If you’re starting a new site for either marketing or a business, then yes, definitely a free web hosting provider is a must. A free web hosting provider gives you all the tools to build your site without the hassles of paying an IT department to do it for you. In addition to this, it gives you the opportunity to test out the site before you spend a fortune on it-all for free. There are so many hosting companies offering this today. However, there are a few things that you should look out for before signing up with any of them.
First, choose your host wisely. As with any other product or service, there are many good and bad ones out there in the market today. When looking for free web hosting providers, be sure to go with a provider that offers adequate space for both personal and business websites. If you’re going to use the site for ecommerce purposes, then the storage should also be adequate for both online purchases and uploading or transferring files.
Next, see if they offer any other services or products. Some free web hosting providers offer free website builder tools, which can be very helpful when building a website. Some offer free ecommerce tools. Others provide free web hosting as part of a paid service or a free website builder package. Check on their customer support and help desk and find out what time frame they’ll be available at. You don’t want to have to wait a long time for help to get your problem resolved.
Also, look into the storage plan. Will the free web hosting service to provide unlimited space? Is it limited to a single physical server, or does it include virtual private servers (VPS)? Most small businesses, especially those who don’t have many website pages, will benefit from having their own private server with their own bandwidth, disk space, and root access. VPS is ideal for this purpose because it allows you to split the cost of the server among several smaller servers.
Finally, find out how much bandwidth is allowed with the free web hosting provider and if the hosting plan includes cPanel, the control panel for most blogs. Most web hosts include cPanel with the hosting, but it’s a paid service. If your web host doesn’t have cPanel, don’t assume they have unlimited bandwidth – most providers only allow a certain amount of bandwidth at a time. If they don’t have cPanel, find out how to download and install cPanel from their website. You can usually do this with no charge.
In summary: if your website is growing, you will be happy to know that most free website builder programs now offer unlimited bandwidth and disk space, although there are a few that don’t. Also, find out how much storage space is allowed. Usually this is limited to 15MB per month, although there are some providers who offer unlimited. Finally, find out what types of advertisements are allowed. Many include banner ads, but others such as Google AdSense and Yahoo! Search Network allow you to choose what type of advertisement to display