Free Web Hosting: Do You Get What You Pay For?

To begin at the beginning: a web host connects your web site to the world wide web (W3). Simple. You sign on with a host (there’s like a bazillion of them) and the host does the rest – at least in theory.

You see, web hosting is a hotly contested market with over a billion web sites already on line and 6,000 more launching each day. Everybody wants their own digital space – everybody with families who create a small, private site to share pictures and keep in touch to global conglomerates that maintain a couple of dozen deep sites for different purposes.

In fact, there are plenty of web hosts who provide services free of charge. Absolutely, 100% free. Of course, as with anything, you do get what you pay for so here are 10 reasons NOT to go with a free web hosting provider.

1. Ad placement – theirs.

What, you think free means free? These companies monetize their businesses by selling advertisements – ads that appear on your free web page. And the fact is, you may not like the ads that appear on your site but you have zero control over what shows up as your banner du jour. A BIG drawback.

2. Tech Support from Berzerkastan

If these companies provide any sort of tech support, it’s usually outsourced to one guy who speaks with a heavy accent and asks if your mother-board looks okay. Hey, what do you expect for free?

3. The Reliability Factor or the Lack Thereof

All you need is a server and a router and you’re a web host. Really. Some of these freebie hosting companies are small enough to fit in a closet. So, if the cat knocks the server over, your site may be offline for a couple of days.

Worse, these low-ballers often shut down permanently once they’ve acquired enough subscription dollars in the business account. There’s no oversight on the W3. If your free web host shuts down operations in Mozambique, he’s going to take your website with him. Now that’s going to hurt.

4. You Aren’t the Boss

Free web hosts can restrict the advertising they allow on your site. For example, they’d be none-too-pleased to see a link to a competitor’s site and you’d be forced to take it down. Links to sites of, ahem, questionable taste would be removed along with any other advert the free host didn’t deem appropriate or in its best interests.

5. Cramped Quarters

You don’t get much for nothing. Most freebie hosts give you 10-15MB of disk space. It’s enough to start but if you plan to grow or archive pictures on the site, space is limited.

6. Free Press? No way.

The free web host can ask you to remove content it deems inappropriate. In other words, you don’t even control the editorial content of your site. If the hosting company doesn’t like it and you don’t remove it, they’ll expunge the offending content themselves.

7. Bogus, Revealing, Cheesy URLs

A lot of free hosts require that their company name appear as part of your URL – your web address. So, you end up with a URL that looks more than a little funny, it looks a little low rent.

Even a 10-year old knows that’s a free web hosting site and if you’re trying to build a quality business, well, it doesn’t look exactly professional.

8. The Tools of the Trade

A good web host – one who actually charges for server space and leaves you alone – has a vested interest in the success of your site. If your site succeeds, you’ll re-up with your current host and, over time, that higher-quality web host will build a client base.

So, to help you in your endeavor, these better hosts provide all the software you need to build and run an online business. If you go with a freebie, you may have to run out to buy site building software and a content management system so, is it really free?

9. “Who Let the Data Out? Woof Woof”

You’ve put a lot of time and money into building your own site, whether for the family and friends, or to develop another marketing channel for your business. So the last thing you want is some 15-year-old hacker from someplace halfway around the world hacking into your site and creating chaos.

Quality web hosts provide multiple layers of redundant security at the server level, creating a barrier between black hats and your site. Cheapie and freebie sites may offer a firewall – if you’re lucky.

10. No Interactivity

It’s a new age on the web – the era of Web 2.0, the next generation web. And it includes lots more interactivity between user and site and site and user. CSS enables users to set viewing parameters to their preferences, even allowing them to change the color motif if that creates a problem.

Dynamic home pages greet repeat visitors by name and offer buying tips based on your previous purchases. Today’s web encourages user-generated content in the form of blogs, and social sites like MySpace and FaceBook.

With the deep market penetration of DSL and cable, you can pump a lot more content through the pipe than ever before so you’re seeing more DVs (digital films on how to assemble that bike you just ordered, for example), Flash animations and live feeds.

Most free web hosts simply don’t support some of these “must-have” technologies like MySQL (database), ASP (active server page) and other current web technologies. You just aren’t going to get much for nothing.

Alternatives?

Low cost hosting from a reputable web hosting provider.

Again, you’re going to get what you pay for. You can go lowball at $2.98 a month but for just pocket change you can upgrade to the $6.95 or $8.95 and get piles of good stuff. Again, the cheap hosts have to cut corners. It’s the only way they can offer hosting at $2.98 a month.

When you move up to the next tier, there’s a big jump in services and a bag full of money-saving-success-building goodies. Look, quality web hosting isn’t expensive. Even the top-of-the-line hosts have to keep monthly hosting costs down to compete with each other and the lower tier companies offering free hosting with a bunch of conditions you don’t control, or a low-ball monthly company that’s going to have to trim costs somewhere – customer care, security, tech updates – something’s gotta give.

The point is, you can get quality at a low cost in the web hosting arena. Spend the cost of a latte grande and you pick up a web host interested in your site’s success and one that will provide the support, both in features and US-based tech support, to help you build a site to profitability.

This is your dream going up there for the world to see. Isn’t it worth $6.95 a month to get the whole package when you’ve just paid a site designer $1,500 to bring your vision to life?

It’s a no brainer.