Free host brand loyalty

[TSO]

To those of you who swear by the use of free hosting.... are you loyal to certain brands/companies? Or do you hop around to whoever has the best deal at the moment?

In what I see, it seems like the latter is true for most people, but then things aren't always what they seem.

Any input is appreciated! Thanks guys! :)

[relix]

Well i say it depends on your current host. I say that if you host is hardly giving you anything and his server is slow or keeps crashing, move. But if you are on a stable host with good speeds than stay there!

[AMC]

Hopping around for me is a major problem, and i dont like doing it unless it becomes a necessity, furthermore, finding a truly reliable host so far has been truly difficult, the best i have heard of so far might be zoomcities, although Cybertoads is also very good

so yeah the answer is i am ( or was ) loyal, although that question is now somewhat redundant as i now host myself

[alley]

If you find one that is good for you and reliable, then there is no need to move.

[goblin77]

If you find one that is good for you and reliable, then there is no need to move.
Agree with you completely. It's not easy to find a reliable hosting but if you have found it stick to it.

[TSO]

So I gather from this that some sort of brand loyalty does exist then?

With that assumption, what qualities make you choose a certain free host? And once you're there, what qualities make you stay with that host?

[0island-jeff]

From experience and customer feedback, all the qualities that make a good paid host comes hand-in-hand with a free host as well. That includes, but not limited to, good support, solid uptime, fast servers, etc.

If you can give your users a reason not to switch out, they will stay with you until they no longer need hosting. ;)

[JonnyH]

^ Like said above, if there isn't a reason to switch, why switch?

Personally, I try to answer peoples questions, help them and keep the servers running the best I can. We sometimes get random errors like we did a couple of days ago. So far we're getting alot of praise and can't wait to see what the future brings for us. I hope we stay as long in the free hosting market as long as some of you guys have.

[AMC]

yeah thats true, one more thing that helps with a lot of customers is human contact ( via email), it re-personalises the client/provider relationship and makes the clients feel individually valued

[TSO]

Thanks for the info, guys! Please --- keep it coming! :)

[AMC]

I think the key is a dedicated team of partners and support staff, you will never be able to run an efficient host by yourself ( or at least not when it gets big :P)

it helps if you have a max of say 3 people helping, though 2 or even 1 is a more prefferable number, 2 helping hands allows: rapid support response ( helps if you partner with someone in a different timezone) it also means that in a crisis, the sheer volume of problems can be delt with faster, and it means the load isnt to heavy, which might encourage you to stick around :)

[Jan]

I have stuck with tripod and geocities for over 8 years :p

[TSO]

I have stuck with tripod and geocities for over 8 years :p

You're still happy with them??? :eek:

[Jan]

You're still happy with them??? :eek:
Heh, my original sites are still there after all this time. I have been using paid hosting for six years, but many people had links to my sites and as there were too many to chase up when I switched to my own domain and paid hosting. I just redirected all the links on all pages to my domain name. My stats still show a heap of links coming from tripod and geocities from those who bookmarked or linked to the free hosting sites.

If any of you can top the longevity of those two, you'll be doing well :wave: Something to aim for ;)

[Robbeh]

It's like my flat (apartment) I think. It's too small, the rent's a complete rip off, the walk to the station is too far, and odd neighbours.

But will I move? Nope, can't be bothered to put all my stuff in boxes, move it somewhere else, unpack all my stuff, get ADSL and television sorted at the other end.

I'm not "loyal" to my landlord - just lazy.

Think it's the same with a webhost really, most may consider moving but it's a lot of effort....

[AMC]

it slightly easier to move webhosts than houses :p it all depends on how much your host pisses you off.

[Robbeh]

I donno, re-doing all those config scripts, bringing over databases - and I run a load of perl scripts - nightmare to move, then there's all that downtime!

Then again I put up with living next door to an ambulance station...
neeeeeeenorrrrrrrrrrr
neeeeeeeeeeenooooooorrrrr
all bloody night, so what do I know!

[TSO]

Heh, my original sites are still there after all this time. I have been using paid hosting for six years, but many people had links to my sites and as there were too many to chase up when I switched to my own domain and paid hosting. I just redirected all the links on all pages to my domain name. My stats still show a heap of links coming from tripod and geocities from those who bookmarked or linked to the free hosting sites.

If any of you can top the longevity of those two, you'll be doing well :wave: Something to aim for ;)
Believe me, I'm in this for keeps! :)

And I can understand now why you kept your accounts - it makes perfect sense. Do they still make you login every 60 or so days to make sure the account stays activated?

[Jan]

Do they still make you login every 60 or so days to make sure the account stays activated?
I'm not sure they did back then even, but then I was adding to it all the time anyway. But I haven't logged in to either for at least 5 years.

[TSO]

Interesting. I kept getting emails about mine (GeoCities) awhile back, and disregarded them (I'm stupid like that). A few months ago, I checked in on the site and my account was disabled! I now take emails like that a little more seriously! :p

[Jan]

I read your reply in email and went to my domain name (for the geocities site which was transferred over) and checked stats. Of the last 20 referrals, 7 came from my geocities site. I haven't logged into yahoo mail in years :)

Edit: I was gonna try, but I have no idea of my username or password :redface:

[alley]

The first website I ever created was on Yahoo geocities and I did the same thing when I moved my websites to different hosts. I just left the old Yahoo pages up as redirect pages. They are still there.

[TSO]

^^ Weird, indeed!