New Jersey – June 9, 2011 – HostSEO.org gives webmasters the ability to assign unique class C-IP’s to each domain. Each Class C-IP address costs $5, which great considering you receive 20GB of space and 2000 GB of bandwidth as well as an instant backup service.  There is no limit to the amount of unique class C-IP’s one could buy and the amount of domains one could have on each class C-IP. However, in order to get the full value of SEO hosting each domain should have its own IP. Another benefit to using the SEO web hosting service is that you could manage all your domains under one WHM account.  In addition, just like Backlink Build, HostSEO.org has a live chat feature to help users who are new to SEO and SEO web hosting.

Hosting on Unique IP’s determines how well a webmaster can increase his search engine rankings. It’s no secret that all major search engines, including Google, partially determine your website ranking based on the sites that link to you; and webmasters typically have multiple sites linked together to improve their backlink hits. The more times web users hit the backlinks the more the higher the website ranking; however, the ingenuity  of search engines allowed them to determine if your sites are all hosted under the same server. Therefore, search engines will not rank increase your website ranking if they find out all of your sites under the same server. Nevertheless, HostSEO.org allows you to host all of your websites from one server but on unique class C-IP’s. Search engines cannot determine whether your sites are on the same server, thereby allowing you to pass link juice when linking your sites.

Additional Services offered by all HostSEO.org Plans:

• cPanel and WHM Control Panel
• Private Name Server Support
• Unlimited MySQL Databases, Domains, Email Accounts, and cPanel Accounts
• PHP, MySQL, CGI/Perl & Python Support
• One-Click Script Installer
• Advanced Stats / Logs
• CRON Job Support
• 24x7x365 Support
• Premium Network
• No Contract and money Back Guarantee
• 99.9% Uptime Guarantee

Backlink Build, a web development and SEO expert company, was founded in 2009 and has since developed relationships with over 400 clients engaging in numerous niches. The company’s website offers unique and highly integrated SEO packages with a combination of backlinks, blogging, social bookmarking, and directory submissions. T35 Hosting was founded in 1997 as a free web hosting company. Currently, it boasts a total of 1.8 million customers and it continues to grow every day. It also offers paid web hosting services with unlimited domain hosting.

In an age where companies spend tens of thousands of dollars just to rank a few spots higher in google, SEO Hosting gives you a relatively cost-effective way to achieve your goals. Sounds like something that you might be interested in? Check out our new SEO Hosting site: HostSEO.org.

Unlimited Space & Bandwidth
In most cases you are getting a free web hosting account to avoid paying for hosting. The last thing you want to happen is for you to have a free page up for a few days and then be hit with an “out of space – please pay to upgrade”. Free web hosts usually place ads on your pages and make more money the more space and bandwidth you use. Thus, they shouldn’t have a problem with offering unlimited space & bandwidth for free (without using that to force you to upgrade).

Limited Non-Intrusive Ads
These days most free web hosts can get by from very limited ads either on the 404 pages or on the footers of your pages. You shouldn’t need to have your entire site covered by your hosts banner ads and pop-ups to get a decent hosting account. You should also stay away from hosts that have absolutely no ads. These hosts are obviously not generating any revenue and won’t be able to stay in business and pay for their expenses for long.

An Established Company
It’s become so easy to start a free web host that companies can easily seem great one day and then disappear the next. This is especially the case since the service being offered is “free” and requires very limited expertise to get started. Make sure your web host is well established and has been around offering free web hosting for a while. Several companies like, T35 Hosting, have been offering free web hosting services for over 12 years.

Uploading Your Site
The most important feature you will use from any free web host is the uploading feature. This is how you will upload your initial site and make any future changes. Make sure your host has several options to upload and edit your files like FTP and an online file manager (when you are away from home and don’t have an ftp application installed).

Reliable Support
The last thing you expect from your new web host is for things to break or not work, but unfortunately that is sometimes the case. When this happens, the only one there to help you is the host’s support team. Compare web hosts and make sure you use one that offers a comprehensive support system. Features to look for include a helpdesk, support forum, and a live chat. If the host has a forum make sure to visit it to see how active it is and how quickly requests are answered.

Well, even the might Yahoo! no longer wants anything to do with free web hosting. For those that were online in the 1990′s, you might recall that Yahoo! spent over $2.87 billion to buy geocities. That’s right folks, say that number outloud to yourselves. $2.87 BILLION dollars. Not to mention that $2.87B in 1999 dollars would equal well over $3 BILLION today. Ironically enough, the value of the entire Yahoo! corporation was down to as low as $12B earlier this year.

