Free Web site Hosting without the Banner Ads?
Looking for free web hosting with no annoying pop-ups,
pop-unders, buttons, banners, headers or footers? And as well as
this, you'd like 99.8 percent up-time, fast servers, access to
the cgi-bin for scripts, FP extensions, PHP and MySQL databases
and FTP access?
We went out searching for the best "no ads" totally free site
hosting space deals around. The results: disappointing, they are
very few and far between. Many have come and gone, or as in the
case of Bizland, quite suddenly withdrawn their free service and
demanded that all their customers begin paying. We took a look
at the promotional information for over 300 free web hosting
companies, but then also looked at customer reviews. There was
usually a major difference in opinions.
There is still a plethora of free web hosts around, but most
require that you carry their advertising or offer you a limited
time for the free service, usually a year. On the up side of
this, many of these companies do supply quality hosting with
many services in exchange for having their banners served up on
your pages. We did find that many of the non-banner supported
free options were hosted on very slow servers. In a number of
cases, the server failed to respond at all!
How do non-banner free hosting companies make their money?
These companies try to survive by enticing the freebie
customers to take out their paid hosting space options, which is
fair enough. Quite often, their paid hosting options are quite
cheap. You'll find that if you utilize this kind of free site
hosting, the services available are rather limited and you'll
need to pay for things like Front Page extensions and access to
the cgi-bin for scripts. The other way that they survive is
through regular newsletters containing offers from companies
that pay them for the ad space.
Strategies in using non-banner supported free hosting options
One of the common patterns for these companies is that when
they first set up shop, customer support is fantastic, server
response times are great, shared scripts function well and file
transfer interfaces are reliable. But as time goes on, "gold
fever" hits, and people begin flocking to these companies with
inevitable results - things start slowing down and falling over.
If you do find yourself in the position of needing to use free
space due to financial restrictions; here's a couple of things
you can do:
Buy a domain name first
Register a domain name first - Many domain name registrars give
you a stack of free services with each name registered. Costs
for domain name registrations can be as little as US$10-$12 per
year. One of the services that you want to look for is a domain
name control panel and free http/URL forwarding or framing. This
allows you to redirect the name as you wish, changing its
destination every day if you want to! If your free web-hosting
provider goes belly up or isn't functioning correctly, you can
move your site to another provider and redirect the domain name
to point towards it.
A word of warning - be very careful whom you register your
domain name with. We recently assisted a client who registered a
domain name for a couple of dollars, but had very little control
over the name without having paying huge fees to the registrar.
It took approximately 2 months to wrest control away from the
rabid registrar and transfer the name to a more ethical company.
Always read the fine print.
What if I can't afford a domain name?
You could always use a free, no-banner, no-popup URL/HTTP
redirection service from providers such as:
http://www.shorturl.com/
http://www.has.it/home.php
http://www.777i.net/
http://www.ipfox.com/home.html
The only issue with using these free URL redirection providers
is the question of continuity of service. Also bear in mind that
when it comes to being listed on the search engines, nothing
beats having your own domain commercially hosted, rather than a
redirection to one.
Free web space may be right under your nose!
When you sign up for Internet access, it is not uncommon for
you also to get some free web space thrown in with the deal. We
receive 10 Megs of space, including Front Page extensions from
our Internet Service Provider which has been invaluable for
creating a mirror / backup version of Taming the Beast. Net.
Email your ISP to check out what is available to you.
Ok, back to non-advertising supported, free web hosting options.
While we won't personally recommend any as we haven't used them
and there were too many conflicting views, the following free
hosting directories may assist you in finding some no frills, no
banner web space. Remember to read the fine print before signing
up for any service:
http://www.freewebspace.net/search /advanced.shtml
http://www.clickherefree.com /Free_Web_Space_Directory.htm
Looking for free web based file storage space?
http://www.freewebspace.net/guide /diskstorage.shtml
As you can see, there is a number of alternatives to get you
started. It should be noted that nothing matches paid site
hosting. But if price is an issue and you want to get your site
up quickly, by all means check out the free service being
offered. It may not supply much such as web space or bandwidth,
but you would have taken the first step towards your online
career. The most important thing to realize, is don’t certain
factors detain you from your goal. If money is an issue, you now
have some free services to get you started.
Article by Matt Byron
Matt Byron
Marketing Made Simple
Visit the World Resource Center at:
http://www.directmarketing4u.com
Great resources for all your marketing needs.
About the author:
Founder of Direct Marketing 4 U. A simplistic way to market your
business. Compiling some of the best resources for your online
business, service, or product all in one place. A successful
marketer for small business, Matt Byron brings his knowledge and
resources to the internet.
