Free Hosting in 2009

[JonnyH]

I think what jonny meant was, dont expect to make a profit when you start a free web host. But if you do make a profit, just consider that as a bonus. Because if you expect to make profit, you will just be disappointed and will loose your passion, that could be then the beginning of your free host's downfall.

Zac

+1
Too short.

 

[[AS]Richard]

Solely for fun? I don't really think so...I mean, after a while you're going to need to monetize your sites instead of just pulling money out of your pocket!

 

[JonnyH]

Solely for fun? I don't really think so...I mean, after a while you're going to need to monetize your sites instead of just pulling money out of your pocket!

How many hosts have you seen who make a profit? Not many, at all.

Pulling money from a free host is bonus, I don't care what anyone says. A free host is a good step to go to for experience in this area. 3 years of experience certainly built me into what I am now.

For a new host to get new clients is hard, especially with the market now. You get the inexperienced hosts gaining all the clients with their ridiculous offers and then loosing them because something goes wrong in the line.

To keep free hosting you have to your finances backed, I made a bad mistake with that. You need to have a business plan sorted, backup plans and the server admin needs to be very active to keep checking up on the various threats that can occur to the server.

All this costs money and it's hard to gain that money back.

 

[TSO]

I must respectfully disagree, Jonny`. In the past 3 years, I've launched many free hosting services, some successful and some not. However, those that are still around (even the ones I no longer own) are doing quite well - and some of them are quite profitable. Need proof? Take a look at freewaywebhost.com, freezoka.com, 07x.net, and 900megs.com, among others. These are all free hosts that I founded, built up to be profitable, sold, and which still remain profitable.

It takes a lot of hard work, but it is definitely possible.

 

[JonnyH]

I must respectfully disagree, Jonny`. In the past 3 years, I've launched many free hosting services, some successful and some not. However, those that are still around (even the ones I no longer own) are doing quite well - and some of them are quite profitable. Need proof? Take a look at freewaywebhost.com, freezoka.com, 07x.net, and 900megs.com, among others. These are all free hosts that I founded, built up to be profitable, sold, and which still remain profitable.

It takes a lot of hard work, but it is definitely possible.

Never said it wasn't possible, but you just needed to be exceptionally good at it and experienced. Which I was not when was working with KwiX, I really wasn't in it for the money. Just the community and fun of it.

People like you TSO who have done this many many times will probably get a respectable profit on the hosts you set up because you know how and you've done it before. Inexperienced users who just use the P2H model and use costly cPanel servers will more than likely not without a lot of work and clients.

 

[dbbrock1]

I really dont think much has changed in the free hosting, shared hosting market. This kind of overselling/out doing the competition has been going on ever since I entered the market in 2001/2002. The only difference is the numbers in the plans really.