Why Choose Free Web Hosting?

For some people and in some situations, free web hosting is an advantageous choice. Why choose free web hosting? Read this article to find out some of the top reasons why people make the choice for web hosting that is free.

There are some general advantages to free web hosting. The first, of course, is that you're not paying for that service, so you can spend your money on other products and services. Other advantages include:

• not paying for services that you're not using—a situation that people who purchase shared hosting have in common with those who use cable television service: there's a whole lot being offered that is of no interest or use to you, but your monthly fee is subsidizing it for other, and

• a chance to figure out what you want to do before making a financial investment.

In addition, there are at least three different types of free web hosting, and for each one, there are advantages in each one for customers in particular circumstances. So let's look at the three types, both what they are and what kind of user they serve well.

Free Web Hosting with Paid Domain Name Registration

In this case, you get free web hosting as a bonus for another paid service, the registration of your domain name. The advantages of obtaining free hosting this way include not having to deal with multiple businesses, one for your domain name registration renewals and another for your web hosting needs. Another advantage is that is you need to upgrade your service because the free web hosting that is offered no longer meets your needs, your web host / registrar will likely be able to accommodate you.

Free Web Hosting on a Subdomain

There are five different subgroups of this type of free web hosting, in which each customer uses a subdomain of the URL of the hosting organization, thereby spreading their name and fame along with your own. Here they are:

• Your ISP—The Internet Service Provider through whom you connect to the Internet may provide you with a small amount of free hosting space as a feature of your connectivity agreement. In most cases, the space and bandwidth allotment is minimal and commercial sites are prohibited. Comcast is an example of an ISP that provides customers with this perk. The Comcast Personal Web Page includes a website builder, blogging capability, and a File Manager with 1 GB of storage space.
   
• Blogging Applications—Software providers like WordPress and Blogger offer a free web hosting option for your blog. Free blogs have some restrictions and you may have to pay for upgrades. All Blogger blogs are free and hosted by Google, who now owns Blogger, but WordPress has an alternative model in which you can pay for hosting for your blog, in which case all features of the blog are free (but you pay for the hosting).
   
• Social Network Sites—If you like, you can build up the allotted space on your Facebook or MySpace page or business page and use it as your website. This not only provides you with free hosting, but also an immediate system to make connections—either personal or for your business.
   
• A Web Host—The web hosts that offer free hosting on a subdomain may be using this means to introduce customers to their service and hope they'll upgrade to paid service. They also may not. If not, beware, because you're likely to find no uptime guarantee, no customer or technical support, no backups, and a lot of other negatives.
   
• Photo Hosting Sites—Flickr and PhotoBucket can save you from the large overhead of paying for hosting for images and videos, while allowing you to display your work with as much privacy or as much publicity as you like.
   

Free Web Hosting if You Allow Advertisements

Some web hosts will allow you to use a registered domain name on your free hosting site, provided you accept advertisements on your site. If you're looking for a site to set up a surprise birthday party for the boss without her knowing, then you won't care about the advertisements or the URL. And if you just want to get a feel for the web, then it won't matter either. You should, however, make sure the web host is reputable before signing up. In most cases, web pages have at least some personal information, and you know the saying about taking candy from strangers . . .

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