When it comes to web hosting, there are many options available. With so many alternatives to choose from, you may be tempted to consider one of the many free web hosting services out there. However, there are some common pitfalls associated with that approach that can end up costing you and your business a lot of money in the future. Therefore, it is important to know what these red flags are so that you can avoid them.
Are here 6 Great Reasons to Avoid Free Web Hosting:
- lost credibility. Your website will often be the first impression potential customers have of your business. With free hosting, you might be stuck with a very long domain name, like http://freehostingservice.com/~yourbusiness. A domain name like this is an instant signal to your prospects that your business is still in the minor leagues. It is very difficult to build trust and credibility when your web presence seems to go unnoticed.
- Advertising. The main reason these services are free is because you agree to allow banner ads on your site. So you spend time, money, and energy driving traffic to your site, and the free hosting service benefits by diverting that traffic away from you. It’s clearly not the best way to build a long-term successful business.
- limited features. Free hosts usually offer a limited number of services. This lack of flexibility can seriously hamper your ability to conduct and grow your business online. For example, if you select a free service, you may have limited or no access to email, FTP accounts, content management systems, or e-commerce options.
- Lack of Portability. When you pay to register and host your own domain, you have the option to transfer it. With free hosting services, this is often not the case. So if you spend a year or two building your site and driving traffic to it before realizing how beneficial it would be to have your own domain name, your hard work may be wasted.
- overloaded servers. This leads to slow load time for pages and increased downtime for your site. Of course, both of these issues can have a serious negative impact on the growth and profitability of your business.
- bad customer service. Another major problem with free hosting services is that they offer little to no customer support. If there is a problem with your site, it will be very difficult to contact someone to help you solve it. Every minute your site is down carries a huge opportunity cost in terms of frustrated customers and lost sales.
Based on this list, you can see that “you get what you pay for” with free hosting services. Instead, view quality web hosting as a major investment in your business, one that will continue to deliver positive results for your business well into the future.