Hello

Being new to setting up a website I am intersted in the free web hosting that i see advertised on the net. I am looking for a host to use to run a website(s) to sell infoproducts and associated services and wondered if I would get away with a free service or if I would need to purchase hosting.

Firstly I don't really see what the hosting companies gain from offereing these free services apart from maybe getting commission if you purchase a domain name.

Secondly is there a guide as to when you can get away with using a free host and when you need to purchase hosting. I assume the free hosting is very limited on bandwidth.

Thirdly, if i went with a free host to get my site up and running and then swapped to a different host once I attract more traffic, would this be an easy thing to do?


Many Thanks for your assistance

If you are selling products from your website, you need to pay for hosting. Free hosting usually won't offer you the resources you need for eCommerce, including SSL. And they're services are unreliable.

Rule of thumb, if you care about site uptime, customer support, and your host being there in 6 months, stay away from free or even most cheap hosts.

You can get good quality hosting nowadays for less then $10/month. Moving your site once it's up is not too difficult, but not really something you want to do unless you have to. Find a host that will allow you to upgrade as you need. It's much easier to upgrade then to switch hosts.

Firstly I don't really see what the hosting companies gain from offereing these free services apart from maybe getting commission if you purchase a domain name.

They can make money....

1. Ads - Either Popups or banner ads
2. They 'entice' you to sign up for their paid hosting
3. Or they 'entice' you to pay for extra features

However, if you still want to find a free host, then check out http://www.free-webhosts.com/

Originally Posted by Trevor Long

Thirdly, if i went with a free host to get my site up and running and then swapped to a different host once I attract more traffic, would this be an easy thing to do?

Yes, you would just have to make a backup of your site including web pages, databases, etc.. Then, upload the pages and databases onto your new host's server. You might have to change a few database and file path settings on a few files. Then, set your name servers to point to your new web host.

Originally Posted by Anacrusis

If you are selling products from your website, you need to pay for hosting. Free hosting usually won't offer you the resources you need for eCommerce, including SSL. And they're services are unreliable.

Rule of thumb, if you care about site uptime, customer support, and your host being there in 6 months, stay away from free or even most cheap hosts.

You can get good quality hosting nowadays for less then $10/month. Moving your site once it's up is not too difficult, but not really something you want to do unless you have to. Find a host that will allow you to upgrade as you need. It's much easier to upgrade then to switch hosts.

Couldn't he just use PayPal??? You can get a free cart system and other neat stuff and most people recognize it as being secure.