Why Using Free Domains and Free Hosting Hurt Your Blog

Lately, services have popped up like dot.tk and co.cc that offer free domain name services. Likewise, services such as 000webhost.com offer free web hosting. Many new bloggers have started using these services together. I personally have registered my domain name “eddieringle.com” through Gandi.net, and also host this blog through Idlesoft’s hosting service.

Let’s start with using free domains. These ultimately hurt your blog because as these services gain in popularity, it will also become known to most that you are using a free service, which could possibly make your blog feel “cheap.” It is better to find a good, quality domain that represents your blog or brand, and buy it up before someone else does. They are not that expensive, just a few dollars per year.

Using free hosting can also lead to a “cheapish” feel to your site as well. For example, most services handle 404 errors by redirecting a visitor to their site, causing you to lose a reader. They also can’t guarantee the best technology available like PHP or Ruby on Rails. If they do offer that software, it will most likely be limited. As far as blogging goes, using a free service may restrict you from using pretty URLs, leading to poor SEO and an even higher loss of potential readers.

Seriously, spend the extra few dollars to get quality and worthwhile services, your readers and your blog will thank you.