Geocities was one of the original web hosts, and was actually one of the few that was started before T35. I actually enjoyed competing with them over the years (as opposed to competing with Google and all the dirty tricks they use). Here’s the official and final word from the Geocities folks themselves:

Sorry, new GeoCities accounts are no longer available. After careful consideration, we have decided to close GeoCities later this year. We’ll share more details this summer.

Dear User,
As announced on the 26th of November 2008 the portal and webhosting activities of the Lycos Europe GmbH will be discontinued. Unfortunately, the free hosting service Tripod is effected. For this reason we are hereby terminating your Tripod Account as of 15th February 2009. Until the 15th February you can use your Tripod account and your Homepage as usual. After this date we will close your account and delete all your content which was stored on Tripod in accordance with legal requirements. After this date it will be ímpossible to view your Homepage in the internet or to do a Backup using FTP from your page because the content will be unrecoverably deleted. That is why we advise you to to backup all necessary data in the near future from your Tripod Account on your hard drive and if wanted to upload it to another homepage provider. Please keep in mind that we do not offer any support for the free homepages neither by phone nor by email for upcoming questions. Because of this reason we created a short description how to backup your data. We regret having to take this step and we want to thank you for your confidence in the past. Currently, we are still working on finding a solution to provide you the service through another provider. If we should succeed in doing so, we will inform you within the next 4 weeks. But as this is currently doubtful, we would like to ask you to assume the end of the service. Despite the sad news we wish you and your family a successful 2009.
Best wishes,
Your Lycos Tripod Team

For those who read my “What happened to free web hosting?” post from last year, Tripod was one of the few that was actually still around and operating. I guess I spoke too soon though. Although I haven’t used my tripod account in half a decade, it’s still sad to see another iconic 90′s free web host close it’s doors.

*UPDATE* I am still trying confirm if this applies to all of tripod, or only the European operations (tripod.co.uk). If anyone knows, please feel free to chime in.

Yes, it’s normal that bloggers often face dilemma when it comes to hosting. While different bloggers have different answers for the question; one can’t deny that not every blog needs to be hosted on its own hosting with a unique domain name. As a matter of fact, there are tons of successful blogs do not run on its own hosting – SethGodin.typepad.com, BrandAutopsy.typepad.com, and PhotoshopDisasters.blogspot.com for example are some of the typical example.

Comparing blogs on third-party platform and blogs with own domains

When deciding which way to go with, these are the major five factors that should be considered.

Operating cost

The best part of operating a blog on a free platform is, well, FREE. Hosting blogs on a third party platform like WordPress or Blogspot is totally free of charge; a blog with its own domain is otherwise. Web hosting fees and domain renewal cost are the basic expenditures for blog with its own domain.

Flexibility

Free things often come with a catch-22. In our case, major disadvantage behind a free blog is the flexibility. For example, you have zero controls on the cgi-bin or .htaccess file of a WordPress blog, which means there is huge level of limitations in term of blog’s outlook and functionality designs.

Blog Maintenance

Are you good with computers? Or, are you willing to learn further in website hosting? Do you have enough free time for your blog?

Think twice about hosting a blog yourself if the answer is ‘no’. Hosting a blog on its own domain simply means more maintenance tasks. PHP and database configuration, blog software installation, server side configuration (like robots.txt and .htaccess) – these are the basics for any blogs that run on its own domain/hosting.

Branding

Generally speaking, a blog with its own domain has more advantages when it comes to branding and marketing. A free blog’s long URL (like myfirstblog.wordpress.com) is ugly and hard to remember; plus a free blog often project a part-timer or amateur image online.

Yes we can’t deny that Seth’s and John’s blogs on TypePad are extremely successful but let’s not forget that these two clever minds are well known “brands” before they started their blogs.

Monetizing

Monetizing your blog might not be a big issue here unless you are looking forward to sell your blog in future. Most individual bloggers make money via selling advertisement space (banners or text links) and writing reviews – which are available for both ways of blogging.

Is free blog for you, or other wise?

Now the question is: Where should you run your blog?

Summing up factors listed above, there are a few scenarios when you should go with a free blog instead of its own domain. Non-techies, hobbyists, and students with limited time or budget are recommended to go with free blogging. There are plenty of good free blogging platform around and here are a quick list of some.

On the other hand, if you need a blog with better flexibility and branding potential, then a blog with its own domain/hosting is for you.

Do note that hosting nowadays is much cheaper than before. Most wonderful hosting services (T35 for example) charge less than $10/month – it’s so cheap that most webmasters own more than just one hosting account. Remember, a free blog on Blogspot or WordPress is like house renting – your blog simply borrows the hosting space owned by other bigger websites; while blogs with own domain is like properties in real world. If you can afford $10 on a monthly basis, why don’t take up the full ownership of your blog? In case you need help in choosing the right hosting, check out my web hosting reviews.

