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[F631]Free Domain And Web Hosting

by Joseph Nyamache, Jos

In recent days, more and more web host providers have decided to offer free web hosting packages in an attempt to lure more clients to their business. Competition within hosting companies and the decline cost associated to running and maintaining a web host company have all contributed in making hosting services to be more viable and affordable to the common man in the street than it used to be.

It is simple to find free web space on the Internet. All that is necessary is that you undertake a simple Web search such as Google, AltaVista, or Yahoo and the result should bring back options for free web space. Many individuals or businesses search for a place to put their website without paying for the service. Anything from 5MB to 100MB of online web space for the purposes of hosting your web site can be provided by these free services.

There are also gifts such as blogs, copy and paste scripts that are generally Java code scripts, counters, guest books, tracking logs, virtual domain names and more with these free sites. All of these extras are great for those people that have no or little knowledge of how to build a website.

Free services provide benefits that may sound very tempting. However, it is vital that you undertake some research to ensure that the benefits are in actual fact viable. Free services can also bring other unwanted things that need to be dealt with when you sign up for the service. It is general practice that you will be asked to submit to advertising and surveys by completing a form before you are entitled to the free service. Ensure that you carefully read all user agreements that come with the free service.

You can opt for the cheap option but not wish to have advertisements running on your site. You can seek a service that is similar to free hosting, but you would need to pay a small fee to keep your web page ad-free. A service with a monthly fee of $2.95 will be offered by some of these providers with 100MB of web space if that is all that you require, and you can easily upgrade your packages.

This is a cheap way to get started online but it has many disadvantages - you will encounter email delivery problems because of spam complaints against other sites on the same server. You will find your site's grinding to a halt when someone else does some heavy database work on your server. You might even find your site going down because of a denial of service attack against someone else hosting hacking or piracy related material on your server (these type of sites attract antisocial elements!)

How can you avoid all of this drama?

By upgrading to a virtual dedicated server. A virtual dedicated server lets you run your sites as if you had your own "dedicated" server, except it is cheaper because you are really just using part of a server that has been split into multiple virtual dedicated servers.

You can find out more about this by searching Google for "virtual dedicated hosting". Virtuozzo is the main commercial software that web hosts use to run virtual hosting services.

You will find virtual dedicated server accounts starting at just $30 a month. You'll get a much larger chunk of bandwidth compared to shared hosting, and none of the problems that go with a shared host. You can also get multiple IP addresses that are exclusive to your sites.

So what's the catch? Not much. You'll probably spend a bit more on hosting each month. The main disadvantage of upgrading to virtual dedicated hosting is that you will need to be more technically proficient so that you can administer the server.

This requires a bit of time learning the necessary Linux skills to make sure your server runs smoothly.

Many hosting providers will have a "premium" support offering that includes a bit more hand holding - this is definitely recommended if you don't have much experience with Linux, or are new to virtual dedicated hosting.

With the increased speed and bandwidth that a virtual dedicated host offers, and none of the shared hosting headaches, the move is one you will never regret. So, the question now becomes, are to ready and willing to take-on the challenge of virtual dedicated web hosting and save yourself some hard earned cash? The choice is yours...

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Both Joseph Nyamache & John Edwards are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Joseph Nyamache has sinced written about articles on various topics from Yeast Infection, SEO Search Engine Optimization and Web Development. Are you a webmaster looking for a to identify new opportunities?Why not join us. Joseph Nyamache's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.

John Edwards has sinced written about articles on various topics from Puppies Dogs, Family Concerns and Auto Insurance. . John Edwards's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.