If you are thinking about having your own website for business or personal use, there are a few things you need to have in place before the visitors starts flocking to your virtual doors. The most obvious is the website itself, which means having a professional looking design ready to roll. The next thing you need to do is choose a domain name. Yes, there are plenty of free options for this, but it usually means having a pretty long extension on the end of the name that is not easy for folks to remember. Once you choose the domain name, the final step is to choose a web host, as you are going to need somewhere to park your site.
You won’t have any problem finding web hosts where you can upload your website, but the problem is that you have so many to choose from that picking the right one might be tough. There are literally thousands of web hosts to choose from, and not all are created equal. If you are going for a personal site, you might get away with using one of the many free web hosts out there, although that means have a site filled with ads that you make no money from. Those ads can slow the site down and make it a little less than pretty to look at.
If you are planning on having a business site, be prepared to pay for hosting, this doesn’t have to cost a small fortune. You want to look for web hosts who have a number of different hosting plans available. Think of your website as it is now, and also where you would like it to be in a few years from now. If your plan is to steadily grow the site into something much bigger, you will want to partner with a web host who has plans that allow for that growth. That may even mean choosing one who will eventually allow you to move to a dedicated server once your site becomes really big.
The vast majority of sites will not be on a dedicated server, though, which likely means you will be choosing between a shared hosting plan and a virtual server. With shared hosting you are essentially sharing resources with other sites. While this is the most affordable option, you can end up running into problems as you grow. If you are a small business with e-commerce aspirations, the virtual server may well be the best option for you. As far as pricing goes, this option falls right in the middle of the other two and is generally not a big strain on your budget.
Look for web hosts who offer a ton of different options, as this will help you when it does come time for your business to grow. You should also think about the type of contract you are entering into with a web host. Some will offer great deals if you sign for two or three years, but what happens if you make that deal and find that your site is down more than it’s up? It is great if you can get a free trial period, and perhaps even better if you can go on a month to month contract. It may end up being more expensive that way, but at least you can switch webs hosts quickly if you are unhappy with the service you are receiving.