The size of a Web site depends on its contents. In general, text contents occupy the least space on Web followed by graphic contents and then multimedia contents. In other words, if your Web site contains video or audio contents, it requires more storage space than a Web site that contains a few text pages and/or graphic contents. Similarly social media Web sites that contain Web 2.0 services and forums are likely to eat up more space on the Web.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred over a particular Internet connection in a given time. Web hosting services providers fix the bandwidth limit based on the amount of data transferred per month. However, in most of the cases, Website owners do not have an idea of how much bandwidth they require for a month.

You can get an estimate of the bandwidth by doing the following assessments about your Web site.

First, estimate the approximate number of users that may access your Web site in a month. Secondly, count the number of pages that are likely to be accessed by them. Next, estimate the average size of an HTML file and the total size of the images included in one page. To estimate the bandwidth, multiply the number of users with the average size of the HTML file plus the combined sized of the graphic files. Whatever value you got has to be again multiplied with the number of pages in your Web page. This number should give you the approximate bandwidth required for your Website per month. However, it is advised that you opt for a bandwidth plan that would offer a higher limit.

However, while estimating the bandwidth, you should remember that one user might not access all the pages of a Web site at a time. Therefore, while estimating the bandwidth by the above method, you must assume that only a few percent of the total visitors of the Web site access all pages. For instance, if you have 5,000 visitors per month to your 50-page Web page, you may assume that only 10 percent of the visitors access 50 pages a month.

After getting the approximate value for the bandwidth, you may approach a Web hosting provider that offers convenient bandwidth and usage package for your Website. While accepting the service, you have to consider many aspects. Firstly, the Web hosting services offered should be upgradeable without any additional cost. For example, if your 50-page Web sites is upgraded to an 80-page Web site after a few days, you should be in a position to host the site from the same server without additional investment. To be on a safer side, always choose a hosting provider who offers flexible packages.

Another aspect to be considered is the credibility of the Web hosting service. There are many Web hosting services providers that claim to offer ‘unlimited bandwidth’ under certain conditions. However, the truth is that there is no concept like unlimited bandwidth. The bandwidth, in short, refers to the quantity of data that can be allowed through a network. While the Internet service provider itself has limitations over data, how can a hosting provider offer unlimited bandwidth service?

In general, it is important that you choose the hosting provider after verifying all the claims made by them. Read the guidelines and user policy carefully before signing a contract with them.

There are a lot of great free web hosting solutions out there, but it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you. People who are going to have websites for the first time an open an account in any free hosting websites. You can either point your domain to the free host or create your open sub domain with the host. It’s important to remember that free web hosting services are not for everyone; sometimes you need to spend money to make money.

How do they offer free web hosting? The answer to this question is simple. They place advertisements on your website at the top, bottom or anywhere in your webpage. They get money from the clicks generated from the advertisements on your website. Most of the hosts give pop up advertising which will be really irritating to some users. But this is their normal earning factor.

Is there any limitations? Yes, there might be many limitations. If you have signed up for a free hosting account, it might take 1 hour to 1 week to get your account activated. Many of the free web hosts approve new accounts manually. Since it is free, there won’t be any PHP, MySql, ASP support. The numbers of email IDs, FTP accounts are also limited. Most of the web host won’t give you the possibility to add additional domains to your account. All files are not supported for uploading to the server. Most of the hosts don’t allow you to upload compressed zip files for security reasons. Use a search engine to find your free web host.

There are also many forum based websites which offer post to host features. Here you have to register first to become a member for free. Then you can post in the forum by creating a thread or making a reply to another thread. By doing this you will start accumulating points. These points can be exchanged for a free hosting account. The more you post, the more features you will get in your hosting accounting. You can get more space, bandwidth, e-mail IDs in these websites. This is also an interesting concept. The owner of the website earns by displaying advertisements in the website. Thus, it helps both the owner and the members of the website simultaneously. If you don’t posts regularly in the forum, your account might be suspended.

If you are not satisfied with the free plan, you can upgrade to paid services. Paid services offer customized hosting with good customer support. It’s not necessary to move to a paid account, unless you are not satisfied with the current free services. Free web hosting is fine for a social page, a resume page or even a small website devoted to a celebrity. For business revenue, however, it is not the right choice.