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Web Hosting - Free vs Paid Web Hosting Options
Everyone likes to get something for free. But as the existence of spam shows, free isn't always good. Sometimes, it's downright harmful. Deciding whether it's worth the cost to pay for hosting involves a number of complex considerations.
Hosting companies that offer free services obviously can't stay in business from the money they make from you, since there isn't any. So why do they offer free hosting and how do they make money? Why should you care, so long as you get yours? Because, in reality, there's a price of some kind for everything, even something that's free.
Free hosting may come from a company doing a promotion to attract business. They expect to demonstrate their value, then charge an existing customer base fees to make up for what they lost by the (short term) offer. It's in essence a form of advertising.
But free hosting is offered by lots of companies that are not dedicated to managing servers for websites. Google, Yahoo and thousands of others provide a modest amount of disk space and a domain name on a server for free. Users are free to do anything they like with it, though if the load becomes excessive you can be shut down.
That introduces one of the more obvious drawbacks to free hosting: resource limitations.
Typically free hosting offers a relatively small amount of space. That's often enough to host a few dozen pages. But an active site can quickly run out of room.
A more serious limitation is load.
Free hosting often places strict limitations on the allowed amount of bandwidth consumed. If you become a well-visited site, when users start banging away on the server, you can be asked to leave or simply be blocked for the rest of the month. Or, you may be permitted a certain quantity of total bandwidth use per month. Once it's reached, no one else can reach your site until the beginning of a new month.
At the same time, you will certainly be sharing equipment with thousands of other sites. Their load can affect your performance, prompting you to move. Migrating an established site brings with it a number of thorny issues that might be better avoided in the first place.
Free hosting has another potential downside: lack of support. When you pay for hosting you typically get, at least in theory, a certain level of support. Backups in case of disaster recovery from a hack or server failure, assistance in analyzing connection problems... the variety is endless. With free hosting you usually get none of that.
A company or site that offers free hosting will usually recover a disk or server that fails completely and you'll be back up when they do. But if only selected portions of the drive fail, or you lose a few files through a virus attack or accidental deletion, you have to rely on backups to recover. A free service will usually come with no such option.
That may not be a problem if you have a small site. You can make copies of everything at another location and simply recover the site yourself - if you have the discipline to keep it current and the skills to make and restore the copy.
Free hosting will typically come with a few email addresses, intended to be used for administration and other tasks. But if your needs grow beyond that, you'll need to seek another option. The email service also comes with minimal oversight. The server may be protected against spam attacks and provide virus scanning. But few free services will provide even minimal help with any issues that arise.
But the most serious limitation may have nothing to do with any technical issues. Free hosting services often require that your site's pages carry some form of advertising that pays the host, not you. That may be fine for you, or it may not. Individual circumstances vary.
On the other hand, if you're just starting out, a free hosting option can be a great way to learn needed skills and a few of the potential pitfalls. You can set up a site, learn how to maintain and improve it, and not care too much if it gets hacked. Freely hosted sites can be a great platform for learning the ropes.
Free services don't usually offer any of the features that an active, commercial site will need sooner or later. So if you plan to grow, it may be reasonable to get the free service for a while, knowing you'll have to migrate when you become popular. But in the long run, you get what you pay for and you may need to pay for what you want.
