You may be asking yourself, “Why should I pay for web hosting when I can get it for free?”
Your decision to use free or paid hosting is completely dependent on your website goals. Let’s say that you wanted to start a blog. You would most likely benefit from using a free hosting service. Maybe instead, you want to start a business website, where you intend to sell products and services. In this case, you will need paid hosting.
Think of it like this: You wouldn’t show up to a race wearing flip flops, right? And you wouldn’t show up to the beach wearing a snowsuit, would you? No, of course not! You’d show up to each occasion prepared for what each activity requires you to wear. In the same case, you wouldn’t use free hosting if your goal was to create a booming business. You probably also wouldn’t purchase hosting if you were not going to utilize all of the benefits.
The type of website you want to start completely depends on your goals. A free website might sound great in the moment, but if it doesn’t fit your website needs, you would be wasting your time!
Before you make your decision, you should know the differences between free hosting and paid hosting. In a previous article, I listed the advantages and disadvantages of free hosting, which will help you better understand the concept of free hosting. To help you better understand paid hosting, I’ve listed the advantages and disadvantages below. Although, paid hosting has many more positives than negatives. One of the biggest upsides to paying for hosting is that things are headache-free from the very beginning.
- No Advertisements
One huge advantage to paying for a web host is that your website visitors will not be overwhelmed by ads! Ads are usually displayed on “free” websites in order to cover the cost of the free site. Web providers are able to give away free hosting because they make money from the ads on their free websites. The disadvantage of ads are that they can make your website look unprofessional. With paid hosting, you won’t have the deal with those distractions. Instead, you can focus on improving other parts of your site. You actually have the option to include ads on your paid hosted website if you so choose. You’ll even make money on them! But, it’s up to you to decide whether you want them on your website or not. You have the control!
- Better Customer Service
When you are paying for hosting, you are also paying for exceptional customer service. Most, if not all, web providers are available to paying customers 24/7/365. This means that if you have a problem with your website at 2 a.m., you can call your provider and they will assist you with whatever you need. It really means anytime of the day, week, month or year. Free hosting does not usually provide this asset. For example, the Hostirian Customer Support team is available 24/7/365 for all customers!
- Control Over Domain Name
Paying for a web host also means that you have control over your domain name. This means that you can choose your domain name, without worry of having to use the subdomain of your free host’s name. This will ultimately free your domain name of any ads, help you rank higher in searches, and leave more room to be taken seriously as a business. It also shows that you have total ownership of your website. It has also been proven that businesses are taken more seriously when having a “.Com” domain extension. So, let’s say that your domain name is (yourname).com. You will have hit the goldmine!
- More Disk Space and Bandwidth
The great thing about paid hosting is that the disk size is almost unlimited. It may not seem too important when you start your website, but disk space will be incredibly necessary down the line. Paying for a web host will secure unlimited space on your website so that you can get creative, add more pages, images and things to make your website YOURS! Paying for a host also guarantees you more bandwidth (which allows for more people on your site per month). A paid site legitimately allows you to grow and expand as a business because it gives you the resources to do so.
- Better SEO
Using a paid hosting service gives you a better chance at being ranked on search results. For starters, those who pay for hosting receive access to tons of plugins to help with SEO! This is a great deal because better SEO will ultimately increase your traffic and make you more money. Those with better onsite SEO, such as using high-profile keywords, have a better chance at ranking higher in search engines. Being ranked higher in search engines will give you a much better chance at being found when people search for similar products to yours. The more visitors you have, the more likely you are to convert those visitors into customers, resulting in more revenue per month.
- It’s Not as Expensive as You Think
Paid hosting is not as expensive as you might think. You don’t have to spend hundreds on hosting to receive all of these awesome benefits. There are some rather inexpensive hosting packages that you could use that would be better than free hosting. Before you choose your paid hosting package, do some research on different providers and packages that would fit your needs. But, we REPEAT, you do not need to spend a fortune per month or per year to receive the benefits of paid hosting.
There are many more advantages to paying for a web host which include accessing Google Analytics, having unlimited plugins and themes, and having the option to add Ecommerce to your site. You may be on the fence because you are trying to avoid having to pay another bill per month (we get it!). But, believe us when we say that it is worth it! The only disadvantage of paid web hosting is that it requires you to pay for the service. Before you choose a paid hosting service, be sure to do some research to find a company that best fits your needs.
Before you do this, check out the provider’s reviews, website, packages they offer, and overall reputation of the company. Chances are, if other people say they like the company and have had success, you will too. The Hostirian team is proud to offer two different hosting packages that have been molded to fit the needs of our customers! Check them out, below!