How Do I Choose a Free Web Hosting Provider?

Free web hosting providers range in features as well as levels of support. So the first step in choosing a free web hosting provider is to decide what types of features you're looking for. These features range from storage space to bandwidth and even varying levels of support and assistance.

If you need a lot of storage space, make sure your host is going to provide you with more than just 700 megs. If you need a lot of bandwidth, make sure your host has enough to provide your website visitors with a live website. However, if you're putting together a small site, or are looking to just build a site to provide backlinks to your other sites, even the smallest free web hosting provider should do the trick.

Before just choosing the first free website hosting provider that you find, make sure they will meet your needs now, and in the future. Here are a few easy to follow guidelines when choosing a provider.

1. Storage Space

Some hosts realize that they cannot afford to offer you 2 gigs of storage space. Others splurge for a higher quality server and offer you a lot more storage space than you'll ever use. It's always better to err on the side of more than you need. If you start with a small website and it starts growing, you'll want to make sure that you're ready to be able to handle the increase in traffic. A small web host that only offers a small amount of storage space will not likely be able to handle the increased traffic that you're experiencing.

2. Domain name

While you may not need it right away, look for a free web host that will allow you to use your own domain name if you want to. Most free web hosts give you the option of using a subdomain (yoursite.example.com) or a domain name (example.com). However, some free web host providers will only give you a subdomain, while others will only allow you to use a domain name. Look for a host that provides both, that way you're covered in the future. It's not a bad idea to start with a free subdomain then upgrade to a domain name, so your host should have both.

3. Bandwidth

Most free web hosts have rules regarding bandwidth usage. If you want to share music and host movies, you'll probably need to invest in your own paid hosting. However, if you want to have a picture site that uses a lot of bandwidth, most hosts will be accommodating. You should always check with the host before you take the time to get set up with them. Most hosts will allow you to use a lot of bandwidth as long as you're using it for genuine website services and pages. Bittorret sites and file sharing sites will usually get removed from most free web hosting providers.

When comparing free web hosting providers, make sure you know exactly what you're going to be getting before jumping in!