Lots of new businesses try to cut costs wherever they can. Of course, if a company doesn’t have a website, it basically can’t survive! Today, customers get pretty demanding, and the competition is insane right now! Business owners have to make the best out of their available resources, so they stand out in the market.
Getting something for free might sound appealing to lots of people. Start-ups are already struggling, and small businesses are constantly under attack from huge corporations. So, for some entrepreneurs, creating a website should be all about saving time and money! Still, without an effective online presence, you don’t stand a chance!
If you don’t have a lot of experience in creating websites, free hosting might sound great to you. You will quickly see that free doesn’t always mean great quality, especially in IT.
So, are you ready to save some time for your business? Read on to learn why you should not choose free web hosting!
What is web hosting?
Sometimes people go into business without studying every aspect of their future company. This is very accurate when it comes to information technologies and design! Lots of entrepreneurs delegate these services to outside parties without ever diving into the specifics of the tasks. Here is a short tour of what web hosting is and why you need it!
Basically, when you create a site, it needs to be kept on the server someplace. This is where hosting providers come into play. They provide you with the space that is needed for all of your files, images, and other multimedia. In general, every webpage you have ever browsed in your life is hosted somewhere. So you can imagine that storage services are very popular!
There are also several categories of web hosting, which can be a little bit confusing for business owners. Here are the most popular options:
- Shared storage, which is great for small sites. You will be sharing servers with other companies. This option is the least expensive on this list.
- Virtual private server. This VPS plan means that your company will have a little more server autonomy. In other words, you will have your own space, even though you still share the whole server with other websites.
- Dedicated server, which is rented out exclusively for your business. Of course, this option is a little bit more pricey, but it’s worth it if you have a huge e-commerce site!
- Cloud hosting. This is the most recent know-how in this field. Basically, all your data will be kept in the cloud. This approach allows companies to see data storage as a utility and not an inconvenience!
Why are free services not the best option?
Now that you know the basics, you can see that there is a lot at stake while choosing your host. There are many factors to consider when looking for an effective service that will meet your expectations and won’t cost a lot of money! So let’s take a look at the main reasons why business owners should never use free hosting!
You won’t have any control over the server
First of all, all your web pages will depend on an outside source. Entrepreneurs won’t have any control over the bandwidth limit that is usually offered by a free hosting provider. Think about this scenario for a second: you buy ads for your site, more people visit it, and suddenly your site crashes. The majority of potential clients most likely won’t wait around!
This is why you need to invest into a paid hosting provider. It will save you more time and money in the long run! With your operations up and running, you can be sure that every process will run smoothly. You will never lose a customer because of bad service! Also, even if you manage to go above the bandwidth limit in a paid version, you can always buy more!
No customer support
You can use free services without any problems up to the point when a problem arises. Here is when the real trouble starts! What if you need to edit the php.ini file quickly but you can’t or don’t know how? Usually, such providers don’t have 24/7 support or even any adequate customer service at all!
Performance will be terrible
One of the huge disadvantages of a free service is that it’s slow. Today, bad performance is unacceptable to clients! Nobody will wait around for your pages to load. Luckily for the customers, there are plenty of alternatives to shop at. Sure, you can resolve this issue with a good web developer. Business owners better pay attention to the reputation of their providers!
Appearance and design will be even worse
Just like with speed, design is very important to clients. Your hosting services are free because they are poorly made. Usually, providers offer several templates that you can choose from, but they are pretty standard. This plan might work for some time at first when you get your business started. After that, you will have to hire a team of professionals to create a personalized site!
Security is a huge issue
Can you really know what is going on on a free server? Your data might be open to all kinds of hacking, especially when you share the virtual space with other companies. Here are a couple of examples of what can happen to your website on a free hosting service from the point of view of security:
- Phishing;
- DDoS attacks;
- Viruses and all kinds of malware;
- Data breaches;
- Stolen passwords;
- Stolen cookies.
Your website will probably have ads
Where do servers get their money from if they don’t charge you? From outside advertising, of course! By using something free of charge, you become a target for these ads, or maybe even a platform for their further distribution. So you better think twice if you want to subject your potential clients to outside marketing!
You can’t add ads to a free hosted website
Seeing as your company needs an online representation, you probably want to make some money off it at some point in the future. But here is the twist: most free hosting providers won’t allow you to add some advertisement or other automated content to your web pages! Free services will force their own advertisement on you without giving you an option to make money.
What can you get with a paid version?
Basically, for every disadvantage of a free hosting server, there is a corresponding benefit of paying for such services. When you spend some time and resources to find a perfect provider, it will be a great fit from the start. Business owners need to invest in a real domain name, a scalable site, and full control over their servers!
To Sum Up
Let’s hope that you found an answer to your question about using free hosting services! Experts say that when you get something for free, it’s going to cost you more money in the long run. Quality services should be the basis of your company, and your clients will definitely notice this. Don’t try to cut corners when it comes to quality!
About the author
Vavianne Bell
Freelance writer from Birmingham. Currently works at Having gotten a degree in marketing Vavianne Bell has worked for several big corporations in SMM promotion and email marketing. Later she realized that she wanted to help young people achieve their dreams and started to look for a job that would satisfy that desire. She started to work as a writer at essay writing service EssayPro three years ago and has been feeling more accomplished than ever. Apart from writing, Vavianne enjoys reading and cooking in her spare time.
This article was submitted to us by a third-party writer. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views and opinions of ThisHosting.Rocks. If you want to write for ThisHosting.Rocks, go here.
