use of free web hosting sites as business??

[lisa wilson]

Hello Friends,

I have a question. I wish you would assist me on this.
my question is

Does Free Web Hosting sites can be used as professional/business site? Does it make any difference.

[ithelp]

Yes it can be used as long as you are fine with 20% downtime of your business website.

[laura_ci]

In terms of the website appearing, theres the issue of downtime, as ithelp has mentioned...but also the chance of the server not supporting scripts that you would like to use, and having a nightmare trying to get them added.

Also, theres the problem of how you can come across to your customers. You can spot sites from free hosting sites a mile away by the URL, and because of that you loss some credability, you don't tend to look professional. Personally I'd steer clear of it.

As with everything in this world, you get what you pay for.

Sorry to put a downer of free...afterall free is my favourite price =D

[LukeBennett]

What is the business, ithelp s right there is more of a downtime.

[Alcutus]

Even if uptime is 100%, there's still a marketing problem... free hosts look cheezy or fly-by-night.

One of the main things I tell my clients when they ask about free hosting is, "It's worth $5-10/month, just to get an e-mail address that's '[e-mail]"

laura_ci also makes a good point about the limitations you'll run into when trying to implement a script or database.

[LukeBennett]

What Ive done with my design business is we were on host with a very expensive host, one day they needed re-design, we did it for them for free but wanted free hosting. They accepted... Maybe you can do so?