Web hosting provider HostingSpot.com is now offering free web hosting accounts to students. This program is back for the 2006-07 school year after a successful promotion during the last academic year.

"The response to this promotion was very favorable last year. We were contacted by faculty members all over the United States who were going to be telling their students about this great deal,” said Jonathan Meersman, President & CEO of Hosting Spot, Inc. “This strategic initiative allows us to continue to grow and follow our slogan to be ‘Your One-Stop Web Hosting Spot’ for a wide variety of customers.”

HostingSpot.com was founded in 2003 by Jonathan Meersman, a college professor who teaches a number of eCommerce, web design, and web development courses. He was looking for an affordable, all-inclusive, third-party web hosting option for his students who wanted to launch their own web sites. He believes that part of the learning process for students is to experience the same service that a third-party company offers in the real world. HostingSpot.com was founded to service this need, but has continued to grow by servicing small and medium sized businesses in the public and private sectors.

When asked how his company could possibly offer free web hosting accounts to students, Meersman replied by saying, “we are investing in the future of our student customers, as well as our own future. By providing students with a free account now, we hope that they will eventually bring their future business projects to HostingSpot.com, after they complete their education.”

The free web hosting account does require a nominal one-time setup fee of $10, which is credited back to students if they decide to upgrade their accounts at a later date. “The reason for the nominal setup fee is really to double check that the new account is legitimate in order to protect all of our customers,” commented Meersman. “You must be very cautious in this industry; there are a lot of individuals who attempt to open fraudulent accounts simply to use our servers to blast SPAM emails – which we do not permit.”

Students can visit www.HostingSpot.com/student to sign up, or for more information. Educators who wish to learn more can visit www.HostingSpot.com/educator.

HostingSpot.com (www.HostingSpot.com), headquartered in Delavan, Wisconsin, is a leading provider of web hosting services for small and medium sized companies. Hosting Spot’s web hosting offerings include eCommerce solutions, allowing clients to process real-time credit card transactions using the industry-standard 128-bit SSL encryption. HostingSpot.com specializes in managing Windows, UNIX, and ColdFusion servers, providing a complete solution to meet the industry’s web hosting demands - from development languages such as ASP.NET and PHP, to MS SQL Server and MySQL databases.