Guest post by Jerry Low of Web Hosting Secret Revealed.

• Take advantage of web host directory listings: The yellow pages of the web, directory listings are a godsend to both clients looking for services and products and for the business houses offering them. Their search is narrowed down to a few sites rather than the entire Internet. Advertise on various directories to widen your reach; while some charge for services provided, others let you list your site for free. Directory listings also improve your search engine ranking.
• Use web hosting forums effectively: While most forums expect you to follow their rules and not include links to your site inside your post, you are allowed to use links in your signature. Make your presence felt on various forums by contributing intelligently to the threads of conversation and simultaneously getting a ton of free publicity in return.
• Use search engines to propagate their services: Paid or unpaid, it pays to show up on the top 20 search returns in popular search engines. It takes a lot of effort and time to design a webpage with the right meta tags that’s optimized for search engines, but with the right designer and writer, you can establish yourself among the best in the business. As your popularity grows and other sites link to you, your ranking climbs higher on search engines.
• Some CPC advertising helps: Advertise your site on other sites that deal in related topics, services and products – like those that offer web design and development services. Users who visit these sites are likely to be looking for a web host and you may just be the one they choose. Cost Per Click advertising works out to be a cost effective option because you pay only when someone actually clicks on your link and not otherwise.
• Offer services for free: If you’re just starting out, it pays to offer small businesses free hosting services in return for your advertisement on their site. Viral marketing as it’s called is a very effective marketing tool on the Internet for most businesses and works really well for web hosting in particular.

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of top web design schools.

We have already compiled a manual list of over 80 unique free web hosting. Each host is individually and extensively reviewed. In fact, we create a hosting account on each and every free web host to personally test out and confirm the promised features and performance. We then not only categorize the hosts, but also provide detailed (and standardized) information on the features (like php, mysql, etc.. ). We also personally rank each host on a scale of 0 to 10 (and when you go to our site, the hosts are displayed in the ranked order by default, unless you rather see it alphabetical, etc..).
You can search through our free web host database either alphabetically (by clicking the letter at the top of every page), by categories (PHP Hosting, MySQL Hosting, Domain Hosting), or by searching the entire database. Out of the 120 active free web hosts we identified at the beginning of this project, we have personally reviewed over 90. I am hoping we can finish all 120 by the end of the summer! If you have ever used any of these hosts, please stop by the new site and submit a quick review to help your fellow web host users: Free Hosting Directory.

For informational purposes I have included the php version and the max execution time for each individual host. If you want to know even more, I linked the version number of each host to a detailed php information file (hosted on that specific host).

On a more personal note, I am somewhat disappointed at T35 Hosting’s mediocre performance. Rest assured we will be taking steps in the next few weeks to improve our services! This comparison took almost 10 hours to complete, so comments and feedback is very appreciated.

Web Host	Space/BW	PHP Info	Benchmark (Lower is better)
110mb	Space: 5 Gigs Bandwidth: 300 Gigs	Version: 5.1.6 Max Exec: 15 seconds	Average 44 ms Lowest 41 ms Highest 46 ms
x10Hosting	Space: 100 Megs Bandwidth: 3 Gigs	Version: 5.2.3 Max Exec: 10 seconds	Average 47 ms Lowest 38 ms Highest 52 ms
T35 Hosting	Space: Unlimited Bandwidth: Unlimited	Version: 5.2.0 Max Exec: 15 seconds	Average 57 ms Lowest 50 ms Highest 67 ms
FreeHostia	Space: 250 Megs Bandwidth: 5 Gigs	Version: 4.4.0 Max Exec: 30 seconds	Average 57 ms Lowest 53 ms Highest 62 ms
12gbFree	Space: 12 Gigs Bandwidth: 25 Gigs	Version: 5.1.6 Max Exec: 20 seconds	Average 61 ms Lowest 52 ms Highest 65 ms
100Webspace	Space: 100 Megs Bandwidth: 3 Gigs	Version: 4.4.0 Max Exec: 30 seconds	Average 77 ms Lowest 72 ms Highest 93 ms
lycos.tripod	Space: 1 Gigs Bandwidth: Unlimited	Version: 4.4.6 Max Exec: 10 seconds	Average 168 ms Lowest 136 ms Highest 227 ms
Freewebs	Space: 40 Megs Bandwidth: 500 Megs	No Longer offers PHP

First a little background, including the difference between unlimited and un-metered.

