A web hosting company is your portal to the internet. For your website to exist on the internet, it needs some sort of web hosting service so others around the world can actually view the website.
No matter what type of website you have, you need a host. You have plenty of options for low cost hosting, and you can even sign up for free web hosting. However, the quality of your website hosting is closely related to the price. So, sign up for free website hosting and you may “pay the price” later on.
Free website hosts frequently crash and have poor customer service. This means your website is frequently offline and not accessible online. And when you want to get some direct help, you can’t get anyone at customer support on the phone.
The best website hosting is a provider with great additional features and commendable customer support. This is not easy to find, but it does exist. Here are the advantages and disadvantages or free web hosting:
Advantages
1. Free — obviously
2. Simple — you can typically set up a website or start a blog in a matter of minutes even with limited technical ability
3. Quick SEO results — your website is attached to a credible domain name, so you automatically get some initial search engine optimization benefits.
Disadvantages
1. Limited customization — you’ll have only slight ability to make changes to the design and structure of your website. This might not matter right away, but in time, you’ll want the ability to professionally manage your own site.
2. Limited control — the free web host is the ultimate owner of your website, so you don’t have complete control. You own the content, but they own the URL.
3. Generic domain name and poor long-term SEO — your domain name extension will be shared by many others. Instead of a domain name like elementarymarketing.com, your name will be elementarymarketing.webhost.com.
Which Web Host Is Best For Me?
If you only have limited expectations for your website and aren’t aspiring to have an actual online identity of business, you can use a free web host. But if you’re serious about your online business, you need to make the small investment and purchase a web host.
Tags: hostgator, website host, hosting
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