Is free web hosting a good idea, & if so, what is the best service?

[Anthony]

my friend wants to make a website for free to sell her art

[Tai]

Yes, its good. If you want to use script-things (if you aren't a programmer a don't recommend you this), then the best site in my opinion is 000webhost.com . If you want to have a site builder, then i recommend you weebly.com or webs.com hosting.

[austinresident]

Free web hosting is ok as long as you are getting basic options like being able to accept payments online and you have way to generate traffic for you site. Free blogs are like websites, for example blogger from google.

[Pro Graphics]

Many 'Free' web hosting companies require that you have a certain number of visitors per month or log into your account every 3-weeks or they will take down the site. (Read: Do your homework.) Or, you have to let them place advertising on your website. (Flashing banner ads 'free' hosting companies use will turn your visitors away.)

An alternative is $1/month web hosting. http://www.1dollar-webhosting.com/1dollarwebhosting.htm

For only a dollar a month you can have premium web hosting without all the restrictions and advertising 'free' hosting companies require. You'll need to purchase a domain name, too.

The best 'free' hosting company is wix.com
http://www.wix.com
They offer free html5 templates, a free site builder, a free sub-domain name, almost no advertising (no flashing advertising banners) and you don't have to log-in each month.

[RH-Calvin]

Free hosting is not a good idea if you are into a serious website business. It is a good idea when you are just a beginner and want to experiment your hosting before you get a paid hosting. Free hosting comes with variety of advertisements and they always do not respond quick to your support tickets.

[Bruce]

You can check out the free web hosting http://hostfreeweb.net/ It is free and no ads!

[hendro]

not good for seirious business. free hosting have uniq visitor limitation.
if your web have more than 1k uniq visitor per day, your web will down (not accessable)

[Alexandrina]

Initially starting a free website is the good ideas because you will have mistakes initially which you cannot afford in your own domain.After improving it when you start getting visitors then you can redirect it to your purchased domain name which is a good option.

[Mary]

I can recommend http://www.handzon.com, it is not free but you can get it for as low as $7 per month, which includes hosting. Their website builder is good and easy to use, with a great tutorial for training. I have used handzon.com for the past two years for all my clients.

They give a 15-day free trial, and also a free consultation, so you can check them out with it costing you anything.

Good luck,

Mary Carmichael