| You cannot be blamed if you are looking for a free | | | | The electricity that you consume comes at a cost, and |
| web host, because the internet is littered with free | | | | so does bandwidth. If you have a website with lots of |
| stuff. The key is to know what to look for. There may | | | | traffic or that people are constantly downloading files |
| be a lot of good and free stuff out there, but if it is not | | | | (especially other than documents), bandwidth is being |
| what you want, it simply is worth nothing to you. That | | | | consumed. In fact, it is being consumed each time your |
| aside; even if it is free, you would be better off without | | | | web-page loads, multiply that with the number of |
| it if it is of poor quality. | | | | visitors. |
| Whether you opt for a free web host or a paid web | | | | Even with a paid web host, if you opt for a shared |
| host, there are of course limitations to what is provided | | | | hosting environment, you are of course aware that this |
| to you. In other words, you need to know the features | | | | means you are sharing with other webmasters who |
| that are covered by the host. Most of the time, it | | | | have their own visitors. If you were taking up too much |
| would not make sense to simply go for the choice | | | | space, you would be given a recommendation to |
| with the lowest cost. If it were so, there would not be | | | | upgrade your plan, failing which, your site will |
| people buying and selling hosting packages. | | | | experience problems. There are some hosts that |
| The biggest pitfall in a free web host is its false | | | | simply stop hosting sites that take up too many |
| promises. As a potential customer (whether paid or | | | | resources, without warning. |
| not), you should at least know for sure how much disk | | | | Generally, if your site is not a commercial one, it may |
| space and bandwidth are provided. And you can be | | | | be alright for you to choose a free or a low cost plan. |
| quite certain that you would not be provided with | | | | There are many sites out there that serve the owners' |
| support. In fact, this may already be stated to you up | | | | personal interests, which may be called hobby sites |
| front, before you sign up. | | | | and these may be fine on free hosting. |
| You should be wary of the term 'unlimited'. This applies | | | | If yours has commercial value, it is best to go for a |
| to both free and paid web host. If you have done any | | | | paid web host, rather than be at the mercy of a free |
| research before reading this article, you should know | | | | one. The only question is which plan to go for. So, you |
| there is no such thing as say, unlimited bandwidth. That | | | | must be able to find a comparison of the different |
| term is simply a marketing gimmick to lure the | | | | plans side by side, for your convenience. |
| inexperienced. | | | | |