Web Design and Hosting - Free Web Hosting Perks That Will Perk Up Your Web Site

If you've got or are considering a web hosting account with PHP and mySQL support, you'll find a wealth of free programs and scripts to take advantage of their powerful combined capabilities.

Web hosting providers, from free to pricey, have always included some free pre-installed scripts to their customers in the way of guest books, counters and calendars. If you're shopping around now, though, you'll find that the toys and bells and whistles that you can install on your web pages include hundreds of scripts and applications. You can set up one of dozens of forums, choose from many image galleries and photo albums, and serve classified ads, offer auction listings and dating services - in short, just about anything at all that you can do on the Internet, you can do with a free PHP script from your web hosting provider.

One of the best free services to look for is Fantastico, a web-based script installer that allows you to add any of dozens of free goodies to your web site with just the click of a mouse. If your web hosting provider offers Fantastico with its hosting accounts, you've got access to over a dozen different content management systems, half a dozen user forums, several different blog packages, shopping carts, including Zen Cart and OS Commerce, an easy FAQ maker and six different customer support options so that you can offer help and support on your web site.

Two of the handiest types of free tools that many web hosting companies offer for free are:

Portals and Content Management Systems

Content management systems make it easy for you to add and remove pages and information to and from your web site. Most include modules that let you add discussion boards, shopping carts, polls and instant messaging, as well as user authentication and security to your web site easily. Among the content management systems that your web hosting company may offer for free are Mambo, Post-Nuke, Xoops and Drupal. All are open source software with a lot of user support beyond the support offered by your web hosting company, so there are always new modules and new tricks being offered for all of them.

Blogs

Blogs are online publishing tools that make it easy to update your website as often as you like. They automatically put the latest entries up and move older entries down in the reading queue. One of the most commonly used is WordPress, which many web hosting providers include as a free setup script with your web hosting account.

To view our recommended web hosts, visit, Recommended Web Hosting Companies.

Carrie Reeder is the owner of eZerk, an informational website, with articles and the latest news about various topics.

In The News:

Powered by Feedzilla

Web Hosting: 4 Factors in Choosing a Hosting Company

When choosing a web hosting company there are a whole... Read More

Setting Up Your First Web Hosting Account

The BasicsSetting up a web hosting account for the first... Read More

How To Change Your Web Hosting Provider ? Step-By-Step Guide

Whether you are disgruntled with the level of service your... Read More

Free Or Not Free -- Its Your Choice

The internet is one of the world's top sources of... Read More

How to Start Your Own Hosting Services

If your like many another webmasters you might be thinking... Read More

Linux Web Hosting: The All You Need to Know

Linux web hosting is so named, based on the operating... Read More

Hosting Your Own Web Server: Things to Consider

Are you disgusted or disappointed with your current web host?... Read More

Avoid Getting Ripped Off By A Hosting Company

Chances are if you host multiple domains or websites you... Read More

How to Know When It is Time for Your Website to Move On to Dedicated Servers

Knowing when it is time to move onto a dedicated... Read More

How to Transfer Your Web Site to a New Web Hosting Service?

There are various reasons why an online business owner like... Read More

In Search of Webhosting: First Understand the Industry

In search of a webhosting company for personal or small... Read More

Cheap Internet Hosting, Business Web Hosting - Choosing The Right Web Host Package

With literally hundreds of web hosting providers competing for your... Read More

Multiple Website Hosting - Subdomains are the Answer!

Many business owners find themselves in a quandary over the... Read More

Finding a Home for Your Internet Enterprise - A Point by Point List

After much Net surfing and looking at all the offers... Read More

Cheap Web Hosting is No Bargain

Ever heard the saying "Penny-wise and Dollar-foolish"?Well bargain priced website... Read More

Cheap Web Hosting, What To Look For And What To Stay Away From

"Bargains for sale, Unlimited Hosting for only a Dollar.""Get your... Read More

Reseller Web Hosting - A Cheaper Alternative?

There comes a time when the internet bug hits us... Read More

Nine Things To Know Before Selecting The Web Host For Your Business

It may seem simple yet it is often times overlooked.... Read More

Will All The $1.95 And Free Hosts Survive?

The main thing wrong today with trying to find a... Read More

CHMOD - Undertanding File Permissions on a Unix-Based Server

The basic command for changing file permissions in unix based... Read More

GBs and Gbs of Web Hosting

What is web hosting you ask? Web hosting refers to... Read More

Reseller Hosting Explained

Reseller Defined:The term Reseller according to the dictionary means to... Read More

The Problem With Web Hosting Today

When it comes to web hosting, the quality of the... Read More

What You Should Know About Your Web Host

Yesterday I received a nice email in my inbox, I... Read More

Elements of Web Hosting

When you first start out trying to get a site... Read More