Free webhosting?

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Techrat

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I want to set up a small website for a small start up business, free hosting is pretty much mandatory at this stage, however I would like to point a "proper" domain to the site if possible.

It won't need much space, or traffic I should imagine, practically it will be like an "online business card" I guess, with basic info and contact details.

Does anyone know of or have a reccomendation for a free host with which it would be possible to point a domain to? What would the correct terminology for this be that I should look out for on free webhost offerings?

Some free hosts that I know of so far are, 110mb.com, 000webhost.com, byethost.com.

Oh and the other thing, no ads, the ones I mentioned don't force ads on you afaik.
 
Would rather have a .com I think.

I don't understand what I need to do to point a domain to a free host? Maybe I didn't make it clear in the first post, I know pretty much nothing about webhosting at all.
 
Once you've found the free host you want to use, their FAQ or signup confirmation will tell you which nameservers to use for your hosting account. When you register your .com domain, use those nameservers.
 
Techrat said:
Would rather have a .com I think.

I don't understand what I need to do to point a domain to a free host? Maybe I didn't make it clear in the first post, I know pretty much nothing about webhosting at all.
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Sure - then you can use a registrar such as GoDaddy to register it. Once it has been registered, you need only login to the domain name control panel and specify the name servers that apply to your web hosting account.
 
Yea, just make sure you register your domain seperately and not as part as some package at a hosting company. Godaddy.com gives you all the tools to point your domain wherever you want, so if you want a .com, go with them. For .co.za , dunno, you'll need a local company for that.

I've recently done it with http://www.weebly.com [free website/hosting/building or whatever you want to call it] . They even give you instructions how to do it with Godaddy.

Anyhow, Weebly is not the only one of its kind, but i liked it because the free version does not have intrusive ads. If you jsut want to throw up a site for contact details and information and only want to update it once in awhile, i recommend looking at something like Weebly...you manage the entire site in the browser, no technical skills required.

PS: Godaddy also gives you free email forwarding from your domain , it's is more useful than you think. If you bought say mynewcompany.com domain and you want to keep things professional and use your domain as email ie. "[email protected]' then you can set this all up for free at godaddy. What i do is, i use the forwarding to go to my gmail account [which would be @gmail.com] and then you can even set up gmail to reply to the sender with the domain email.
 
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Freshy-ZN said:
Why exactly should someone offer you free hosting without being able to get at least a little something back?
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Some of these free web hosting companies have a business model that relies on at least some of the users to upgrade their account.
 
Freshy-ZN said:
Why exactly should someone offer you free hosting without being able to get at least a little something back?
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Ja as Raven says that's how the do it afaik, it's their business, not mine. Plenty of free hosts don't have ads, whether ot not they last is a different story I guess.

If it had to have ads I wouldn't bother, it would just make the site look so tacky and unprofessional for a business.

Thanks for the info guys.
 
But for something like $2 a month you can get proper web hosting? I really dont understand it. Perhaps the credit card payment is the issue?
 
Freshy-ZN said:
But for something like $2 a month you can get proper web hosting? I really dont understand it. Perhaps the credit card payment is the issue?
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Show me where I get proper hosting for $2 a month, and I'll look into it. Does that include the cost of a domain? Because that just adds on more.
 
Techrat said:
Show me where I get proper hosting for $2 a month, and I'll look into it. Does that include the cost of a domain? Because that just adds on more.
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Do you already have a domain? If not you are going to have to buy one. A .com is about $15 per year and a .co.za is R50 if you go direct to Uniforum.

Lets say you havent and you are going to buy the domain. So you have to spend +-$10 anyways.

But Powweb is offering a package at R4.88/month including a domain name.
Hostultra has an offering for $20 a year upfront (approx R150)
Those are just two quick examples. You are worried whether they are 'proper' hosting but you looking for a free host? There are a billion hosting offers out there that are so cheap as to make free hosting obsolete really. I dont think the quality would be any less than a free hosting offer (they would both be oversold to the max)

Im just not sure where you are coming from. Surely R40 a month is not going to be a problem even for a start up? But if you find a half decent free hosting offer Id be interested to heat about it.
 
