Free Web Hosting Servers

It seem to this old man that sooner or later everybody wants to have their own website. My wife is not one of them or my old boss, but most young people do. I personally have too many website, never being satisfied with just one, so now I have to maintain them by updating the content and letting folks know the shop is open. For some reason, when I'm asked to help someone build a website, they want a free web hosting server. Of course, that is not how they say it. They think a server is the girl down the block at the local cafe.

Well, what they want is a free website and they don't have the slightest idea about how to go about it. I tell them that if they are on the Internet, their ISP has free web hosting servers. I tell them they can put up a website on the server of the company that supplies them their Internet service, their ISP or Internet Service Provider. I usually take them to their ISP and show them what is available. Also there are many free sites on the Internet. Just search for "free website" and you will find many. I think I put one up at Google just for the fun of it. It's probably still there waiting for an archaeological to dig it up.

I tell them that these free web hosting servers do not require a domain. They usually provide a simple template for creating a site.

I don't think much of these free servers. I think it is better to purchase a domain name and then have it hosted with a reliable hosting company. These are hosting companies with a good reputation. There are others that may be less reliable. I've had some bad experiences.

Some folks don't understand what a domain is but it identifies the site as being unique to you. The name of the domain is very important. It should be selected very carefully. For a personal site it may simply be your name. For a content site, the name should be chosen after a keyword search showing the popularity of the keywords used and how many sites they have in competition. There are free keyword tools such as the Google External Keyword Tool and the one provided WordTracker. I use a commercial tool.

Once you have a domain, join a hosting program and upload your files. We were talking about free hosting servers and now we are saying forget that, and go to a commercial hosting site. I suggest that you obtain your domain name at the hosting company. It may be less expensive and they will help you upload your files to their server by FTP or some other protocol. You will want to manage your files. Your hosting company will probably supply you a free FTP program or they are available free all over the Internet.

For files to function on your server so that they can be viewed by your browser they must be encoded using what is called HTML Your host should give you a program to prepare your files and no need to worry about the HTML. If your host has access to WordPress, you simply select a template for your site and then follow the instructions.

If your serious, you will have a home page using the name of your site. This will be uploaded to your server as index.html and and that file must be there. If you upload your file and look at the files with your FTP program and you see that your home page is not called index.html, then simply rename it right on the server. For a business site add a Privacy and About file. Just click on such files on a site and see what is there then apply it to your site.