Free Domain Name Different opinions about the matter.

Free domain names

 

Some websites offer a free domain name. Examples are co.cc and cu.cc. There are more options.

 

There are different opinions about a free domain name.

 

First of all is the advantage that the domain name is free. This makes it easy to get one. No dollar is spent in getting a free domain name.

 

Some disadvantages are:

The free domain name looks cheap. Some people think, that a free domain name doesn't look professional.

 

Some virus and malware detecting and website inspection programs offer a message, that the website with a free domain name is infected. The reason is probably, that other people use websites with a free domain name to spread infections, viruses and malware. And the detecting program doesn't see a difference between a website without this kind of malware programs and a thrustful website. The malware detecting program recognizes the same extension and that might be the reason for the detecting program to offer a warning to the browser of an internet surfer.

Free domain names

 

Some websites offer a free domain name. Examples are co.cc and cu.cc. There are more options.

...

i've used .co.cc and was excited about it being free... but i ran through a few problems, not sure if it was my host or domain but there were certain times that my .co.cc domain was unaccessible or return with timeout error or can't reach error by the browser

 

have you used their service? how was your experience if so?

There are rumours that the search websites like Google don't expose a website with a free domain name. When this is true and if the rank of a website and wether a website appears high in the search results depends of the links that point to the website and of the amount of visitors to a website it is possible that a website with a free domain name won't be shown by Google and if Google would show it the website would probably not turn up on the first results page of Google. The reason would be that a free domain name is longer and unknown compared to a always used website name extension. .Com seems to be still the most used extension. This extension is the most know as well.A lot of issues and problems appear that don't exists or show up less with paid domain name extensions. The reliability and the down time and the reachability are probably not as good compared to domain names with paid registrar name extentions.Some people on the internet say that a free domain name can be used for short projects, like for school. A free domain name can be used for experimental reasons too.It is possible to use a free domain name to see how a website works and if it is going to be succesful. A free domain name can be used at the start of a website to see if people will visit the website. This means that the starter of the website doesn't need to pay for the domain name. The website owner doesn't loose money when the website turns out to be unsuccesful. And when the website master decides to take the website off line there no money is lost.The disadvantages are huge though. When the website turns out to be a relative succes and when the website is visited by a reasonable amount of people or when the visitors are very much appreciated by the website owner apart from the number of visitors the name of the website gets know a little bit. When the website owner decides to change to a paid name in order to look more professional and to get a more reliable domain name service and to be more easily found and to get known by search websites some problems arise.It is most likely that the website needs to be rebuilt again with the new paid domain name. The people who visited the website with the free domain name have to be told the new domain name. And the visitors have to switch from using the old free domain name to the new domain name with the .com or otherwise used extension.This can be a problem. People might get frustrated and disappointed by the changes that are made with the name of the website. The good rechievement the website got in the start can be ruined in a little way.The advantage is that the webmaster has a better idea about the amount of visitors the website attracts. The website owner can have like an idea about the appreciation of the website. This means the website builder can make a judgement to see if the money that needs to be paid for a well known domain name with a commercial extension is worth the advantages.It is possible that a free domain name is only useful in very rare occasions.

Edited June 13, 2011 by zenia (see edit history)

Why not just use subdomains provided by free hosting service?With a free domain, you unlikely to stick to it for many years. So, what's the difference from having a subdomain here?Maybe a free domain looks a bit more pretty than subdomain, but you will eventually lost it after a year or two, so, it doesn't matter at all.