An Argument Against Free Web Hosting

Bottom line - You get what you pay for with free or cheap web hosting. Is it worth the risk?

Contrary to popular belief, paid web hosting is not very expensive. Every paid webhosting service except maybe the very worst of the lot give you more value than you pay for. The superior service and features of a paid host far outweigh the expenditure.

This applies only if you are building a serious online presence. If you're just playing around online, a free or cheap webhost may do. If you invest hours of your time in providing high quality content or you literally put your business on the line, you have to carefully consider what you could lose if your web host goes belly up.

Assuming that you have backed up your website content yourself, religiously, then you will only lose visitors, customers, trust and money if you have to scramble for a new webhost. If you haven't backed up your content yourself, you may lose everything you have built.

Many hosting companies have come and gone, leaving their customers without a site until the customer can find a new service. You have to understand fully that this is NOT uncommon. One reason for this is obvious. A free service may be only covering its expenses with advertising. What happens when customers require service?

A free or cheap webhost, by its very nature, caters to new webmasters, who by their very nature often require more time than those willing and able to pay for services. Just crunch the numbers. Your webhost charges you $4-$10 a month. You require maybe 20 minutes of a customer service rep's time in a month.

The webhost loses money unless they pay their customer service reps a very low wage, which in turn is reflected in the service you get. If such a webhost wants to survive, they can either cut their services and therefore their costs, or they can start charging for a service.

When you use a cheap or free hosting company, consider who else may be using that same company - spammers, webmasters of adult sites, etc. These are people whose activities, when reported to the proper authorities, can get a webhosting service blocked or shut down.

Either way, you have to realize that you are affected by how other people use the same service that you are using.

Remember, just like with any other purchase you make, you get what you pay for. Don't be fooled by web hosts that offer you huge database storage capabilities for cheap. This is because data base storage is indeed inexpensive, but the service you won't be getting is what has real value - technical expertise; guaranteed uninterrupted, high-speed internet access; and quality customer support.

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