I'm not worried about "proper" hosting, you said that I can get "proper" hosting for $2 a month and that seems quite cheap. Actually you can get Hetzner for R19pm which is close enough to $2 I guess. :p

At this stage I don't have a domain, and believe me, any cost is a problem. ;)

From the looks of things this won't be happening any time soon, I'm not even sure that it's worth the cost (though low) untill the business is at least generating some income.
 
I don't want to "chirp" you and please don't take offense. But if you aren't willing to spend money (and I'm not saying big money, >R100 a month can get you A LOT if you look at the right places) then I don't think you are serious to start your "start up business" at all. Especially if you think that by having a domain and getting online would (somehow) magically get people to visit your site.

Sure. Download a free template.
Sure. Host it on a "Free" host (with advertising, very professional right?)
Sure. Have more downtime on your site than uptime because of the massive amount of money you're saving each month.

Remember, .com's is a whopping $8-15. If your budget can't handle that, then you shouldn't be in business.
 
No offense taken I get what you are saying.

I certainly realise that having a website isn't going to "magically" generate traffic, even if I do get hits I know that just because someone visits doesn't necessarily mean they will even have any interest.

Afaik those free hosts that I mentioned allow one to set up a fully customised site (you don't need to use templates), they don't have advertising, they have "gauranteed" uptime of > 90%. Sure as it's free you may think you can't hold them to that, but they also offer paid solutions which is where they get the money to offer the free stuff, in the hope that you will upgrade to a paid solution. Afaik your free site is hosted on the same severs as the paid ones so you should be getting the same service levels as if you were paying them.

Anyway this is all just some research for the future, to me a website is a mid-long term thing and not all that necessary right now, because I know it's not guaranteed to help me at all, though an online presense is good.

I have some other questions if anyone can advise me. I've seen that you can get "private" registrations for some domains, so your personal info doesn't show up on the whois database. Now I like the idea of privacy but does anyone think that having a private registration would look suspect to potential customers. I mean the average person probably doesn't know what the whois databse is or does, but the way people are on the net someone could plaster it all over the place (don't trust this company as they have a private registration blah blah blah).

Main thing I'm concerned about is the address info, do they require your physical address or just the postal address?
 
Techrat said:
Afaik those free hosts that I mentioned allow one to set up a fully customised site (you don't need to use templates), they don't have advertising, they have "gauranteed" uptime of > 90%. Sure as it's free you may think you can't hold them to that, but they also offer paid solutions which is where they get the money to offer the free stuff, in the hope that you will upgrade to a paid solution. Afaik your free site is hosted on the same severs as the paid ones so you should be getting the same service levels as if you were paying them.
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Most hosts wouldn't put paid customers on free hosting, unless it's really limited hosting without php, email etc. Reason for this is that if you give out free hosting you run the risk of spam being sent and scam sites being hosted. Which means your ips get blacklisted etc. The risk of this is way too great in free hosting. The hosts would generally do all they can to prevent paid hosting clients from being negatively affected by the free side.

Techrat said:
I have some other questions if anyone can advise me. I've seen that you can get "private" registrations for some domains, so your personal info doesn't show up on the whois database. Now I like the idea of privacy but does anyone think that having a private registration would look suspect to potential customers. I mean the average person probably doesn't know what the whois databse is or does, but the way people are on the net someone could plaster it all over the place (don't trust this company as they have a private registration blah blah blah).
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Private registrations look very dodgy. If you're a legit business, why would you want to hide your identity or location?

Most of this type of information should be on your website anyways. Details like, phone numbers, addresses, email addresses etc.
 
Don't ever register a business domain name with WHOIS privacy, it does not inspire confidence to the consumer (granted the more advanced user, but still).
 
Right, but do I have to register with my physical (bad) or postal (okay) address? I work from home, there is no way in hell my home address is getting posted on the internet.
 
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