It is our strong recommendation that you start with a low-cost shared server (see previous section). The cost can be as low as just a few dollars a month. Hosting companies often discount their prices steeply if you’re willing to pay for a full year. But if you must start with a free host because finances are tight, we recommend that you switch to a shared server as soon as possible.
The biggest negative about free hosting is that your domain is a subdomain of the main domain. Why is this a problem? Well, if you are paying for your own domain and using a domain hosting company (self-hosting), all your hard work as an affiliate marketer increases your credibility in the eyes of Google. This increased reputation and status increases the value of your asset if you decide to sell it.
On the other hand, if you are using free hosting and your domain is being hosted on a subdomain of the “free hosting” provider, your efforts as an affiliate marketer will increase the reputation and value of the provider’s site. goes into the expansion, because that domain is seeing all this growth. After all, your site is just a subdomain of theirs, passing all of Google’s “link juice” to them.
Don’t confuse WordPress.com — the money-making hosting side — with WordPress.org, the free software side. We will discuss the WordPress software in more detail later in this chapter.
If you go through all the TOS (Terms of Service) for all the free hosting plans, you will probably find that they are very similar. Here are some common features:
Free plans add host-provided ads to your site.
The themes and plugins you can use are limited to the approved list.
If they feel you have violated their TOS (Terms of Service) they can shut down your site.
Most free sites do not allow e-commerce. You have to upgrade to their paid plan.
There are many more, but one advantage Weebly has is that even their free plan has no ads, leading us to believe that other “free plans” may have such ads. Who compete with you and can take away some of your affiliate money. Hope to make your “Free Hosting Plan” a courtesy. While doing research for this chapter, we found that most free hosting sites pepper your site with their own ads.
Another negative is that support is poor or non-existent. When your website is down, your affiliate marketing business is down. Not only do you lose money from potential sales while your site is down, but your site also gets a black mark for not being reliable. Web visitors may conclude that your site is permanently closed and simply click away to make their purchases on another website, never to return. You also get a black mark in Google’s eyes as an unreliable website—perhaps a website whose owners don’t care. Google simply sends its users to another website that answers the question that your site would have answered.
Whenever you are offered something for free on the Internet, you have to ask yourself why the company is doing it, what its motivation is, and what you are giving up. In the case of free hosting plans, you’re potentially giving up support and prompt responses to correct issues that may be causing problems with your website. You are also giving up the increase in value that your domain may see over time as a result of your affiliate marketing efforts. Plus, you’re likely giving away some of your affiliate marketing revenue to the free hosting company’s competing ads. Is it worth it to you? Make your own decision. In this case, we conclude that free is not worth it.
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