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This page is not meant to discourage the use of free web site hosting services but to give you an idea of what you can expect. There are situations where free web site hosting is appropriate but if you plan to develop your site beyond that scope you need to know a few details.
First, as we've mentioned in our How to Pick a Reliable Web Host page, expect to get what you pay for and you won't be disappointed. In fact, you may be pleasantly surprised... as we were with fairly decent (though untested) technical support in one or two cases. And so, let's determine how they can do this...
Example of Free Web Site Hosting Features and Charges
Typical Small Business looking for web site hosting (Company "A"):
- Has their own domain (let's use "company_a.com")
- Standard disk space wants 100-200 megabytes but can get by with 50 megs to start
- 2 gigabytes of transfer (will most likely be under 1 gig for a while but wants to be ready for more traffic)
- Standard e-mail needs (we'll use 3 email addresses that forward to an internet provider email account like MSN, AOL, or Juno and 5 full email pop accounts)
- Small number of specialized products (let's say 1-20 items)
- Online store must be secure ("https://") but can start out using a shared certificate for now. May want to upgrade to their own certificate later.
- Needs a basic "contact us" and "information request" form
- Would like to use Front Page to design and publish
- Basic website statistics
- Wants a web host with 24/7 support
Typical free web site hosting service provider(using actual services from a popular provider):
- www.yourdomain.com Web Hosting
- 20MB Web Storage
- Unlimited FTP Access
- 10 Email Accounts
- Domain Forwarding
- POP & Web-based Email Access
- Email Forwarding
- Email Autoresponder
- 1GB Monthly Traffic Allowance
Does Free Web Site Hosting work for us?
We will look at it one item at a time
Has their own domain name
With this example we are looking good. Many free web site hosting services require you to use their domain name with a sub-directory accessed something like "http://www.the_free_hosting_company.com/yourcompany".
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+ $ 0.00
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50 megs of space (wants more but this is the minimum start amount)
The free web site hosting services provider we are using in our example allows only 20 megs (which is on the high end for free services). We will have to pay extra for additional space. The amount would be $9.00 if we wanted our target of 100 megabytes.
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+ $ 4.50
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2 gigabytes of data transfer (this includes transferring pages graphics to each person browsing your site)
The 2 gigabytes is not a lot and is on the low side of what full service web hosting providers offer. In this case we got lucky because the additional disk space and data transfer are bundled in the add-on option above. If we didn't add on the $4.50 above we would need to do it here.
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+ $ 0.00
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3 email aliases (forwarding) and 5 email pop accounts
This free web host will handle this need. It is still important to check since a free web site hosting company may not have more than one or two aliases or pop accounts.
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+ $ 0.00
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Secure Shopping Cart with 1-20 items
Running a secure store is a problem with most free web site hosting companies. With the host we've selected we would need to go to a 3rd party online shopping cart provider. Other free web site hosting companies may have this as a billable add-on. In this case we are using the provider's shared secure certificate. We would not be able to get our own secure certificate in this example.
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+ $20.00
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Basic CGI scripts for fill in forms and information request from potential customers
CGI scripting capabilities is another add-on. CGI scripting capabilities as well as included scripts with documentation on how to use them are basic features with most full service web hosting companies.
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+ $7.00
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Publishing using Front Page
The free web site hosting services provider we are using for our example has a bundled CGI/Front-Page package for $10/month so we will only add on $3.00 (difference between $10 and $7 from above)
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+ $3.00
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Web Site Statistics
This free web site hosting services provider gives us a page counter but does not provide statistics. This could be a problem since, with statistics we can see what kind of keywords and referrals are being used to access our site. These are important items to improve our visibility to the browsing public. In our example we will elect to go without detailed statistics and not add on additional monthly fees.
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<---- + $0.00
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24 hour support
We are in luck with the free web site hosting services provider we've selected. Live 24/7 support is not standard with all free web hosting providers.
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+ $0.00
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Summary:
With the basic add-ons we needed it is clear to see that the free web site hosting services will cost us $34.50/month. You might find that your requirements are different than those we've used but the chances are that other add-ons you would need would come out with similar results. We also had to make some concessions with items such as stats, disk space, and gigabytes of monthly data transfer. Many full service web hosts offer much more in services and features in their basic packages for much less in monthly fees. For a quick idea of features, check some of the web host recommendations we've compiled.
Other items we need to know about:
- Though this particular free web host does not require their banners to be displayed on our site, they do add a tag line with a marketing blurb on to the end of all of our outbound emails. This lowers the professionalism we want to portray.
- We will receive a daily newsletter with marketing from other paid sponsors of this fee web host as part of our agreement in signing up for free hosting. This may not be an issue since many people are quite used to deleting unwanted email
- This free web host does not have a spam filter built in which many full service web hosting providers offer.
- We do not know how they may be selling our personal information, including ground mail address and phone number.
In the end, you would need to decide what is right for you, of course. It is important to remember that even free web site hosting companies are in business to make a profit. In many cases the free service will cost more than a reliable full service company and will work against the professional image we want to build for our e-commerce presence. In today's competitive hosting environment the full service web hosting fees are very reasonable and should be well within the budget of anyone attempting a serious business. If, however, you are running a hobby site on a limited budget, a free service may be perfect for your needs.
We are always interested in hearing merchant's experiences with their web hosts. Please feel free to email any comments to hosts@ourshop.com.
Click here to return to our "How to select a web site hosting company" page.
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