The most widely used search term on the entire internet is the word “free”. That’s certainly understandable, after all who doesn’t like free things. That being said; there are some instances where free does not always mean better.  One of those examples is in the area of web hosting.  If the purpose of your site, here in Australia or anywhere else for that matter is to make a profit, you need to secure the services of a good paid web hosting provider.

This is not meant to be an attack on free web hosting. To the contrary, there are some forms of free web hosting that are actually pretty good. But that is only if you are using your site in a non-profit way. Or perhaps using it for a blog that is not commercial in nature. However, when you are in business and looking to make money with your site, you must absolutely use a paid web hosting provider.  And we will go into some of the reasons why.

First, free web hosting is not exactly user friendly. The free hosting provider will have ads, banners and in some cases pop ups displayed on your site. And sometimes these aren’t even related to the service or product you are offering. In addition to turning off visitors, it says loudly that you don’t take your business seriously. In other words, it has the word amateur written all over it, whether you are here in Australia or any other country; it’s universal.

Next, with it being free, you can bet there will be no guarantee of uptime. Almost all paid business web hosting providers will boast proven records of more than 99 percent uptime.  On top of that, the free provider may not even offer you the luxury of having a backup option. Meaning that potentially your site may go down and never come up again. A for profit web hosting provider will most certainly enable you to backup your entire site and all pertinent files.

And as if that isn’t enough to make you shy away from free web hosting, get this. Customer support with free web hosting providers is at best minimal and sometimes even non-existent. Should something go wrong with your site, good luck looking for a helping hand.  And even when there is some form of customer support, it is on a first-come first-serve basis. Meaning you are going to be waiting in line behind a lot of other folks.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly; your reputation and name brand is on the line when you put up a website. Often, free web hosting providers will have you use a sub-domain, with their name being the primary one.  Not good if you are trying to come off as a professional.  Your best bet if you are looking to come off as a serious business person is to utilise the services of a good Australian-based web hosting provider. And it costs less than you may think as well.