subject: Free Or Paid Web Hosting - The Difference [print this page] Choosing the right web host for you is one of the most important things when launching your website. There are thousands of web hosting companies and types out there. You can go from free hosting to shared, managed, unmanaged, vps hosting... Now, your choice of web host depends wholly on the type of website you are planning to launch. Not all web hosting plans are the same. Now, if youre only planning on creating a small personal homepage; i.e. a few pages, dedicated to your family or friends, then a FREE web hosting plan may suffice. Yes, thats right. A free web hosting plan! But, alas, no-one in this world gives something away for nothing. Even free web hosting comes at a PRICE! For example, a web hosting company may offer a free web hosting plan, but your website will display banner advertising, served by your hosting provider, which the company earns its revenue from. You wont be able to disable the banner advertising that they display on your website. It is there
because they are a business and they have to make money somehow.
With some free web hosting plans, you wont need your own domain name, because your site URL (your web address) will contain a part of main domain name of the web hosting company.
Other free web hosts boast the feature of we wont place banner adverts on your site and allow you to use your own domain name with the website, but
dont be fooled! They WILL use you to get their advertising displayed.
How? Simple! When a user types in your domain name and visits your website, a banner-like frame will appear at the top of your website, with a slogan
like this website is hosted for free at In a nutshell, a web host will only give away web
hosting for free because advertisers will pay big money to have their banner adverts displayed on hundreds of free websites. Advertisers know that a website giving away something for free will attract a lot of visitors, so it pays to advertise there!
OK, so, maybe it might not bother you too much if you have intrusive advertising spoiling your personal homepage, but free web hosting is a BIG NO NO if your website is going to be an online business. If you are launching a business website, NEVER sign up for free web hosting. OK, so you might think thatll save me a monthly hosting fee, but, believe meit is a false economy and will get you nowhere!
Put it this way if you wanted to do business with a website, then found that it had a this website is hosted free by slogan or it was filled with intrusive banner advertising or pop-up windows, or it didnt have a proper domain name, what would you think of the company? Would you buy from them? Believe me, it will ruin your credibility as a business if your prospective customers can see that your website is blatantly hosted for free. It will not be taken seriously.
OK, so lots of business websites have banner advertising, but it is advertising that those
businesses have placed there THEMSELVES to earn extra revenue. Web hosting that you pay for will not serve banner advertising on your website, you can use your own domain name and there will be absolutely no indication of who your web host is at all. This is
partly what you are paying for. The other part you are paying for are the special features that come with your web hosting plan
but what features are available? And how can you possibly know, if you are new to all this, which features you will require?
Before I tell you about what features are available with paid web hosting and a PLAIN ENGLISH explanation of what these features mean, I must point out that the amount of features you will receive from a web host will always depend one one thing
