Finding a replacement free host for when your site is down

There comes a time when every free hosting user finds their site down or completely unavailable by web, ftp or any other means of access. During these times, webmasters may desire or think to move their host elsewhere, but how do you find a free web host that can not only meet the needs of your site (php, mysql, htaccess, no ads), while also ensuring that it will stay up?

The answer is to look for a free web host that offers good uptime and services. You may also wish to look for a host that has been around for longer, as it ensures they won't disappear the next day, week or month. Hosts with a longer history are generally more likely to be around year after year, but on the flip-side are more likely to not offer as many features because of long-term abuse.

Choosing wisely is important, and look for sites that are clean and simple and have strict guidelines on what content they host (e.g., sites offer unlimited space and bandwidth are likely to fall apart quickly, if not by drained resources - than by abuse).

Free v.s. Paid Web Hosting Options

People or companies that wish to promote themselves on the internet will need the services of a web hosting provider. If you want others to see your website you will need one of these and depending on whether it is a commercial site or not will dictate how much you pay but it is possible to have this at no charge (with restrictions). Anything uploaded to a web host will be stored on the host’s server, which means that other internet users can then access your website for what is essentially a huge digital storage facility.

There are many free web hosts out there. Free hosting deals are great for those who want to "dip their toes in the water", but the range of services available to them will be limited. There are many limitations to free web hosting services and they are quickly becoming recognized as an option for serious web users as the amount of storage space is growing along with the addition of many other functions a web user may require. There will be a large number of companies offering free hosting, but the uptime and features do vary and this is usually down to how much is actually supplied as part of the package; any confusion is normally quite easy to overcome by using one of the internet comparison sites that are becoming very popular.

You may settle for a shared server (where you share your space with other website owners) and it is a good tip is to go for the shared hosting first. Once you are comfortable with the service level then it might be worth upgrading to a dedicated server. However, all this is academic if you haven’t registered a domain name that you can use in conjunction with the web hosting and to send your files to. All companies will allocate a certain amount of space for your website and any other files required to be stored there (photos and MP3 tracks, for example) and this can be anything from 500Mb or more, depending on the host and package you are paying for.Another advantage of web hosting and your own domain name is that email addresses will include your own domain name and not that of those free providers such as Google, Yahoo and MSN to name a few of the thousands of providers whose services can be used.

Having your own email addresses are an important sign that a person or company is serious about their internet presence and provides a sense of credibility which cannot be achieved with the many free service providers available. Then you have bandwidth, which refers to how much data is being transferred over the internet, this is something that many people overlook simply because they are enamored with the low prices of hosting packages and don’t consider how quickly bandwidth is used up. If your package cannot provide this or the company cannot meet your needs then visitors will not always be able to access your site during busy periods so a new package or company may be needed. Of course this won’t matter if you only have a basic website but as soon as you start adding large images, audio tracks, video footage and other big files, your bandwidth will be used up very quickly.

While it is possible to use your own home PC as a web host, this is not advised as the number of security issues involved will make it a risky proposition and it is far easier to pay another company for their web hosting service. Get yourself some good free php web hosting and dip your water and take a ride with your website.

You've Got Options

There's 3 types of free hosting users:

1. The EntitledThese are users who think they are owed everything and look for really unreasonable amounts of disk space and data transfer that they have no intention of using. They're really looking for the maximum amount of features at the minimalist of cost or investment (e.g., time or activity or avoiding post to host). These kind of users look at the numbers and go for the highest being offered, regardless of service or uptime. Although they want all the guarantees in the world, they're willing to settle for less if it looks like they're getting more - they want unlimited bandwidth and disk space, which is impossible for a web host to fulfill. All they will get is false promises and guarantees, and a host that will sooner or late disappear. Most of these entitled users will never actually use their web hosting accounts, but will complain about uptime or service cutbacks.
   
   
2. The RealistA good portion of free web hosting users fall into this one. These are users looking to host a site or two and are looking for a host that offers the maximum value that fits their site. That means giving up this notion of "unlimited" everything and looking for moderate bandwidth and hosting features that are needed by their site. Realists will have a higher rate of finding free hosting, but will face issues finding hosts that truly offer free bannerless web hosting
   
   
3. The AbuserThis isn't really a user, but a person looking to host something illegal or to abuse the services of a free host for their own purposes. Most are modestly innocent, like people looking to host scripts to download files (rapidleech hosting) or torrents, while some are more serious and are using the hosting to phish facebook accounts or to run ddos scripts, spam doorway pages and other web filth. These usres are in it for their own self-profit - they have no intention of hosting a site and will pick up and find other free hosts as they come across them. They really ruin it for everyone!

Those are the three types of users free hosters have, what are your thoughts?

Let me know in the comments.

Misternet - Free Hosting

Looking for a free web host to call home? Well I certainly was, and after getting annoyed with the many free hosts out that spring up and shut down just as quickly, I found P4o.net! It's a great free host that's been around for 3 years now and has decent uptime and very reliable services.

Best of all it's completely free web hosting with no ads - that means no banners, links or popups. You can use their automatic script installer to install the most popular scripts like wordpress or joomla, or use their ftp to install it yourself. It gives you 3 mysql databases, htaccess for friendly URLS and even supports addon/parked domains and lets you create mail accounts and subdomains on your domain (wildcard included).

The craziest part is that they give you stats (server logs) and your hosted on the cloud (remember this is still free hosting without any ads). How they've been up this long is amazing, and it looks like they're doing really well with tons of well-known and popular sites hosted here.

Check it out at http://www.p4o.net