Downgraded to Free

ozzie · #1 (**permalink**) 27-10-2006, 05:28 AM

Today I downgraded my website at Tripod from a cheap paid site to a free site. I believe the only difference is that now I will have their annoying ads and pop-ups on my site in addition to my own ads.

A lot of people told me that they didn't think Tripod was worth paying for and I guess I finally believed it. I did a lot of hunting and agree with others that there are much better places to have your website, whether it's free or paid.

It was still a little sad to do this for some reason.

monaghan · #2 (**permalink**) 27-10-2006, 08:19 AM

Wow, lots of ads, are they all Tripod ads or are some your own ?

PS Love the cat

triumph · #3 (**permalink**) 27-10-2006, 11:10 PM

I did not even know tripod was still around. May I ask why you downgraded? How much were you paying before? I do not think Tripod would be my first choice for a free or paid site, especially if I were the least bit serious.

Since you can get dirt cheap affordable hosting now, it doesn't really make sense to lessen your site with someone else's adverts.

ozzie · #4 (**permalink**) 28-10-2006, 06:30 AM

Some of the ads are theirs and some are mine.

I downgraded to free because of the reasons you listed Triumph and more reasons too.

I was paying $5 per month not to have any of their ads on my site.

I'm currently working on other locations and am using my own domain name at one of them which is another reason I downgraded.

I'd like to move most of the site but I don't know how.

Spinlock · #5 (**permalink**) 28-10-2006, 08:01 AM

Well, it should be as simple as downloading the entirety of your current site through FTP, and uploading it to the new host also using FTP. If the site is well-designed, it shouldn't be a headache at all.

What do I mean by "well-designed?" Well, that means that internal links, the ones from page to page to page on your own site, should be relative. In other works, a link to an image should read "/images/nameofimage.jpg" instead of "your.domain.name/images/nameofimage.jpg".

There are other things involved, but it's nothing too difficult. As with anything else, it's a question of how much work do you want to put into it, and how much time do you really have to do it.

ozzie · #6 (**permalink**) 28-10-2006, 08:02 PM

Thank you for your reply. I'll look into this further. I may decided to save certain portions of the site and let the rest of it go. I could also leave it as it is and start over with a totally different site. Haven't decided yet what I want to do.

monaghan · #7 (**permalink**) 28-10-2006, 10:26 PM

Most decent hosts would help you move your site

paperclip · #8 (**permalink**) 29-10-2006, 04:31 AM

I personally was not aware that tripod was still around. Even when I was aware of their existance, I never heard good things about them.

Hoosierhunter · #9 (**permalink**) 05-11-2006, 01:07 AM

I wouldn't want to have my site on Tripod, even if free. They are way too spammy with the ads.

rox · #10 (**permalink**) 04-12-2006, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozzie

Today I downgraded my website at Tripod from a cheap paid site to a free site. I believe the only difference is that now I will have their annoying ads and pop-ups on my site in addition to my own ads.

A lot of people told me that they didn't think Tripod was worth paying for and I guess I finally believed it. I did a lot of hunting and agree with others that there are much better places to have your website, whether it's free or paid.

It was still a little sad to do this for some reason.

what kind of website do you have ozzie?

JohnR · #11 (**permalink**) 13-12-2006, 03:46 AM

I always seen Tripod and other free hosts as an unprofessional way of starting a site. I have always been that way. I HAVE to pay for it to feel as if I have accomplished something.

monaghan · #12 (**permalink**) 13-12-2006, 08:23 AM

That's the idea of places like Tripod, if you don't need a professional site, you get a freebie

MasterMind · #13 (**permalink**) 14-12-2006, 06:47 AM

I must agree with you, however there are from freebie sites to freebie sites.

Angelfire, Tripod and Lycos are just the same since the beginning, as later Fortune City adding too many popups. Geo Cities and Nefirms are more acceptable regarding displaying ads.

However, there are many bannerless free hosting services, and others with no intrusive text links, which provides in addition PHP or ASP functionality.

Even if you have a clientele or returning surferes to a Tripod site, why stay there when you can create a redirection to an improved free site?

monaghan · #14 (**permalink**) 14-12-2006, 08:05 AM

Ad free free hosting generally tends to require you to visit forums and get exposed to ads and from what I see of the market tends to have a very high failure rate amongst these hosting companies. I'd rather not have to worry whether my host was still up today.

Personally I think you're better off with one of the longer running ad displaying free sites as it saves the hassle of moving regularly, either that or pay for a site.

JohnR · #15 (**permalink**) 15-12-2006, 03:08 AM

I guess its just a 'me' thing then because when I owned a paid hosting site then tried to do the free thing, something didn't feel right. I felt as if I was stooping down to something.

monaghan · #16 (**permalink**) 15-12-2006, 08:39 AM

I'd much rather pay and know the site is up and not have to worry about it, however if I was going for a free one, I'd much rather have a few ads and know that there was a reliable system in place to generate the revenue needed to keep the servers operational than run the risk of the host closing down when he can't pay the bills (which if you follow hosting you tend to see rather too much on both the bottom end of both the free and paid markets).

If there was a guaranteed free site with no ads, then it'd be over-run in no time and all the paid hosts would be out of a job. Until that happens I'll continue renting servers and selling space on them

JohnR · #17 (**permalink**) 16-12-2006, 04:53 AM

You have a pretty nice point there, monaghan. I'd rather pay and put my OWN ads on there and generate my own revenue from my own traffic than making money for the hosting company.

MasterMind · #18 (**permalink**) 18-12-2006, 12:52 AM

Well, I have my own server 2, a couple of paid reseller accounts elsewhere, 1 large shared hosting account (paid), and 3 or 4 free webshosting services, one with a non intrusive text link, and the others totally bannerless with no redirections, pops or other hidden strings attached.

JohnR · #19 (**permalink**) 19-12-2006, 03:28 AM

Wow, may I ask why so many web services? They can't quite be maintainable without a crew.

MasterMind · #20 (**permalink**) 19-12-2006, 06:30 AM

Well I have a family crew, all of us involved on different Internet projects

The server holds two domains with the same name, but different extension.

One is "Big Daddy," referred as copyright holder in the footer of a few hundreds of others domains on my portfolio. The other is the global web development solution for all of them, and people wanting to hire our services.

One reseller account is for hosting such domains on my own, and the other for hosting family and friends with little or none coding experience, hence if they ruin the server my domains will not suffer. LOL

The shared account is on a Windows-based server and provides domains with ASP and ASP.Net functionality, delivering remote features and advertising.

Finally, sites running over free hosting display different content updated automatically via RSS, but backstage they are used for private blogging and share with friends pics and funny stuff.