If you are looking to establish your business’s digital presence, free web hosting may seem like an attractive offer at first glance. However, free web hosting poses countless problems for those who are hoping to grow a professional business.
To save you from falling into the pitfall of free web hosting, we have outlined some of the top reasons why you should steer clear of this marketing tactic.
- Unprofessional subdomain
Many free web hosting services limit your ability to customize your URL, by forcing you to use a subdomain. In fact, most of the most popular free web building platforms, such as WordPress.com, Wix, and Weebly, have these URL restrictions. For example, if you are using Weebly’s free web hosting, your URL will be formatted as something like:
www(dot)YourWebsiteName(dot)Weebly(dot)com
This domain restriction is very unprofessional and will make your website seem less legitimate. For those looking to host a professional website and establish a credible web presence, you will need to invest in a hosting plan and domain.
- Limited Control
Free web hosting plans give extremely limited control over your website’s designs and features. For example, e-commerce is not available on most free web hosting services—and if you do find this feature available for free you should be careful as it could be a scam. Many free hosting services also feature their logos at the bottom of your website for self-promotion, or they may have ads in the sidebars from which they earn their profits.
If you would like more control over your website’s designs and features, such as conducting e-commerce, getting rid of host logos, and managing/eliminating ads from your website, you will need to invest in a hosting plan.
- Not suited for high traffic volumes
While free web hosting may be adequate for small personal projects, such as online portfolios or private blogs, they are not designed to support high levels of traffic. For a growing business, it is important that you invest in web hosting that will be able to support your digital traffic as you generate more leads. Free web hosting plans typically limit the amount of free space or bandwidth allotted to your site. Thus, your website may experience downtime or slow loading speeds if it is attracting a lot of visitors.
- You May be Locked into a Host Service
One of the worst things that a website owner can experience is finding out that you have been locked into a hosting service that you no longer like. Most free web hosting services are intended to draw you in so that you can upgrade to one of their inclusive hosting packages for a monthly fee. This is great if you have chosen the right free web hosting service, but if you decide you want to migrate to a different provider you may be out of luck.
Many free web hosting services do not allow you to migrate your website to another host without paying a costly fee or upgrading to an expensive monthly plan. This can be very frustrating for website owners who have spent a lot of time creating their website, only to find out that they either must pay a fee to migrate to a new host, or start all over from scratch.
To avoid this issue, it is better to invest in a hosting plan that will give you more freedom and dominion over your website.
These were just a few of the top reasons to avoid web hosting, but there are many more. If you are hoping to grow your business, investing in proper web hosting is essential to your company’s future success. Rather than skimping on this important resource for your company, it is better to establish a professional web presence early on with proper web hosting.
