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[A34]A Free Web Host

by Kathryn Beach, Kat

Assuming that you have backed up your website content yourself, religiously, then you will only lose visitors, customers, trust and money if you have to scramble for a new webhost. Without your own backup of your web content, everything can disappear.

Many web hosting companies have come and gone, leaving their customers without a site until the customer can find a new service. Believe it or not, this happens every day. One reason for this is obvious. Your free or cheap web host service can be just breaking even thanks to advertising. Have you thought about this: customers need help?

A free or cheap webhost, by its very nature, caters to new webmasters, who by their very nature often require more time than those willing and able to pay for services. Just crunch the numbers. Your webhost charges you $4-$10 a month. You require maybe 20 minutes of a customer service rep's time in a month.

The webhost loses money unless they pay their customer service reps a very low wage, which in turn is reflected in the service you get. A webhost like this has two choices in order to survive - cut their costs or raise their prices.

Think about who else besides you uses cheap or free web hosting: porn site webmasters, spammers, etc. These are people whose activities, when reported to the proper authorities, can get a webhosting service blocked or shut down.

Either way, you have to realize that you are affected by how other people use the same service that you are using.

Remember, just like with any other purchase you make, you get what you pay for. Don't be fooled by web hosting services that offer you huge database storage capabilities for cheap. This is because data base storage is indeed inexpensive, but the service you won't be getting is what has real value - technical expertise; guaranteed uninterrupted, high-speed internet access; and quality customer support.

You cannot be blamed if you are looking for a free web host, because the internet is littered with free stuff. The key is to know what to look for. There may be a lot of good and free stuff out there, but if it is not what you want, it simply is worth nothing to you. That aside; even if it is free, you would be better off without it if it is of poor quality.

Whether you opt for a free web host or a paid web host, there are of course limitations to what is provided to you. In other words, you need to know the features that are covered by the host. Most of the time, it would not make sense to simply go for the choice with the lowest cost. If it were so, there would not be people buying and selling hosting packages.

The biggest pitfall in a free web host is its false promises. As a potential customer (whether paid or not), you should at least know for sure how much disk space and bandwidth are provided. And you can be quite certain that you would not be provided with support. In fact, this may already be stated to you up front, before you sign up.

You should be wary of the term ‘unlimited'. This applies to both free and paid web host. If you have done any research before reading this article, you should know there is no such thing as say, unlimited bandwidth. That term is simply a marketing gimmick to lure the inexperienced.

The electricity that you consume comes at a cost, and so does bandwidth. If you have a website with lots of traffic or that people are constantly downloading files (especially other than documents), bandwidth is being consumed. In fact, it is being consumed each time your web-page loads, multiply that with the number of visitors.

Even with a paid web host, if you opt for a shared hosting environment, you are of course aware that this means you are sharing with other webmasters who have their own visitors. If you were taking up too much space, you would be given a recommendation to upgrade your plan, failing which, your site will experience problems. There are some hosts that simply stop hosting sites that take up too many resources, without warning.

Generally, if your site is not a commercial one, it may be alright for you to choose a free or a low cost plan. There are many sites out there that serve the owners' personal interests, which may be called hobby sites and these may be fine on free hosting.

If yours has commercial value, it is best to go for a paid web host, rather than be at the mercy of a free one. The only question is which plan to go for. So, you must be able to find a comparison of the different plans side by side, for your convenience.

Article Source : Pg. 191

About Author

Both Kathryn Beach & Puripong Koomsin are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Kathryn Beach has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, About Web Hosting and Real Estate. Kathryn Beach has built numerous niche websites since 1998 and has used at least 6 different webhosts, both free and by paid subscription. To read more about how she evaluates. Kathryn Beach's top article generates over 3600 views. Bookmark Kathryn Beach to your Favourites.

Puripong Koomsin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Web Development, Computers and The Internet and About Web Hosting. If you enjoy reading this, you may enjoy to read more about which web hosting is your Best Web Hosting and read. Puripong Koomsin's top article generates over 22200 views. Bookmark Puripong Koomsin to your Favourites.