Free Hosting-the real costs
July 29th, 2009 | 
Author: I am often shocked by the work and the effort that many people put into their sites, filling them with links, having multiple ad sources, great graphics etc, only to then publish them on Blogspot or some other “Free” blog site.Many wonderfully talented people who do this are in fact of course paying a huge cost for the “Free Host” TANSTAAFL!
I have asked many why and they say it is all due to costs-they can not afford to buy a domain and pay for hosting. I can not think of why they say this is; other then that they are just not informed of what the real costs are, nor are they aware of the losses they are incurring every time someone visits one of their ads, or when someone uses a Search Engine to look for the topic their “website” is all about.
My intention here is to educate, and hopefully convince at least one person to switch from a “free host” to a real host.
I like to use a re-seller for things like this-they usually have the ear of the “big boys” more so then I, and you will be able to establish a more friendly rapport that leads to better service; imho of course.
For those who are not yet familiar with the term “reseller”, this simply means that a large company, such as international hosting company Heart Internet out of the UK will have “affiliates” or more properly termed resellers who pay them a fee each month, from which they are given the right to act as agents; to sign up hosting packages and make their own deals. The idea is they will be able to make a profit between what they pay the host and what the collect in fees from there clients. This is the sort of relationship I have with my host and it serves me well, so much that I recently moved all my hosting to them.
As you can clearly see by the ads on this page it is my hope that readers occasionally will find an interest in one of the products and services (only visit one if your interest is genuine) and at that time I earn a small fee. Now this is where so many people who use “Free” hosts lose a huge amount of income-estimated at between 20 to 65%.;If I am paid $100.00 for a click a person with the same ad and same traffic only on Blogspot site only will earn 35 to 80 cents, most I would think would get 50 cents.
Then there is the cost of NEVER being able to obtain PageRank, which will mean less traffic from Search engines, fewer direct advertisers and they lose of many other income opportunities.
I put this to you-when it is possible to buy an existing domain name, possibly with backlinks and even some with traffic for as little as 99 cents at an auction often with 30 days of free hosting (be sure to ask vendor, do not take my word) why would anyone continue to lose money by using a “free host”?
Posted in Editorial
Pay Per Click is indeed a good way to advertise your products and also earn money as well through PPC programs like Adsense..,*
As with most things, there is a time and purpose for everything, and the time of people coming to “.com” sites with the expectation of information only has come and gone. From every source of marketing these days comes word that people are shying away from .com sites in favor safer havens.
If I want to buy something, I will go to an auction site or a “.com” site. If I’m looking for information, I will go to forums or blogs, and at least make an attempt to get away from immediately being pitched for a product. However, if I like what the writer says and he has good information, I don’t mind following a suggestion for a product through a text link, as it doesn’t come across as a blatant pitch for that product. Rather it comes across as a recommendation from someone you trust.
Therefore, I have to disagree with you that blogs don’t make money. If you do them right, and offer good information and conversation first, it relaxes the visitor and gets them off of the defensive mode. Provide good content to keep them interested and coming back, and you have a good chance of getting a click-through from them…if not on the first visit, maybe later. And you can do everything on a blog that you can do on a web site, including gather their name and email address, which will further increase conversions.
So in summary, “.com” sites are known for ecommerce (sales), and it is a proven fact that most people don’t come to the web to buy. They want information first, and any sale that is made comes secondary. So why scare them away with a domain suffix before you even get to interact with them? It isn’t logical.
But testing is the only proof. Set up identical sites and find out for yourself which one makes the most sales. It might surprise you!
LOL It always amazes me when people feel the need to comment and then do not even read what they are commenting on.
No where will you ever find me saying Blogs do not pay.
The whole article is about ad income differences when hosting your blog on your own domain or using a free one like Blogspot.
As for setting up tests- IF you would have read you would have discovered that is what I have done not once but over 1000’s of examples.
I should delete your comment since it so clearly is not at all about this article, but since you went so much trouble to get your link here I will leave it as an example to others.
READ-THINK-and only then speak.
You said that blogs don’t make “as much” money as regular sites. Well, that depends on what statistics you use. I know that there are plenty of blogs out there making more than many of the “.com” sites, but they aren’t necessarily being run by the same people where they can compare them side by side. It has to do more with their marketing skills and how they use them. I run both types, and I don’t see much difference in the statistics. “If” there is a difference, it probably has more to do with the fact that blogs are mostly started and run my amateur marketers, whereas web sites are started and run more by people with more marketing knowledge and technical skills. But if you apply those same skills to a blog, I can guarantee you that it will perform much better than then average web site!
But it’s obvious that you are upset because my “pro blog” comments take away from the fact that you have links to hosting companies, and can cost you money. I understand that. I also did not read through your entire site….I only read that particular post, and nowhere in that post does it say that you did “1000’s of comparisons”. So get your own facts straight before you start chewing out someone who could have been a potential customer (through clicking a link). Maybe in side by side comparisons, a regular site “might” do better for certain products or issues. But even if that is 60% of the time, it doesn’t mean that it is better for everything or for every use “all” the time.
However, seeing as how you made such a smart-ass comment on my observations, instead of carrying on a polite and “customer service friendly” dialogue, I can see where your true colors lie, and I will now remove this site from my favorites menu, as I see that it has nothing to offer.
Great website you have, the articles here are very useful. Thanks!
Pay Per Click programs these days are very popular and you could earn money from it.~”-
It’s true that a paid host and domain is better than free hosting, but it’s possible to have a popular blog on a network like Google Blogger. Many people that have blogpost domains have a lot of traffic and make money from their blogs. I have a Blogger blog, and I’ve achieved a page rank of 2 in just 6 months. So, it’s possible to achieve page rank as well with a free host. I think it’s a good idea to start out with a free host and if you start doing well, then switch over. Good post.