Anything you put on a free social network site really isn’t yours. You are subject to rules and regulations regarding what you can post. There is nothing wrong with having standards, and this usually isn’t a problem for most people, anyway. The biggest reason to have your own site is ownership. If you spend a lot of time building content on a free social site, it can all be wiped out if that site changes the rules or decides there is something about your site they don’t like. It happens.

If you choose to register a domain and create your own site, you have a choice between traditional paid web hosting and free web hosting. Paid hosting is a bargain these days, with many hosts charging $10 for less a month for just about everything you need. Most hosting plans in this price range include enough disk space to host several different websites, or one big site, depending on how much content you create over time.

Just a quick note about “unlimited” bandwidth or “unlimited” domain offers. There really is a limit, but for 99% of users it won’t be an issue. Web hosting companies know that the average user will only put up maybe one site or two, and the amount of resources they use will be tiny. I guarantee you if you buy a $5 a month web hosting package that advertises unlimited domains and bandwidth, and go into business selling web space to other people, you’ll soon find there is a limit. Again, for most this isn’t an issue, I just wanted to touch on it briefly in case you were wondering how web hosts could offer unlimited services at such low prices.

Despite the low cost of standard paid hosting, some people still want free web hosting. If you are just putting up a site as a hobby, or a personal blog or diary for fun, free web hosting might be a great option for you. If you are planning to sell anything from your site, or promote some sort of business, don’t even consider free web hosting.

The positive side of free web hosting is the “free”. However, there are drawbacks.

• in most cases, the hosting provider reserves the right to run ads on your site, usually on the top or side margins. This won’t disturb your content, but can make viewing it annoying to others, and make your pretty design and setup look pretty lousy.

• other forms of advertising are often used, including popups and other types of advertising that greet your visitors upon entering and leaving your site. These are perhaps more annoying than anything.

• you will have pretty serious limits on how much bandwidth you can use, so don’t plan on putting up a lot of videos or other heavy multimedia content.

• your website address will the hosting companies name plus something you create, for example “petejohnson.freewebhostingcompany.com” – not exactly the ideal in personalized expression.

Bear in mind that companies can offer free hosting based on getting revenue in return from advertising. Unfortunately, many people set up free web hosting services on the fly hoping to rake in some decent money from ads and promotions to you and your visitors. If this doesn’t go well, they are likely to shut down without warning and leave you stranded.

My advice is to avoid all free web hosting services, unless you simply don’t have the money or don’t want to commit to a few dollars a month for a regular host. The bottom line is, never put anything up on a free host that you really don’t want to lose. It is definitely a risk.

Free Web Hosting

Not always a bad choice. If you are just publishing a personal journal, for example, and you have a very low budget, then perhaps this is a choice that may work for you. Unfortunately, there are some annoying things you’ll have to put up with if you elect to use free web hosting. You will usually have to tolerate other peoples’ advertising on your site. You will be sharing space with loads of other people and fighting for limited resources. On free web hosting platforms, down time isn’t unusual.

If you have any problems or need help, good luck – technical support is very limited. Your domain name won’t really be yours – for example, if your free web host is acme.com, your address might be yoursite.acme.com or something like that. This might work fine if your sites are strictly for fun. A free hosting account is a poor choice for business or professional sites.

Shared Web Hosting

Most hosting accounts are shared hosting. You have your own personal domain name, and you pay for the service so there are no ads.

Bottom line, shared hosting is shared with other users. You will not have your own dedicated server, and you will be sharing a server with other domains. In the long run, unless you are running a site that gets a huge amount of traffic, this is your best option. It doesn’t cost a whole lot, and you have the opportunity to sign up for a variety of hosting plans including everything from single domain hosting to reseller hosting (if you want to make money selling web space). Pick the right host and you will have trouble free, well supported hosting at your fingertips.

Dedicated Web Hosting

You will pay the most for this option. You will not need this unless you have a ton of traffic that requires a lot of bandwidth and resources. This simply means you have your own server and aren’t sharing it with other users. Great option if you truly need it, but overkill for most people.