Where to find free web hosting

Important Things to Consider:

What’s the goal of the site? Is this supposed to be professional? Is it just going to be used for storage? Are you looking for a small personal homepage? Do you plan on using PHP or other scripting languages?

Do you just want a simple, easy way to make a site?

If you’re looking to make a professional site, you’ll want to look into registering a domain name (i.e.: http://JohnSmith.com).

Some general guidelines:

You want something memorable. If you’re going to have a sub-domain (HTTP://subdomain.domain.com) you’ll be wanting a short domain name so that people aren’t distracted by the domain name. “Joe.free-web-hosting.co.uk” just isn’t glamorous or clean cut.

You want the server your site is hosted on to be reliable. It shouldn’t be a gamble of, “I wonder if my site will be viewable today…” Find a respectable host. Try to avoid a host that seems to have very few customers or a bunch scam sites.

Where to look:

- http://free-webhosts.com

Free-webhosts.com has a large database of free hosts that you can search to match your needs (Power Search). Along with a user ratings system and testimonials, sites that have had past problems have notes next to them.

- Google

Of course, if you ever need to find something on the Internet, use a search engine. Google is just a personal preference, but try searching for things like, “free web hosting reviews” rather than “free web hosting”. By shopping around you can choose which host will be the best for you.

- Yahoo Geocities

You can have your free page on Geocities – if you can stand having their fram on your page. This is an alright choice for the average user who just wants to set up a simple homepage with static HTML or CSS.

Common Features:

- PHP/ASP – Powerful server side scripting languages.

- MySQL – A Database for storing and accessing records.

- Cpanel – An web interface to manage your site. A very useful feature.

- POP3/SMTP – Mail Servers so you can send and receive emails

- Bandwidth – How much traffic your site is allowed.

- SSH – Secure Shell. Some sites allow you access to a *nix shell.

- .htaccess – Sets permissions for your site.

- Backups – Some sites provide utilities to backup your files.

- CGI/Perl – Use Perl on your site.

- SSL – Allows secure access to your site. (https://yoursite.com)

- FTP – File Transfer Protocol is a way to upload files.

- Customer reviews – Not just testimonies from a few loyalists. Look for unbiased reviews.

- Active Forums – Are often a good indicator of user base. Some sites require forum usage.

- Web Hosting Review Sites – Read what people have to say, common issues etc.