If you have been considering a free web hosting service for your website needs, you may want to think twice and prepare yourself to deal with pop-ups, pop-unders, third-party banner advertisements and other annoying elements.  You also have to keep in mind that common features such as PHP programming, MySQL databases, CGI scripts and FTP access may not be available.

You can embark upon a mission to look for a quality free web hosting service with no advertisements and useful features, but you will likely return disappointed once your search has concluded.  While you can never really expect any guarantees when it comes to free hosting, knowing what to expect will better assure that you do not end up with a terrible service.

Understand How Free Hosting Works

There are more than enough free web hosting providers to go around.  Unfortunately, most of them force you to place advertisements on your site or only provide you with the free service for a limited time.  Some do set you up with a quality service in exchange for carrying banners while others leave you to run your site on slow and insufficient servers.  In some cases, these servers fail to respond at all, leaving you with a website that is essentially useless.  So, if the service is impractical, how do free hosting companies make enough money to survive?

More and more, we are seeing free web hosts keeping themselves afloat by persuading their customers to sign up for paid hosting plans.  If they can provide a good service, this actually turns out to be a fair deal.  Premium hosting services are very affordable these days so purchasing service with a company you trust could prove to be worth your while.   The major downside is that even when upgrading to a paid service, your package could still end up lacking features that are commonly found on the professional hosting market.  For example, you just might have to pay extra for items such as FrontPage extensions and FTP support.  So even when you purchase service from a free web host, you still have to make sure you are getting your money’s worth.

Secure Your Web Presence

Should you find yourself in a situation where you must rely on a free web hosting service because of financial restrictions, there are a few things you can do to protect your website and identity.  First, you can register yourself a domain name with a reputable company such as GoDaddy or Yahoo.  Domain names are pretty cheap these days and only cost about $10 to $12 per year.  Before registering the name, look out for domain features such as a control panel and URL forwarding.  This will provide you with the ability to redirect your domain and change the destination to where ever you prefer.  So if your free web host folds and goes out of business or things simply are not working out, you can point the name somewhere else and move your website right along with it.

Choosing an e-commerce hosting plan can be extremely difficult for two reasons.  One is because there are so many options available to you.  The second is all the confusing terminology and technical jargon a hosting provider will throw at you.  This article will aim to clear up some of that confusion.

Affiliate Program – An affiliate program refers to a revenue sharing program where webmasters can earn commission by generating leads, traffic or sales of a web hosting service.  If you feel that have signed up with a respectable hosting provider, you may be interested in their affiliate program to earn some extra cash.

ASP - Active Server Pages is a technology that allows developers to create dynamic, database-driven websites.  The web server processes the ASP code and then translates it into HTML for your visitors to view.

Auto Responder – An auto responder is an automated program that can be configured to acknowledge the receipt of an email, and automatically sends a reply to the sender.  This is an effective tool for keeping base with clients when you’re away from the desk or on vacation.

Backbone - A backbone refers to a single high-speed line or a series of connections that enable a pathway to a network such as the internet.  The more backbones or the higher the capacity, the higher level of availability your site will enjoy.

CGI Scripts - Common Gateway Interface scripts are small programs installed into a web server.  They are designed to perform specific tasks and enable functionality that a simple HTML document cannot.

Control Panel – A control panel is a software package that allows hosting providers and customers to simplify various web server tasks.  This type of application gives you the ability to easily maintain your mailboxes, files, manage domains and more even if you have little to no experience.

Dedicated Server – Also called dedicated hosting, a dedicated server describes a situation where you lease service from a hosting provider and get the entire server to yourself.  This in contrast to shared hosting, which hence, calls for you to share the server with other customers.

IP Address – An IP address is a unique numerical code used to specify hosts (computers) and networks.  Every machine connected to the internet has its own IP address.

Reseller Hosting – Reseller hosting is a type of hosting where a customer purchases service from a provider and then sells hosting package to customers of their own.  This has become a popular and affordable way for entrepreneurs and small businesses to profit from the web hosting market.

Shared Hosting - Shared hosting refers to a hosting arrangement where multiple websites are stored on a single server.  This is the most affordable and common type of web hosting there is.

Web Host – The web host is the company who provides you with the e-commerce hosting solution.  They run computers known as severs that have dedicated lines to the internet.  The purpose of a web host is to serve your pages to internet users and assure its availability.

Source: http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/06/19/common-e-commerce-hosting-terminology/