| The options are many, the price lists
are as confusing as comparing the Computer prices! Hosting charges are
also coming down while facilities & features are improving.
If all you need is a simple 15 page information site with a form
mailer options. One option you should consider first is free hosting.
Free Hosting
It is not a looked down option as earlier. Like other things, it has
also improved. An ideal platform if you want to test the waters before
taking a plunge. Total cost of hosting - Rs.0. (Or $0, if you
like!) First your ISP - If you have an internet connection,
chances are you already have free web space provided by your
Internet Service Provider. The size may not be large, just between
1MB to 5MB, but more than enough for most applications. (i.e., no
online-shopping, no database). The biggest advantage is lack of
advts. inserted by the host. The biggest disadvantage is long,
obscure domain names. Something like www.your isp.com/members/your
city?/yourname. But you can have simple domain names from domain
name pointing services. (See Domain Name Regn.) Indian free
hosts - Again the size will be just around 5MB. The biggest
advantage is speed of the link. Long domain names are the
disadvantage which you may work around. There will be advts. on
top of every page, inserted by the host. Free Hosts all over -
They are mostly US based. Size can be anything from 5MB to 30MB.
The biggest advantage is size, even ASP & Databases (limited
capacity) are available. The disadvantage will be ads., mostly not
relevant of Indian users. The add-on options are many. You can
have registered domain name (www.yourname.com), even shut off
those advertisements, have full fledged database, multimedia,
all for a fee. If you go for add-ons then you'll find
regular hosts giving you more value for your money. Hosting
Offers
Indian servers are now very advantageous for Indian businesses.
See Hosting in India.
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