SOME COMPARATIVE THINKING
ON WEB SITE HOSTING OPTIONS

Free Web Site Hosting
This used to be a great way to test a
web site or product . However, things have changed a little
since then. We are not saying don't start your web site on a
free web site hosting server, but today the reasons for Not
using free web site hosting servers are much greater than they
were back in 1996.
Advantages
No Cost ( you don't have
to pay the web hosting provider )
Web Hosting Server, Software
and Network is fully managed and supported for you.
Disadvantages
Search Engines are beginning
to view sites hosted on free web site servers as inferior and
in some cases won't include them in their index.
Domain Name Restrictions
- Many free web hosting services force you to have your domain
name begin with their domain name ( e.g. www.freeserver.com/yourdomain/
). This gives your customers the impression you are a "one
man operation" who stands a high chance of not being around
for long.
Bandwidth Restrictions,
as your site visitor numbers start increasing the speed at which
your web site pages are served may slow.
You share web hosting processing
power with hundreds of other web sites. If just one of these
web sites becomes popular, your visitors will suffer.
Web Site Network Uptime
- because the web hosting service is free, most free web site
hosting providers feel no obligation to go to the extra trouble
and expense required to ensure near 100% web site uptime. i.e.
Your web site may be inaccessible regularly.
Limited Software - Because the web
hosting server is both Free and Shared the range of software you get
access to will be limited and you almost certainly won't get a database
system.
Limited Disk Space - Not usually
a problem, but worth checking that you are getting enough.
Poor Response Time for Support
- Again because the web hosting service is free, many free web
hosting providers feel no obligation to fix a broken website
network or disk within an hour, but most will resolve the problem
with a few days.
Limited Technical Support
Available - Most free web hosting services do not provide a
dedicated technical support center for their free web site users,
however this usually isn't a problem since the range of software
available to you is limited.
In the past when the cost of other
web hosting levels of service were higher and not all of the above disadvantages
applied, there may have been a case for using a free web hosting service.
But quite frankly, for only a few dollars a month you can do much better.
Most Cheap Web Hosting
Plans
If you are just setting up your first
web site to test an idea, product or service then this is probably
the correct web site hosting level for you.
Advantages
Web
Site Hosting Server, Software and Network is fully managed and
supported for you.
Domain Name - You will be able to
have a Proper Domain Name.
e.g. www.yourdomain.com
Search Engines, because you can
now have a real domain name you will not suffer from being viewed by
the Search Engines as a 'Second Class Citizen'.
Response Time for Support
- Because all users on the network are paying something for
the web hosting service, the web hosting provider has an obligation
to fix problems quickly.
Web Site Network Uptime
- again because all users are paying something to use the network,
it should be better maintained and the web hosting company should
be able to afford to build in redundancy. Both of these should
mean that the % web site uptime will be close to 100%.
Technical Support Available
to you - Even with low cost web hosting services, there are
usually dedicated Technical Support Staff available. You may
not get immediate responses but certainly you should receive
answers within 24 hours.
Disadvantages
Bandwidth Restrictions,
even though you are paying for the web hosting service you are
still on shared web server and your web site will still be under
a bandwidth restrictions. However for a start-up web site with
visitor numbers less than 500 per day you should not experience
any problems.
You share web hosting processing
power with other web sites. Again on a shared server you are
splitting the processing power with many other web sites, however
this number is lower and the web servers are generally more
up to date than the free web hosting servers. ( Typically you
will be sharing with around 50 other web sites )
Limited Software - With a low cost
web hosting service you will get a greater range of software and facilities
however it will still be limited and you still may not get a database
system.
Limited Disk Space - Not usually
a problem, but worth checking that you are getting enough.
There are many low-cost web site
hosting services out there, but not all are equal. You get what
you pay for and although you could go for one paying as little
as $7.95 per month you may quickly outgrow such a service. Do
you really want to be changing web hosting providers just when
your business takes off ?
It is for this reason that
we recommend choosing a web hosting service which offers you
that little bit more and can provide you with the flexibility
and features to operate for at least the first year of growth.
Before you go anywhere
else we recommend you check out the web site hosting features
offered by Mostly Web Hosting ( the features offered by us are
extensive, and a lot of the disadvantages listed above do not
apply ).