Find a Hosting Provider to Host your Web Site

This is the most common choice for web site hosting. Using a third party hosting provider allows you to concentrate on developing your web site (or whatever else it is you may do), and leave the hosting tasks up to a company who (presumably) specializes in web site hosting.

A good web site hosting company will provide at least the following services:

• 24/7 support
• 24/7 FTP access (so you can update your web site)
• A number of email accounts (i.e. yourName@yourDomain.com)
• Online control panel for managing your web site
• Online traffic statistics (so you can see how much traffic your web site receives)
• A robust database management system, such as MySQL or MS SQL. This is so you can add your own database if required

If you require specialized server application software such as ColdFusion, SQL Server, or PHP, you will need to check that the hosting provider supports this.

Once you start looking for a web site hosting provider, you will notice there is a very large difference in how much they charge. You will also notice that most web hosts have multiple hosting plans, each at different prices. Any good web host will allow you to upgrade a plan later on if required, so don't feel as though you need to start off on a plan that costs more than you need.