SolveYourProblem
Article Series: Web Hosting
Teach Me Web Hosting Essentials
What's
Free in Web Hosting Business?
Everybody likes free stuff. But
at the same time we know that nothing in life is really
free. Web hosting
is no different. When it comes to web hosting free and paid
sites just don’t compare. When you subscribe to free web hosting
services you ultimately end up losing business. Free is a four-letter
word in the web hosting business.
Web hosting is a business just like the one you are hoping
to promote through your website. They would not just give away
free web space because they are nice people. They are not charging
you any fees but they do plan on making money from your site.
When you sign up for a free website, the ISP (internet service
provider) will place its own ads on your site which may feature
companies that you are in competition with, or ads that have
nothing to do with your site. When visitors come to your site
they will either see 468x60 pixel banner ads on every page
or they will be hit with pop ups every time they click on something.
We all know how annoying pop ups are and it’s hard to think
of a better way to drive away business. Furthermore, it takes
away from the professionalism of the site.
Since your free web host is busy placing its own advertisements
on your site, it will place restrictions on your own advertising
or disallow it altogether. If you are simply using your site
as a personal page then this won’t be a problem. But if you
are running a business this can severely restrict your potential
for gaining important advertising revenue.
If that isn’t enough to turn you off, consider this: Web hosts
do not feel as obligated to provide support or dependability
for customers who are not paying them. Every web host experiences
downtime at one time or another. If you are with a reliable
host this may happen very rarely. Your ISP knows that you lose
business when your site is down and you will be less likely
to renew your subscription to a host if it happens repeatedly.
But hosts that offer their services for free aren’t worried
about whether or not you continue to use their services; your
site is not generating any revenue for them.
Unfortunately, this also means that you can expect customer
service to be poor for the same reason. A good ISP will have
a 24hr/day support staff with knowledgeable technical support.
However, the majority of free ISPs do not have the funds (or
the reason) to hire a support team. If your site is having
a problem then you will probably be routed to the host’s FAQ
page or you will be asked to send an email to who knows where.
And they aren’t pressured by the revenue they receive from
your site to do anything. You might not receive help at all
and it definetly will not be in a timely fasion.
Every web host will put some sort of restriction on the amount
of space that you are allowed to use, but it is always possible
to buy more. Free web hosts often only offer you 5 to 10MB
of space with no option for expanding. If you are a large business
that plans on receiving lots of emails and visitors to your
site, or a small business that plans on growing, these limitations
will be restricting. You will eventually have to move to a
paid host.
If the pop
ups and banner ads don’t drive your customers away,
then the lack of secure server access will. As people do more
and more business online, customers fears about privacy, security
and fraud grow. People (as they should be) are very careful
about exactly where they give out their credit card numbers
and prefer to divulge that information only under a secure
server. Your customers won’t think twice about opting for another
business because they offer a more secure way of obtaining
their money.
Unless you are using your free web site for fun and not a
business venture, free is a four-letter word in the web hosting
business. For those in business, whethere they are selling
their product online or simply offering a way to access their
business through the web, paid hosting is the only option.
Remember, you get what you pay for.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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