Should You Use a Free Web Hosting Company for your Website?

When you first start looking at different web hosting companies to host your website, the first two types you’ll run across are those that are free, and those that you must pay a fee to use. You’ll find thousands of both types, and both have their place in the web hosting world. However, if you choose the wrong one you could end up being seriously disappointed in your website.

The biggest advantage of using a free web hosting company is of course, that you’ll receive your web hosting free of charge. However, these companies must still a profit somehow; and if they’re not collecting it from you, they’re collecting it from your website. These companies will usually place pop-up ads and other ads on your website, and the amount of ads that will be displayed at any one time will vary from host to host. This can cause the overall design of your website to be awkward and look too ‘busy.’ Worst of all, it could reflect badly on you and your website, even if the ads are not your own. The typical Internet user is not going to want to sort through those ads, and constantly close them out, unless the owner of the website knows them personally.

Another disadvantage that comes with free web hosting companies is that the domain name, the Internet address where it’s located, can be very long and confusing. Websites such as: myowncraftcorner.blogspot.com can be very hard for people to remember, and they’re typically when you’ll get when you sign up with a free web host. Again, this is not a problem if it’s strictly a personal site, because the owner can simply mail out the email address directly and make it easy for people to click and get to the website. But for other websites, this could be a huge issue.

Because personal blogs and personal websites are the norm found among web hosting companies, the major search engines often will automatically exclude sites from free web hosts in their searches. This can be a huge disadvantage to businesses because their business will never be found through a search engine, meaning that they are guaranteed to have zero organic search results. Businesses need to be accessible wherever they are, and that includes when they’re online.

Using free web hosting for an e-commerce website, or a website that’s intended for business purposes, is generally not advised. There is already so much competition among different professional websites on the Internet, and business owners must do everything they can to give themselves the edge. This includes making sure that any ads placed on a website are strictly for that business, and making sure that customers can find them easily online.

Free web hosting can be a great solution for those who just want to run their own personal website. But even then, there are still thousands of free web hosts to choose from and the services offered range from the highest quality to the lowest. Thoroughly investigating and researching any web host is essential to make sure that you are never disappointed with your website.