Sure we would all like something for nothing, but everything has a price.

Getting on with a free Web host out there might sound like a cheap way to get a Web site going, but you are going to be paying some prices down the road. Sure, places like Freewebs.com offer nice looking free packages.

What are the advantages of this type of free hosting solution? What are the disadvantages of this type of hosting setup?

The Advantages of Free Web Hosting

• Hey, You Don’t Pay Anything At All
• Most Free Hosts are Built With Beginners in Mind
• Templates and Design Helpers Available

The Disadvantages of Free Web Hosting

• You Have to Put Up With Advertisements
• Usually Have to Use a Crappy Sub Domain
• Low Disk Space and Bandwidth Limits

If you have anymore suggestions for either side of the argument, please leave a comment and join into the conversation.

As you can see, every yin has its yang and every good point has a bad point. I would say if you want to really develop a brand or something that you see yourself contributing to a few years down the road, go with a paid for Web hosting account.

If you are new to hosting and you just want a place to show off to your friends - free might be the way to go.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 94!

When it comes to making money, Web hosts are always looking for the next best thing. With the popularity of places like Photobucket going up a lot of Web hosts are looking to start their own image hosting solution.

So should Web hosts get in this business? What are some good choices for image hosts that Web hosting clients could use? Here is the long and short of it.

If a Web host feels like they could manage the image hosting services, I see no reason for them not to do it. Even GoDaddy has gotten into the mix with their new Photo Filer service. Now sure, you might not be making money with new sign ups. With ads or some sort of membership service for people who use the service a lot - there could be lots of the green stuff to be made.

Here is a good article by the folks at TopHosts.com that explains the reasons why you might want to get into the image hosting business.

Now if you are a Web hosting client, or just some Joe off the street that wants to find a good picture hosting service, here are some of the best.

Pando.com
zShare.net
ImageThrust.com
Flickr.com

Have some others to share? Leave a comment and spread the word!

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 94!

You have seen them, you might have even used them - what are the advantages and disadvantages of free Web hosting solutions? I’ll look at both sides of the story.

Also on today’s show I’ll let you know about image hosting, the latest industry news and answer some of your ecommerce questions. Buckle up and sit tight, the Web Hosting Show is on the air.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 94!
Running Time: 12 minutes | File Size: 5.86 MB

Here are just a few topics that we discussed on this week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

• Why Should You (or Why Shouldn’t You) Get Free Hosting?
• Answers to Some of Your Ecommerce Questions
• Should More Hosts Get Into the Image Hosting Business?
• Celebration Ideas for the Web Hosting Show’s Second Year!

Like your favorite pair of plastic pants on a Friday night, the Web Hosting Show is back and is more than happy to be bringing you the latest and greatest from every corner of the World Wide Web. I got a lot of positive feedback after last week’s special Ecommerce Hosting Guide edition of the broadcast. I want to thank all that sent me kind words. Might have to do that type of dedicated guide show again sometime.

Link of the Week: Get Free Press! Let Me Interview You!

You know Joe right? Joe lives down the street from you and runs a little comic book store downtown. Joe doesn’t know much about the Internet but he does know that he would like to expand his business.

What should Joe do? Joe should look into getting into ecommerce.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 93!
Running Time: 13 minutes | File Size: 5.81 MB

Now first things first, what is ecommerce? Ecommerce is the conducting of commerce with goods and services over the Internet. It includes: consumers using the Internet to purchase goods and services online; as well as businesses selling and communicating with other businesses through the Internet.

There are a lot of “Mom and Pop” stores all over the world that want to get their goods and services Online. How do they do it? Well there are a few things that Joe is going to need. Read more »

So is your Web host hot? Would you like to rate your Web hosting company? Sure - there is nothing really new about the idea of rating your Web hosting company on services, speed, quality and more, but the folks at HostGator.com have developed a new and interesting way of doing things.

Here is a little more information from the alligator people.

Host Gator, a leading provider of shared, dedicated and reseller web hosting, announced today the availability of a new widget that enables web site and blog owners to have visitors rate how fast their site is loading. The widget is available free of charge. All site owners have to do is cut and paste a short snippet of HTML code into their web sites.