Unlimited space and bandwidth is something that has been around since the beginning of web hosting. A web host usually offers this as a way to attract customers, while at the same time hoping that nobody uses any significant amounts of space or bandwidth. Unfortunately, many hosts offered such a service with the intention of terminating accounts that used more than a few megabytes of space or bandwidth. Thus in the late 90’s there was a significant customer backlash to companies offering “unlimited plans”. As a result, many hosts started clarifying that they didn’t offer “unlimited plans” but instead were offering “un-metered” plans. The difference they claimed is that they just didn’t meter or keep tack of bandwidth usage on the servers.

The present day situation

Almost half a decade later, it now feels like we are experiencing a second coming of the unlimited/unmetered backlash. What’s interesting is there are companies, like T35 for example, that still offer unlimited plans without any intention of deleting accounts that use a lot of resources. In fact, many companies have found ways to offer these plans by placing restrictions on other features to keep everything balanced. At T35 Hosting for example, we limit file sizes to 512kb. That makes it hard for a customer to use tens of gigabytes of space for legitimate reasons (although we do have a few using over 10gb). Unfortunately, the hosts that have abused the unlimited/unmetered offerings seemed to have ruined it for everyone. We now find ourselves at a point where we can’t even advertise these kind of plans in some of the largest webmaster forums on the ‘net!

What now?

All of this reminds me of the automobile industry, where based on bad experiences in the 1980’s, Americans have come to associate hatchbacks with something very negative — making it very hard for any car company to successfully launch such a car. I wonder if the hosting industry has come to a point where we need to re-brand unlimited plans to something that would make them more marketable? Kind of like calling hatchbacks “sports wagons” (audi a3, etc..). What do you guys think? Are unlimited and un-metered plans still worth keeping around? Are the companies offering hundreads of gigabytes (or even Terabytes) of resources the new “unlimited” web hosts?

FortuneCity
Late 90s Alex Ranking: ~ #200 Free Hosting? 100mb	Today Alex Ranking: #1,660 Free Hosting? No
FortuneCity, founded in 1997, was one of the first free web hosting providers. They also grew to become one of the largest, consistently ranking in the top 200 web properties in the world. These days they have completely dropped their free web hosting plan (which used to be the only service they offered). Their new site looks sleek, but the paid hosting plans (and prices) are nothing to write home about.

Geocities
Late 90s Alex Ranking: ~ #100 Free Hosting? 5mb	Today Alex Ranking: #70 Free Hosting? 15mb
Geocities is perhaps one of the most well known free hosts. So popular in fact, that it eventually got Yahoo’s attention and was purchased in early 2000. Re-branded as Yahoo! Geocities, it now caters towards paid business plans, although a 15mb free hosting plan is still offered.

Hypermart
Late 90s Alex Ranking: ~ #150 Free Hosting? 75mb	Today Alex Ranking: #18,931 Free Hosting? No
Although Hypermart was relatively late to the scene in 1999, it became a quick favorite by offering a whopping 75mb of space. Unfortunately it has since stopped providing its free web hosting plan. In a somewhat botched maneuver they attempted to force-convert their free members to paid accounts. Since the late 90s they have went from being in the top 150 web properties to barely making the top 20,000.

Xoom
Late 90s Alex Ranking: ~ #500 Free Hosting? 500mb	Today Alex Ranking: #26,384 Free Hosting? No
Xoom was also a fairly popular free web host that got a significant boost when it was purchased by NBC in 2000. Unfortunately the new management had very little experience in running a web host. The company soon failed and closed up shop. The domain itself was unused for years until recently when it was purchased by paypal-like company.

Crosswinds
Late 90s Alex Ranking: ~ #1000 Free Hosting? Unlimited	Today Alex Ranking: #161,001 Free Hosting? No
A medium-sized web host, Crosswinds eventually gave up on its free hosting offerings. Today it’s a regular paid hosting provider and its rankings have consequently dropped from 1,000 to not even cracking the top 100,000. There are rumors of the company bringing back its free hosting operation, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

T35 Hosting
Late 90s Alex Ranking: ~ #2,000 Free Hosting? 35mb	Today Alex Ranking: #5,000 Free Hosting? Unlimited
Although T35 Hosting was never as big as Fortunecities and never had the financial backing of NBC-Xoom, it has surprisingly survived where most others have failed.

A quick look at this list shows a very pessimistic view of the once flourishing free hosting industry. Some of the biggest names in the industry have closed up shop and have repositioned themselves as paid hosting providers. Even companies with deep financial pockets (like NBC-Xoom) have folded under the pressure. What do you guys think? Is there one common link that caused the downfall of so many of these companies? Is this really the end of the free web hosting era? What does it take to survive as a free web host in the 21st century?