As competition continues to grow in the web hosting industry we have seen a large increase in the number of so called “free web hosting” services, with the likes of Google and Wikipedia entering the arena. So who are these free services really aimed at, and what do they really offer?

As you would expect in an industry which is so competitive, the strategy of many big name companies is to snare a client first with a free offer, then leverage their services towards paid hosting. The free web hosting offers are more than adequate for the standard webmaster who has a site for personal use or a simple everyday blog. It is when you move towards a more professional approach that the likes of Google and Wikipedia will start to roll out the improved services and a move towards paid web hosting.

While it is always helpful to keep your costs to a minimum in the early days of a new venture, if you are serious about making a success you will inevitably need to look to upgrade those services, the space available and the bandwidth, to more reflect you future requirements. In business every customer has a value, the value of advertising divided by the number of new customers equals the cost of recruiting a customer - always the hardest part of building a business.

However, if you are able to offer a free service which is passed along by blogs, chat rooms and word of mouth there is every chance that in the long run this type of “promotion” will be more cost effective than traditional marketing routes. As the likes of Google and Wikipedia are already well known in the internet world, they already receive much business and traffic by word of mouth.

Free web hosting is suitable for many basic sites, but if you are truly serious about making a success of your online business you will need to consider upgrading your services at some stage - which will mean a switch to paid web hosting, which is a whole new area for us to look at.