Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
To the friendly and reliable members of BRM i'm looking for a bit of advice. Specifically from those who run their own websites. I know that this forum should be pretty hot on this topic, which is why I came here for the answer rather than trawl through the endless technical forums that google takes me to.
I have set up a website before and I currently manage my parents website for a small shop but now I want to run a very different website. It's a film related website; part of my campaign for revolutionizing the film industry. The problem is I'm a postgrad student and finances are tight. When I bought the domain from the site I've used in the past I expected to have free web hosting and all the extras I got last time but it seems the offer changed and now the little costs are adding up.
So i'm debating whether to use free hosting from any of the sites that come up in google when you type free hosting in. Whenever something is offered for free I suspect a catch and I'm usually right (BRM is a rare exception) and even a brief research reveals that a paid hosting service is more trusted and reliable. And yet the internet is increasingly providing free service; more open source and networks of shared information. You can already get a free blog. Incidentally I already have a blog, which I've been running a few months now and its not really adequate for what I want in a website.
So should I pay out for hosting? I can afford it but it could be a little wasteful if I don't have to and if the site takes off I'll need to consider security and advertising costs too. Although I'll probably spread the link on facebook and other blogs first.
Joined: Dec '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 707
hi my cousin is a web designer and he also sells hosting packages.he was telling me that there is a company that lets u host off them but you can also sell hosting to other people so that you are not actually paying for your hosting as the people you sell to are paying it for you and you get to pocket all the money from the other people you sold hosting to.
so its a good way to make money and get your hosting for free(as the people you sell to are paying the subscription)
look into that
GL hope this helps a bit, i could speak to him and ask more about it today
Joined: Mar '11
Location: Canada
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 1490
Posted by awood88: To the friendly and reliable members of BRM i'm looking for a bit of advice. Specifically from those who run their own websites. I know that this forum should be pretty hot on this topic, which is why I came here for the answer rather than trawl through the endless technical forums that google takes me to.
I have set up a website before and I currently manage my parents website for a small shop but now I want to run a very different website. It's a film related website; part of my campaign for revolutionizing the film industry. The problem is I'm a postgrad student and finances are tight. When I bought the domain from the site I've used in the past I expected to have free web hosting and all the extras I got last time but it seems the offer changed and now the little costs are adding up.
So i'm debating whether to use free hosting from any of the sites that come up in google when you type free hosting in. Whenever something is offered for free I suspect a catch and I'm usually right (BRM is a rare exception) and even a brief research reveals that a paid hosting service is more trusted and reliable. And yet the internet is increasingly providing free service; more open source and networks of shared information. You can already get a free blog. Incidentally I already have a blog, which I've been running a few months now and its not really adequate for what I want in a website.
So should I pay out for hosting? I can afford it but it could be a little wasteful if I don't have to and if the site takes off I'll need to consider security and advertising costs too. Although I'll probably spread the link on facebook and other blogs first.
well, I'd say it's kinda a "you get what you pay for" situation. You CAN go with free hosting, but you may end up with something unreliable. Some free hosts also limit your capabilities, such as java/php capabilities, which can cripple your site.
I have stake in a hosting company, and can get you:
1 GB-Storage 10 GB-Bandwidth Full PHP 5, etc and reliable as hell. $4.50 USD a month.
I'm sure free hosting would be as viable, especially if you plan on making a small site, you just may need to do a ibit of researching first.
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Italy
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 3871
I really can't answer to your questions as I'm a noob in these matters. I just can give my point of view as a customer, in your choiche you should also consider some other questions: he average customer (like me) would notice some differences between the free website ant the paid one? Would your site be findable in the same way (free or not) on the main searchengines?
Joined: Oct '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 133
if he pays google then he can be in the top 5 results for certain tags maggat otherwise the short answer is maybe pending on how specific the search is
Joined: Mar '11
Location: Canada
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 1490
Posted by grahamy27: u dont need to pay google there is another free system that tricks the system to put you in top 5 search results
Not a good idea to use any system that is designed to "game" a search engine. Most methods employ tactics that may work in the short term, but once the big 3, ie google bing and yahoo, catch on, you'll drop off the map very quickly.
Best way to get a well ranked site is just to offer good content that readers will want to read and share. Nothing builds a site rank faster than backlinks, and by creating useful content, your users will do all the work for you.
It doesn't heard to reseach SEO. Simple things like good keyword laden titles, headers and alt tags for images will also help with serps. Just don't overdo keywords, as if it looks like your stuffing keywords, you can get penalized as well.
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
some time ago i used byethost- a free hosting provider, and they offer a whole lot of stuff for free- nevet had any problems with them, just looked what they have to offer nowadays- still free, still no ads (!), but they added some limitations- 5500MB disk space and 200 GB monthly transfer. if you don't mind that, then they are reliable imho. may i ask why don't you the easier route by just using your domain with blogger, wordpress etc.
Joined: Nov '11
Location: Poland
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 1081
Hey!
I'm website designer/IT specialist, so I may advice you a bit If you looking for a free host - it's simple! There are so many hosts with different options. It depends what you're looking for. Some sites has various limits - no SQL database, no PHP (or PHP in older versions), etc; some has only little limit for transfer (or limit filesize you want to upload)... It's take you some time to find free host, which will be perfect for you. But you should be satisfied.
From technical site - you told, that you setup some sites earlier, so you should know HTML/CSS/PHP a little bit. But you may find free layouts, written by advanced users, too
INTERNET is great source of ANY information in our times
Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
Posted by retribution: I have stake in a hosting company, and can get you:
1 GB-Storage 10 GB-Bandwidth Full PHP 5, etc and reliable as hell. $4.50 USD a month.
I'm sure free hosting would be as viable, especially if you plan on making a small site, you just may need to do a ibit of researching first.
That sounds pretty similar to a deal I already have with the domain providers, only it's difficult to tell since the price was in GB pounds and they sneakily added tax at the checkout.
I'm not really sure how much space or bandwidth I'd need since I'm not planning on making a small site but it depends on how successful it is. I'm looking to start a campaign so ideally I would have a regular faithful following of readers and I want readers to contribute by writing for the site.
Posted by pochui: some time ago i used byethost- a free hosting provider, and they offer a whole lot of stuff for free- nevet had any problems with them, just looked what they have to offer nowadays- still free, still no ads (!), but they added some limitations- 5500MB disk space and 200 GB monthly transfer. if you don't mind that, then they are reliable imho.
Thanks for the suggestion. As I say above I don't really know what limits I'm looking for. I guess I have to gamble on the site being a success or there's no point in trying. But my main concern is the reliability. I don't want the hosting provider to change conditions in a few months time when the site is gathering visitors.
Posted by pochui: may i ask why don't you the easier route by just using your domain with blogger, wordpress etc.
I have a blog with wordpress that was set up as part of my university course. I don't think I have any followers as all the comments look like spam but I'm still posting regularly. I want to use the blog alongside my website but I don't see it as a substitute. It's too restrictive, I want to be able to design freely and I think a blog would give the wrong image for my site, which I see as something more professional and academic.
Posted by Mysik86: From technical site - you told, that you setup some sites earlier, so you should know HTML/CSS/PHP a little bit. But you may find free layouts, written by advanced users, too
Yeah I know a fair bit of HTML and I've dabbled in CSS but I'm certainly no expert. I do have access to dreamweaver though so that make things a lot easier. Another reason why I'm not using wordpress or blogger.
hope this helps a bit, i could speak to him and ask more about it today
