Finding a Host for Your Site

Unless you have your own server, you’ll probably have to pay someone to host your site. Web hosts provide a piece of their server for your site’s files and provide other services, like allowing you to create email addresses that are associated with your domain name (such as yourname@yourdomain.com).

There are hundreds of companies that provide Web site hosting. Most charge a monthly fee that depends on the services they offer. Some offer free Web hosting in exchange for advertising from your site. Although you can search on the Internet for a Web host, I recommend talking to friends to see if they use a host that they like—or maybe the author of a blog you trust has noted what company he or she uses as a host.

When considering a host, there are a number of things—besides price—to keep in mind.