website in the near future then one of the decisions you’ll have to make is whether to get free or paid hosting. Every website needs hosting of some sort so it’s helpful to know the advantages and disadvantages of free web hosting before you make your decision.
Many people argue that free hosting is never the right option but in reality if you’re running a small or personal website then in many cases it’s all you will need. If your website grows in the future and you need to expand you could always consider changing to a paid host.
Aside from the fact that free hosting doesn’t cost you anything, there are several differences between free and paid services. The first is that your website will usually have to display adverts of some sort for the hosting company. The free web host needs to make back the money it’s spending on servers and staff and the most common monetization method is through forcing ads onto their clients websites.
The second is that you generally don’t get the same level of features included such as fantastico and unlimited add-on domains although there are exceptions to this rule. For example http://www.host-blaster.com provides free cPanel hosting with many additional features.
The final difference is that because you’re not paying for your web hosting in most cases you won’t be provided with the same level of customer support that you would with a paid host. This isn’t unreasonable – after all the web host is providing you with a free service – but it’s something to keep in mind when deciding between a free and paid host.