Sounds pretty neat hu? The Rate My Web Hosting tool has a very simple and easy to understand interface. All you need to do is sign up, copy the code and paste it on your Web site.

Then as people visit your Web site they can vote on how quickly your Web site came up for them - in turn determining how fast your Web host is. Users are given a map with pin pointed locations to see where the votes are coming from as well.

Now when it comes into a Web host’s speed, how fast it loads a Web site might not be the best way of going about things. How you code the Web site has a lot to do with how speedy it is as well. With that aside though, this is still a very neat tool that I am sure a lot of you will get use out of.

Check out the demo and let me know what you think!

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 92!

Here is the Web hosting news you might have missed this week. Send me your news!

10,000 Chinese Domain Names Lost

How does one loose 10,000 domain names? Well when natural disasters are involved, anything can happen. The headline here is “10,000 Chinese Domain Names Lost Due to Quake”. Chinese domain owners lost about 10,000 domain names, when a 7.1 earthquake struck the coast of Taiwan on December 26. The quake cut undersea cables and severed international telecommunications lines. [Link]

DemoWolf Offers Spanish Tutorials

Online tutorial provider DemoWolf announced on Wednesday it has released 30 new Spanish tutorials for WebHost Manager. These new Spanish WebHost Manager tutorials sell for the same price as its English versions, which can be purchased as a package of all 30 WHM tutorials for $49.95, or individually, for $5.95 each. [Link]

Free Domains from Leprechauns

Ireland-based Web hosting provider Web World Ireland recently announced it has launched a promotion offering free domain name registrations.

The company says it is offering free registrations for .info, .biz and .org domain name extensions for any company or individual that posts a hosting or design related question on its forums. [Link]

.XXX Domain Rides Again?

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers announced on Monday it is reconsidering a revised proposal from ICM Registry regarding the creation of a .xxx top-level domain. In May 2006, ICANN voted against ICM Registry’s proposal for a .xxx TLD, but ICM has responded with changes to the contract to address ICANN’s original concerns. [Link]

If you have any hosting news or headlines that you would like to see or hear mentioned on the Web Hosting Show, drop me and E-mail at mitch@mitchkeeler.com and let me know about it.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 92!

I got a question last week from a guy named Fred. Now I usually don’t cover many of the basics anymore, because I think it has all been done before.

Some of the earlier shows were dedicated more to the “Web hosting 101″ topics but it never hurts to have a refresher. Here is what Fred had to say:

Hi Mitch you host the best podcast out there. I am a Web site designer and I wanted to know if you could tell me what are the differences with all these types of hosting. I see dedicated, shared, virtual and my head starts to spin. Please help!

Your right Fred, the Web hosting industry has not exactly made learning all this stuff very easy. Here is a rundown of the basic flavors of Web hosting and what they are all about.

What is Virtual/Shared Web Hosting?

No matter if the Web host says they offer shared or virtual Web hosting, they are both the same thing. This flavor of Web hosting refers to the process of running multiple “virtual” web servers on a single physical host computer. By doing this they can use a single computer or server to run a lot of different Web sites.

This is the kind of hosting account that ninety percent or so of the Internet uses.

What is Reseller Web Hosting?

Usually when I define reseller Web hosting to folks outside of the industry I tell them that it is like having your own little Web hosting company. A reseller Web hosting account is useful when you want to be able to create smaller hosting accounts and sell or give them out to friends.

You can also use this account type to have a better control over your own little empire of Web sites. Instead of having to go here and there to manage everything - you can do it in one spot.

What is Dedicated Web Hosting?

Now a dedicated Web hosting account is the big daddy of them all. This is what the majority of the huge Web sites you visit run under. This is when you have a machine or server that only hosts one or two Web sites. These Web sites need a lot of disk space and a lot of services that are dedicated to just them.

You see with a dedicated Web hosting server, you are made the king of the machine. You might share it with one or two other people, or you might go at it alone. The equipment and connectivity are fully managed by the hosting firm, and you pretty much have to handle the rest.

[Watch Me Describe These on Video!]

Do you have a question to ask me? If so - please drop me an E-mail at mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I will be more than happy to help you out. Just think of me as your own personal Web hosting guru.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 92!