I can say that there is one big advantage with free web hosting. It doesn’t cost you anything. So it doesn’t seem much of a question. Or is it? As with all our decisions in life there are pro’s and con’s. Sometimes we don’t find out the disadvantages until after we have made our decision.

Are free web hosting accounts really free? They may not cost you money, but why is the provider giving it to you free? It’s not out of the goodness of his heart. Free web hosting providers are in business. So how do they get paid? They do this by advertising on your site. You get the traffic to your site and they get paid from your traffic that click and buy from the ads.

If you want to run an internet business from your site, these ads can conflict with your product or service. Your free service may now become a hindrance.

In setting up a commercial site you will need more resources and freedom to use your site. You see you will need MySql databases. You may want to run PHP or CGI scripts. You may produce a squeeze page and try to get your customers to focus on your product. But there are other products being advertised as well, products from your web host. There could also be an issue with looking professional and being a trusted business.

If you need to run a web site as a commercial enterprise you will be far better off choosing paid web hosting. You will also need to choose the hosting package that will best suit your needs. Look at some of the benefits of a paid site.

1. Can create your own email accounts. This means that emails can look like this: yourname@yoursite.com. This is much better than yourname@yahoo.com or some other free email service. This will give you a more professional look.

2. You can set up PHP and CGI scripts.

3. You will have access to MySql databases. Most scripts today require a database. You may wish to use a blog script such as Wordpress. With a paid web hosting account you will be able to.

4. You will have greater resources available such as plenty of disk space.

5. You will have the use of an easy to use control panel. This will also give you greater control over your site.

These were just a few of the reasons why you should choose a paid web hosting account if you are looking at running a business.

You can choose to start small and expand. This can be done painlessly as your hosting provider just increases the limits that have been set with the package you chose at first.

Summing it all up: Free web hosting is great for family and personal sites also for picture sites. If you need to sell on the internet you will be far better served by choosing paid web hosting.