This title sounds scaring right? On my previous post I list out the top free web hosting companies to host your website for free, then why run away from them? Nice question though.
In this article am going to share with you, why free web hosting isn’t a good option for you. Firstly, let’s talk about why you are eager to use free web hosting. Without going further the main reason is lack of budget, or just for testing purpose.
If you’re actually dreaming of making the best out of your website, I suggest you kindly stay away from free web hosting.
I can say the biggest mistake I ever had was hosting my site on a free hosting platform which I wouldn’t want anyone to fall a victim. Now let’s look at some of the core disadvantages of using a free hosting.
- Employee
- Low server resources
- Downtime
- Speed
- Restrictions
1. Employee
Employee? I know you’ve been wondering what employee has come to do with hosting discussion, but I want to make it clear to you how free web hosting can hurt your brand. When using a free web hosting, you are just like an employee because the server administrators have the right to terminate your site at anytime, either you violate their policies or you are over utilizing the server resources. This tipically means you don’t have full control over your site, your are just like an employee.
2. Low server resources
You can see some free web hosting assuring you an unlimited diskspace, unlimited bandwidth unlimited this and that, but haven’t you thought of “why some paid hosting plans doesn’t have unlimited bandwidth, unlimited diskspace”? Fact that you’ll be kicked out when you reach your usage limit, what I always see on my website Screen back then was “Suspended Domain” I have to wait while my website is offline sometimes it lasts up to 42 hours. You can see it’s very annoying. What will happen to those visiting your website and all they could see is “Suspended Domain” do you think they will ever return to that type of site? Other low server resources are, CPU usage, traffic, diskspace, bandwidth etc.
3. Downtime
After being suspended for resources usage or you just finished building your website and it is now offline? How would you feel about that. One of the free hosting I was using back then, I went further to report on their support system of my fair usage of resources and my website still goes down. Guest what was the response of one of the support team, she stated “What else do you expect from what you don’t pay for” gues what i did? I slowly grab my cup of cofee and drank with tears, and waited for the next 42 hours when the suspension was over, what else do you expect me to do? Fight them? Ofcurse i know am using a free hosting so i just have to manage what they offer me as far i don’t pay for it. Downtime frequently occur in free web hosting because there are lot of people utilizing the server and it’s not a good option for professional websites.
4. Speed
When discussing about web hosting, speed is mostly at the top, why? Nobody likes a slow website, aside from humans, crawlers also ignores slow websites which can really cause harm to your SEO rankings and loss of traffic. Free web hosting companies always have huge clients sharing one single server and that slow down websites.
5. Restrictions
Many of the free web hosting companies out there may offer you variety of features but the restrictions are excessive, when am giving someone advice on a particular topic I like combining it with my own experience, some of the free web hosting companies may not list out all the restrictions of their hosting when you want to sign up, because you will definitely figure them out by yourself. On my free hosting with Awardspace, surprisingly to me each time I try accessing my site I get a redirection with a 404 request, well I don’t like giving up so I got in touch with one of the support team, and they told me that they have contents filter on their free hosting package, that means I don’t have have the right to make any type of external linking. They gave me list of site that I shouldn’t link to, so if I have the chance to write an article about a particular topic with a link that will generate some income just because am using a free web hosting I can’t make it? So I have to go through my website and remove all the links that are not allowed before my website will be accessable. Aside from restrictions, some free web hosting companies are tempted to target unnecessary ads on your website.
Conclusion
Though I didn’t go against free web hosting but am talking about those that want to earn from their website, if you just want to create a website for your hubbies, personal use, you can actually utilize free web hosting. While some people just use free web hosting just for testing purpose. I think by now you’ve understand why free web hosting isn’t an option for your professional website, thanks for reading and see you on my next post. If you have any question or need more info just leave a comment below.
