It Don't Get Much Cheaper Than "FREE"!

By: How To Info

Is FREE web hosting real? Well, for starters, you are reading this article on a website that is hosted FOR FREE... no strings attached. In fact, they will pay me $5 every time somebody signs up with them for a FREE account when you use a link from my website which identifies my website as the source of the "click". But wait a minute... "that all sounds like BS to me", I hear you say. Yet here we are. You are reading this on a website I built to test if free web hosting is true. And it appears to be very true from 000WebHost.

Not all "free" web hosting companies are alike. Some allow you to build your website for free, yet they run their own advertisements on your website. There's nothing wrong with that (because they are giving you free services), except it makes your "free" website look like crap with all the ads the hosting company shoves on your website (note: all the ads on this site are mine, not the web hosting company). You don't need to put up with that when there are other options available.

So where do you start? How do you begin to build a website with no money and get it hosted for free? It's a good thing you are reading this article, because I am going to give you the basics.

• I will tell you right off the bat that you need to learn how to use a website builder like Microsoft's FrontPage or another one such as Web Weaver EZ which can be downloaded for free (click here). They are not difficult to use and it's much easier than trying to teach yourself HTML coding. Concentrate on building and completing your website before you think about signing up with a web hosting company.

• Once your website is complete, it is time to sign up for a free web hosting account. You can choose to use the same host that I am using for this website or you can do a search for another service. If you choose to use this service simply click the banner ads on this page and it will take you to the sign up process.

• Many free web hosting companies allow you to use your own domain name if you have one, or they will simply give you one of theirs to use (I use one of theirs). So don't worry about registering a domain name if you don't have one.

• Now that your website account is active and your website is complete, you will start uploading the various pages, photos, and other files. My web hosting company has what is called a "cPanel" control panel that gives you access to various functions for the website when you login to your account. To upload your files you will need to access the "File Manager" link and put all the files you want seen on the internet into the "public_html" folder. If that folder is not automatically in the list already you can simply add it. These are the basic steps, so if you are not familiar with the cPanel display you will probably have some questions on how to use it correctly. You can email me for further instructions.

• Once all your files have been uploaded your website will now be active on the internet.

Good job! Now you need to start thinking about getting your website listed on the search engines. There are many ways to optimize your website and get it listed on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. I currently have an article on my SEO page that gives you some ideas how to do that, however, it is a topic that requires much more specifics and information if you've never done it before. You might also want to start running ads on your site such as Google Adsense so that you can make some money. That is also a topic for another article.

Conclusion

Yes, free web hosting is a reality. And remember, your website should never be "static". Don't just upload it and forget it. You should be making changes and adding new content atleast once a month, preferably more.