As a freelance website designer, I normally do not provide the website hosting. Every client is different in regards to how confident they are in setting up an account with an appropriate web host. So far, I highly recommend HostGator web hosting because they provide technical support 24/7, and they are very patient over the phone with their customers, especially when it comes to opening up new accounts.
About totally free web hosting with totally free domain: Except for Tripod, I don’t see it anymore, but if anyone knows of a good one, leave me a comment below. Yahoo! Geocities used to provide this service, but it has been discontinued. The domain they give you is based on your username with their company name, eq. johndoe.tripod.com. The only thing about that was that you couldn’t have your own personal domain, but your hosting was free provided that you didn’t mind having advertisements running down the right side of your web pages. Also, it had limited capacity and did not support Flash media objects. The bottom line for free web hosting: you will most likely have to pay for a domain, or transfer your existing domain over to get the hosting part for free. I don’t see anything that’s totally free anymore. Chances are you will have to pay for something in your hosting package. I think the totally free thing was just for designers that were beginners trying to get their feet wet.
When shopping for a host, you should always check to see if it supports everything your website needs, like 24/7 technical support.
I also like to a have visitor traffic statisics analyzer if possible. Many host have this, but you may have to pay extra in your package. It is a nice thing to have if you want to monitor your site more closely.
I would say that the best host these days to use is HostGator. They have excellent technical support and a very easy to use control panel.
The good news is that you can always change hosts if you are not happy where you are, but always check to make sure that it supports everything you need on your website before you pay and do the file transfer over.
