One of the most common words on the web is “free”. Free hosting, free email, free e-commerce … get rich quick, and it’s all free.

You may be tempted to host your web site via one of the “free” services; but I would highly recommend that you do not. As P.T. Barnum is quoted as saying: “There’s a sucker born every minute”.

All of these “entrepreneurs” are out to get something from you and your web site. It usually breaks into one of three categories:

• Banner Advertising – They place a banner ad or link to somewhere else on every one of “your” pages. It doesn’t look professional and you are providing FREE advertisement for someone else. Shouldn’t you be promoting your site?
• Free E-Commerce – You use their hosting or (expensive) credit card services. Variations of this theme typically offer one service for “free” while you pay for the rest. The bottom line is always money out of your pocket into theirs.
• Data Gathering – Every visitor to your site will be scrutinized for “valuable” marketing data, including email addresses to be sold to spammers.

When looking for a place to design & host your web site, remember the old adage: You get what you pay for.