FEATURES OF FREE WEB HOSTING

Looking for a free web hosting solution is an imperative decision. Try to identify a reliable web host can be a daunting task especially with so many service providers and options available nowadays. Throw in the feature sheets and promises, the task can be that much more intimidating.

But it doesn’t have to be. Let’s take a look at some of the most common features a good free web hosting provider should offer:

DISK SPACE AND BANDWIDTH
Disk space refers to the amount of storage space assigned to you by the free web hosting provider. This space will be used to store your web site files, including text, images, audio, etc. files you use for your website.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of traffic that is allowed to access and leave your website. Access means every time a visitor types in your website name in their browser. Leave means every time a visitor receives something from your website, whether it be viewing a photo, listening to an audio clip or downloading a file.

For example, if your website has a lot of graphics (ie. photographs) then you will require higher storage and greater bandwidth.

WEBSITE CREATOR AND FTP
If this is your first website and you have limited or no scripting experience, then look for a free web hosting provider that offers a free website creating application where you can create your website simply by choosing a template and adding in your own text and images.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is the protocol for transferring your website files from your computer to your free web hosting server, or vice versa. This allows you to upload your finished website files (including images and other multimedia files) from your computer to your service provider’s server. It also allows you to download your files from your web hosting server back to your computer. A good free web hosting provider should offer 24/7 unrestricted FTP access.

Buy Domain Names – ModulesZone

EMAIL
Yes, your free web hosting provider should provide you with email services – so that you can setup @yourdomain.com email accounts. In addition to a webmail interface (so you can login and manage your emails using your web browser), the email service should also include POP3 and SMTP access so you can setup and access your @yourdomain.com emails using your mobile devices.

SUPPORT AND UPTIME
You should always choose a free web hosting service with free, reliable telephone and email support.

While no host can offer a 100% guaranteed uptime (think problems out of their control, ie. city power outage), they should provide “just-in-case” measures to limit website and email downtime to a minimal. These measures may include 24/7 server and network monitoring, redundant hardware and network configurations, and onsite backup power supply. While you might not completely understand the technicalities of these, look to see if your free web hosting provider has these listed somewhere on their website. If not, ask them about it.

PRICING
If you’re looking for a free web hosting provider, then you should expect to pay absolutely nothing for all the basic features listed above. You shoudn’t have to compromise pricing with banner ads. Any free web hosting providers that forces ads on your website is a no-no.

5 Reasons Why Web Hosting Is Important For Your Website

As more and more businesses are taking the digital approach, there’s an influx of more and more websites on the internet. Having a good website helps you to garner online traffic and generate business revenue.

However, not everyone who sets up an online platform succeeds in cracking the digital code. Many businesses fail due to poor website functionality and bad user experience. A website’s usability lies on three pillars – a good web design, search engine optimization and a solid web hosting. Mere purchasing a domain name won’t do it. You need to have a web hosting account or hire a web hosting company that will ensure that your website is visible to people on the internet.

How does web hosting work?

When you create your online portal, a hosting service places all of its files on a server. The web host provides this space for you to store your website on the internet. At the start, you share a networking space on the server. Then as your needs increase in terms of internet storage space, you can then opt for a separate space on the server for your portal. The web hosting provider handles this storage space for you, ensuring the successful accessibility of your website on the internet.

When users type your domain name on their web browser, their computer connects to the server your website is hosted on. Then that server sends the files that are up for display, to the user on their browser.

There are primarily two kinds of web hosting solutions. One is free service and the other is premium paid service. The free service is free for its end user and is heavily powered by advertisements. On the other hand, paid service is far more reliable and safe in the long run and provides far greater flexibility in terms of storage for handling heavy online traffic. Understandably, the free hosting solutions provider will fill the need for your personal blog or non-commercial website.

Reasons why web hosting is important for your website:

1) Safe and stable server environment
Choosing a good web host provider is paramount if you want a secure server to rest your website on. Only a safe web host can provide a network space that is strong enough to fight online threats, hacks and other cyber-attacks. A reliable web host provider will keep your site data and client’s personal data safe.

2) Data storage
The amount of data that needs to be stored on your website’s server plays a huge role in deciding what kind of web hosting partner you’re looking for. How much online traffic your website can handle, including concurrent users needs to be well established before you make a deal with a hosting service. Putting a limit to storage can lead to site shutdown when traffic is high on your webpage. A premium web host, like Hosting Foundry, will provide you with a variety of options depending on your data limit and fulfill your hosting needs.

3) Reliable customer service
High quality customer service is a hallmark of a good web hosting solutions provider. A good web host will always be there when you need any kind of technical assistance or support. It can offer multiple ways for you to contact them whenever the need arises for you to do so.

4) Speed
One of the main reasons for bad user experience is slow loading times of your website’s landing page. A poor web host capability will see a lot of site crashes due to too much load on the shared server. This will lead to your clients looking for hosting services elsewhere where there are tools and software strong enough to top lags and heavier traffic.

5) Customizable pricing
It is very important that once you’ve chosen your web host provider, you opt for a flexible plan which can be modified based on the site’s needs. If your website grows over time, then your web host should cater to the increased server, storage, data speed demands without much fuss. A free plan, on the contrary, is likely to be full of non-negotiable terms that won’t come in handy when you need high performance.