You have two options for putting a website online. The first option is to build your website on a free hosting service like Google Pages or WordPress dot com. This can be a good solution if you don’t have the money, don’t care about branding your business, or are worried about the free service going away. A much better solution is to buy your own hosting account.
Top 7 benefits of having your own web hosting account
1. Host your own domain name
A free hosting service means your domain name must include the company’s name. For example, if you create your website on WordPress dot com, your web address will look something like this: redshoes.wordpress dot com. This makes it difficult for your visitors to remember or spell the domain name. The benefit of having your own web hosting account is that you can register a real domain name and host it on a server.
2. Control over your own website
A web hosting account allows flexibility with your website files. You can install scripts, forums, software, etc. to improve your website. Your hosting package usually comes with website statistics that allow you to monitor how many visitors your website is getting, where they are coming from, and what keywords are being used to find your website.
3. Create your own email accounts
If you want to do business online, you need a professional email address that includes your domain name (e.g. info at yourdomainname dot com). If you use Gmail or Hotmail for business purposes, your customers may not think you’re serious or professional. With your hosting plan, you can create email accounts that include your domain name.
4th mark
If you built your website on a free hosting service, it will be difficult to brand your domain name. For example, if the company discontinues their free service, you will lose your domain name and all of your website content. It will be gone forever unless you have regularly saved a backup copy. Many website owners kicked themselves for allowing this and lost all the content they created.
5. Build a professional online business
A free hosted solution makes it seem like you are not a professional businessman. This can affect the quality and quantity of relationships you choose to form online. The professional website address hosted on your own account will attract similar business people in your niche.
6. Search Engine Optimization
Your hosting account allows you to create websites that are search engine friendly. That means you can create your own meta tags for titles, descriptions, and keywords, as well as heading tags, tweak image descriptions, and name your own files. When your free hosted website service disappears, you lose all your search engine rankings and the traffic you gained while the website was active. A website with your own domain name, hosted on your own web hosting account, will stay in the search engines forever as long as you keep paying the yearly costs.
7. Design Flexibility
Hosting your own website allows you to manipulate the HTML of your web pages, allowing you to create any design you want. A free hosted solution generally offers templates that don’t allow for much design flexibility.
After reading about the cons of free web hosting and the 7 advantages of having your own web hosting account, it makes more sense to go for the latter.