Web Hosting - Is a Dedicated Server Worth What You Pay? In reviewing web hosting plans, many web site owners are faced at some point with the decision of whether or not to pay for a dedicated server. A dedicated server is one which holds your site(s) exclusively. It's not shared with other sites. You then have the option to put one site or many on that piece of hardware. But the decision is never easy. There are multiple considerations to take into account, far beyond just the higher dollar outlay that inevitably accompanies a dedicated server option. Performance is (or should be) a prime consideration for the majority of site owners. Studies show that when a page doesn't load within about 10 seconds or less, almost everyone will give up and go elsewhere. The delay may be caused at any of a hundred different points in the chain between the server and the user. But often, it's the server itself. In any case, it's important to eliminate the server as a possible bottleneck, since it's one of the few points over which the site owner can exercise some control. That need for control extends further than just performance, however. Other aspects of the user experience can benefit or suffer from server behavior. Security is a prime example. With the continuing prevalence of spam and viruses, a server can easily get infected. Having only your site(s) on a single server makes that issue much easier to deal with. With fewer sites on a server, there is less likelihood of getting infected in the first place. Also, since you will place a higher value on security than many others, it's easier to keep a dedicated server clean and your site well protected. You can use best practices in security to fortify your site. Having other sites on the server that you don't control raises the odds that your efforts are for nothing. One way your efforts can get watered down is through IP address sharing. Less sophisticated hosting services will often assign a single IP address to a single server and multipe sites. That means your site is sharing the same IP address with other domains. That leaves you vulnerable in several ways. Virus or spam attacks may target a particular IP address. If you have the same one as another site, one that is more likely to attract hostile intentions, you suffer for and with someone else. In other cases an IP address range is assigned to the server, with each site receiving its own address from within that range. Though better than the one IP:server scenario, this still presents a vulnerability. Many attacks try a range of IP addresses, not just a single one. But even legitimate sources can give you trouble when you share an IP address or a range. If another site engages in behavior that gets it banned, you can suffer the same fate if they ban the address or range. If the miscreant that shares your server/IP address or range is himself a spammer for example, and gets blacklisted, you can inadvertently be banned along with him. Using a dedicated server can overcome that problem. There's a certain comfort level in knowing what is installed on the server you use, and knowing that you alone put it there. But a dedicated server option may require increased administration on your part. If you're not prepared to deal with that, you may have to pay still more to have your dedicated server managed by someone else. All these factors have to be weighed carefully when considering a dedicated server plan. Copyright lawyer complaints Complaints, Copyright Lawyer Complaints and Clients There are many copyright lawyer complaints, from both the lawyer and clients, but here is a list of what are the most popular. That’s right clients aren’t the only one that can have a complaint, even lawyers get them. Imagine working in an office all day representing people. You have to deal with the worse crowd some days, other days are a piece of cake, but it is the person that comes in demanding that you get them what they want right then and there. This person gets mad once the lawyer explains the process and ends up storming out of the office. Now the lawyer is left, angry and without pay. Wouldn’t this fall under a copyright lawyer complaints? As a client you have the choice of picking another lawyer; however a lawyer doesn’t have this option. They need you in order for them to get paid; they aren’t going to turn you down just because you are a bit obnoxious. Another copyright lawyer complaint may also be towards the clients, lawyers hate to work a case that others have already tried…or worse one that the client has tried himself without legal representation. To avoid this, hire a lawyer before you go to court. Don’t think you are an expert in the field just because you read a few articles or have seen a few cases on copyrighting on the television. One of the biggest copyright lawyer complaints is that the client didn’t know that the lawyer was going to charge something. This is one reason you should find out before agreeing to anything what it is you, as a client, will be paying. You don’t want to find out after the trial that you owe a huge amount of money to a lawyer that you don’t have the cash for. A copyright lawyer complaint may be that their client doesn’t have the proof they need for a case. This can be easily solved by the client if they took the proper precautions, however chances are they didn’t or they wouldn’t be needing a lawyer. Try keeping all your work in a safe place with dates stamped on them to prove when they were created. This doesn’t guarantee you that you will win a case but it can help your lawyer. Last, you, as the client didn’t know much about your copyright lawyer, complaints were filed against him in the past but you had no knowledge of them. Maybe he just lost your case because he gets angry at the drop of a hat and just showed it in the courtroom, or maybe he just didn’t return your phone calls and you had no clue when you had to be at a hearing. This will only fall back on you for not looking into him/her enough. There are a ton of resources out there, use them. Don’t just pick the first name you see. If you think that you have a case against your lawyer you can always file a claim. The best way to avoid copyright lawyer complaints is by making sure both parties are satisfied with the experience. If you are the lawyer, find out in the first meeting what your client expects of you and as a client find out what it is your lawyer will be doing for you so you don’t make assumptions. Making sure everyone has a clear understanding of what shall take place is the only way to have the best experience. Remember, a happy client means a returning client and more customers. But a client with a bunch of copyright lawyer complaints is bad for business. |