Are Free Web Site Hosting Accounts Really Free?

Are Free Web Site Hosting Accounts Really Free?

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There are a lot of
free web site hosting companies out there touting their services. While the accounts offered by many of these web hosting providers are free to use, there are sometimes hidden costs that can leave you wasting both time and money.

If you want to build web sites that are truly free, you are going to have to carefully evaluate free web site hosting services before signing up. Special considerations to keep in mind when shopping for web hosting providers include:

Reliability

You can build web sites all day long, but no one will ever see them if your web host isn't reliable. To find out how reliable a free website hosting company is, you should ask about expected downtimes, traffic limitations, and customer service procedures. You should also ask what type of message will be displayed if the web site is disabled for any reason.

Bandwidth

The amount of bandwidth you have determines how long it will take for your pages to load. To keep costs low, many web hosting providers offer limited bandwidth. The problem with this is that your pages can take ten seconds or more to load. That's just enough time for a user to get frustrated and seek out another web site. If your free website hosting account comes with limited bandwidth, you need to be prepared for the possibility of missing out on customer sales.

Unwanted Ads

Free website hosting services are notorious for placing unwanted ads on customer web sites. This means that you will have pop-ups and other annoying advertisements on your site that you cannot remove. These ads might become very irritating for you and even more so for your customers, who may choose not to visit as a result.

Other Limitations

If you want to build web sites that include pictures, icons, and large amounts of text, you may want to look for web hosting providers that will allow you to build these kinds of web sites. Some free website hosting services will place limitations on what you can and can't do. For example, you may be barred from using pictures or more than five web pages.

About the author: Cliff Posey, owner of CRP Marketing, owns and operates http://webbusinesstoolsonline.com. Cliff has also operated several other successful web businesses including Love Song Cards and Radio Career Consultants. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses and his continual research into further business improvements. Visit my blog at http://websitesthatsucceed.blogspot.com/

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Do you think free web site hosting is a good thing?

The controversy rages on, free web site hosting or not. With everyone trying to keep cost of doing business down and profits up most people are looking for free ways to do things, however sometimes you end up paying one way or another. What are you thoughts on this?

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My conserves about free website hosting Not rated yet
Your comment will appear on a Web page exactly the way you enter it here. You can wrap a word in square brackets to make it appear bold. For example [...

Regarding Unwanted Ads Not rated yet
I have an account with a free web hosting company and I absolutely hate it because of the ads the put on my site. As a software tester, I originally signed ...

yes i do Not rated yet
i think it is a good thing because you can write or ad pictures to it for free

My investigation into free web site hosting. Not rated yet
Like most web site builders doing internet marketing, keeping costs down is always important. I have never really investigated free web site hosting but ...