The times have changed in the web hosting industry. 5 years ago, if you needed to put anything out on the internet, you needed a professional web hosting service to do so. Today is a different story. Popular social style websites such as MySpace and Youtube provide a free hosting type service to the member communities. Many people don’t need a professional hosting provider because most users are satisfied with a simple, single page, online profile provided by the top social hosting websites.
So the question remains, why pay for a professional web hosting service?
In short, if all you want to do is put a personal profile online or share one of your videos through YouTube, then a paid hosting service is not for you. However, if you want to make a serious website for any reason, you are better off going with a paid hosting provider. With a real hosting service, you will receive much more than a single page website. You could install a blog or forum for a community based website, make your own email addresses, and much more. The great thing about a professional hosting service is that you are in complete control of what you can and cannot do with your account. If you plan to make any money off your website, whether through advertising or selling a product, you must go with a professional service. When your site goes down, it means you are losing money. A paid service will be more concerned about website uptime than any free hosting provider will. Another advantage is that when you pay for a hosting service, you get complete technical support for your account. If your web page isn’t working or your email is down, all you have to do is contact support and it should be fixed quickly.
A lot of the free services don’t allow you to use serve your advertisements on your own web page. This means that these services reap the rewards of all your hard work. If you are with a professional web hosting service, you can control what is being advertised and who gets it the money(you).
