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There are literally hundreds of places out there where you can grab free hosting. Some are OK, some are good, and some are really great. What you're looking for in a free host is one that provides you with:

• cPanel or vDeck so you can navigate easily within your hosting account area. It contains a graphical interface with icons and easy navigation to make management of your site easy and straight forward. You'll need Cpanel if you're a beginner and you'll demand it as a seasoned webmaster.

• Adequate hard drive space for your files (100MB +)

• Sufficient bandwidth (5GB +) If you're ever seen "bandwidth exceeded, please visit again another time" on a blank white page, yep... that site is hosted on a free host. There was too much bandwidth used by that site so the server shut them down. Good for the free host, a virtual slow death for you, your web site and your affiliate income.

• Reasonable SQL limits (3 +) if you're going to be using databases.

• Free scripts such as Simple Scripts, Ruby on Rails, CGI, PHP and Word press (blog) plus others which you might not need in the beginning but might need as your web site grows larger.

• A support forum where you can learn a bunch about the free hosting company such as whether they are taking care of business, answering questions (without attitude), see when the first posts were made, how many have been made to date and what are the majority of concerns about... bandwidth, uptime, customer support etc.

• A bonus is instant activation (no time delay or phone calls to your home) and automatic back-ups in case there's a server issue and your files go... poof!

• Freedom to run a business web site and not just a personal web site. You want to be able to run your affiliate business from the free hosting site otherwise it defeats your purpose.

• No hosting company banners, links or even a reminder to your visitors that you're running your site on a free host. Messages such as "Hosted Free at (name of free host) with a link to the home page is a no-no if you're going to expect to gain any trust from your visitors.

• The ability to have and use your own domain name with no requirement for you to be forced to use their URL and then have your files in a folder such as: vvvvvv.bobsfreehost.com/members/yourfolder/index.html. Owning your own domain name also gives you the ability to move your site to a new host and direct your DNS to the new host.

Something else you can do is to complete a search on the free hosting site you're interested in to see if there are any complaints out there about them. Of if there's issues with them allowing hackers and virus sites to get a free web site which could eventually get you blacklisted by Google for instance because you are on that server too.

One thing to always remember when you're hosting your site or blog on a free host ... you are not a customer, you are a beggar and you're getting something for free. It is a strange relationship, so you want to find a host that runs their hosting as a business not a hand out and who treat you with respect - just as if you are a paying customer!

Are you ready to grab some free web site hosting?

Here's what we did...

We started out with a list of 287 free hosting companies... we then dumped those that allowed either "only personal" or "only business" web sites, then we deleted all the free hosting companies that forced you to plaster their banners all over your web site, or had iframes with ads in them, or had that embarrassing "Hosted Free at" link.

We then looked for the ones that allowed you to use your own domain name or the optional sub domain (vvvvvv.yoursitename.bobsfreehost.com). If they had less then 100 MB's of storage, see-ya later. And lastly, they must allow you to place YOUR own ads on your web site if you choose... if they did not allow you to place your own ads, which means no affiliate banners etc., then into the ol' garbage can they went, deleted, never to be shown on this site.

So after all our evaluating, comparing, and deleting (thanks Margie)... what finally remained was a total of 46 free web site hosting sites that are worth your time and your effort - we've listed the top 10 free web hosts from the original list of 46 for you below. These are the 10 free hosting sites that rose to the top of the list because of what they provide to you - free. 

View the full list of free hosting companies here.

The advantage of a free hosting company is of course it's free, however there may be certain restrictions as mentioned above such as hard drive space, bandwidth, SQL limits or domain usage. There might also be restrictions on how many email accounts you can have. Many provide 3 to 5 which is fine unless you have more employees then there are email addresses available. This would apply even if you run your business from your kitchen table, yet have others who you outsource work to that need to be in contact with your customers.

View the full list of free blog sites here.

Free Hosting and an Affiliate Income - Yep

These companies are reputable and have been around a long time, you've likely already heard of them in the past... so check out the ones you're interested in and you're set. Margie and I host web sites at the three hosting companies highlighted in red, however we've poked around all of the other hosting company sites and are confident that any of them will work just perfectly for you and your new web site and affiliate marketing adventure.

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