Having an online presence is almost a vital factor for every business, not just to have as a presence, but also to enhance the opportunity to sell online. For that reason, your website must be online and visible at all times which requires the use of a web host.
For this, you have the choice for two different options – free or paid hosting, but how do you know what to choose? To make that choice a little easier, we have created this guide covering just a few reasons why you should avoid using free web hosting providers.
Limited resources
One, if not the primary downfall for free web hosting services is the limitation of services. It’s very unlikely that this will be shown or displayed in their ads or approach to marketing to you, but once you have signed up you will begin to realise most free web hosting providers give away a significant amount of resources.
You will soon realise how damaging this can be for a website, especially when the website becomes popular. One of the most noticeable issues is with the website loading speed, where the lack of bandwidth, storage, and server space will considerably make a noticeable difference in terms of slow website loading speed. If you then require additional resources, you are then required to pay, at which point they can easily overcharge you as you believe you are getting a great deal.
Poor customer support
If at any stage you require technical or customer support from your free website hosting provider, it’s best to contact them when you have a lot of time spare – even then there is no guarantee that they are accurate. Professional providers are always keen to keep you happy by providing the very best support they can give, whereas, free providers aren’t always the best to contact – after all, you aren’t paying for web hosting services, so they don’t feel obligated to support you.
Website ownership issues
We aren’t saying you should ever go to a free web host provider, but if you do, be sure to read over the terms and conditions considerably. One of the largest shocks to many website owners that use free hosting is that they don’t often own their website, as it’s often owned by the provider if you register it with them. At this stage, the provider makes it near enough impossible to obtain the right of the website unless you pay, which is how they make money and survive as a provider.
Security flaws
The internet is full of security flaws which are waiting to find the next vulnerable website to exploit, and unfortunately, many free providers don’t do all that they can to protect your website. It’s likely that once you have set up your website with the provider, they will share the same security protocol with your site like they would any other, making your website just as vulnerable as anyone else that they provide for. With any luck, you should have the option to purchase an SSL certificate for your website as this will be more secure than the free SSL that they provide, but there is no guarantee they will allow it
An overwhelming number of ads
Free web hosting service providers need to make money somehow, and the majority of them do this through the use of ads. Many providers will simply inject your website with paid ads from other businesses that have paid them to do so. The primary downfall of this is that it makes your website look extremely unprofessional, as well as giving the impression that you accept the money for the ads, which you didn’t.
Contact the experts
Keen on speaking to a professional web hosting provider? Then look no further than us, catalyst2, one of the UK’s most reputable web hosting providers. Having been established for over 20 years, we have gained a glowing reputation thanks to our world-class hosting solutions that can be tailor-made for your exact needs and requirements.
By calling 0800 107 7979, you will have the opportunity to speak to one of our friendly customer service advocates who will be happy to suggest the most suitable plan going forward. Additionally, we are happy to arrange a consultation so that we can discuss in person your current web hosting situation.
