We have been so used to grabbing anything that is free that it has become our second nature. But often we forget that with free comes a lot of issues that are hidden which can cause immense trouble. You may have just started your business and you may not be sure of the response that you would get, so you do not want to spend your money on going for a paid website.

But you must think about your future plans when your business would grow and you would need a reliable site. The only advantage with free web hosting is that you do not have to pay anything but the disadvantages here outweigh the advantages on a large scale. Here are a few points to keep in mind why free web hosting is not a good option.

Advertising

This is one of the most important points to consider when opting for a free web hosting service. Since these web hosts do not charge you anything they will ask you to advertise for various products on your site as this is the source of sustaining their business. You will have no option but to bide with their demands.

The problem here is that your site will be filled with advertisements that have no relation with the content of your website and your site will lose its purpose. Your visitors will not be happy to stay and move on and this could cost you your business. You need to determine whether you want to display these ads or retain your customers by going in for paid sites that do not have such conditions.

URL

When you choose a free web hosting provider they will not allow an independent URL for your site and you have to use their sub-domain. Now you do not want to create a weak impression on your customers by using a sub-domain name, do you? If you want you can use redirect URLs also but this will only divert the traffic from your site to the sub domains.

This means that your site will only be redirecting traffic to other sites, which will be considered as a site that does not have data by the search engines. This can affect your site very badly as your site will not be indexed and therefore you will not be able to garner any traffic.

Bandwidth and Control

The free web hosting providers do not allow any advanced features like database and .htaccess files. You will have to be contented with only an ftp account for uploading your files. Also the bandwidth that is provided to you is limited. So once you use your quota your site is blocked and no one can access your site. You will either have to pay them or shut down your site permanently. Also you will not be allowed to monetize your site. So think how can you do business with so many restrictions?