Free Hosting

Free Hosting

If money is a concern, there are a number of ways to obtain free hosting for your website. Be aware, however, that nothing is ever really “free” and that your options will be more restricted than with a normal web host.

Free May Not Always Be Best, But It’s Free

For starters, most free hosts severely limit how much disk space and bandwidth you may use. Some will completely disable your account if you go over your limits, meaning that if your site suddenly becomes popular, you’ll be forced offline. Additionally, many free hosts require you to add their advertising banners to your website, meaning your page layouts will be dominated by text and graphical ads, or even the dreaded pop-ups. Having a grotesque amount of advertising on a new website can severely hamper the growth of the site, scaring visitors away before you’ve even hooked them with your content. Finally, while the vast majority of paid web hosts give you a wide variety of other services, such as email accounts, database hosting, mailing lists, FTP access, etc, most free hosts will not allow such services. Outside of simple web page design and hosting, you probably won’t receive anything else.

The Good Free Ones Are Simple

If you’re looking for a good, free hosting service, and don’t mind using a generic layout that other sites may be using, it is recommended that you check out some of the free blog hosting sites, such as Blogger, Xanga, or Wordpress. Typically, sites like these will give you an easy interface to post from, a good selection of themes and layouts, and won’t cut you off if your site suddenly starts receiving a lot of traffic. In short, hosting services like these are ideal for people who want to establish an online presence, but don’t have the time to learn to code or the money to buy a domain name and monthly web hosting.  Photo by Liammckay7