To have a website at all, it has to be “hosted” on a computer (“server”) somewhere. You could host a website on a computer at home, but I don’t recommend that for many reasons. There are free web hosting sites all over the internet that will give you a bit of space on their computers for your web site. I don’t recommend these either. You have very little space, you can’t do server-side programming, and I think they nearly all put ads on your web pages now.

A good host does cost money and the more flexibility they give you the more it will cost. Some things to look for:

• Bandwidth/Data Transfer – This is the cap placed on how much traffic your site can have in a given month. If you exceed it, some may turn you off till the end of the month while others charge a fee.
• Space – The amount of room they are giving you on their server. This will determine the size of what can be on your site.
• E-mail – Most paid hosts grant a number of e-mail address for your domain (joe@yourdomain.com).
• Server-side Programming – Every host is different in terms of what you can do. You may need PHP, Java, or ColdFusion hosting for your site. If so, make sure you can do it on their servers before you sign up!

Once your site is receiving a lot of traffic, you can sign up for what is called co-location. This is where you buy a server, do anything you want to it and then take it to the web-hosting company where they will plug it in and make sure it has power, a cool environment, and a big internet connection. This is pretty expensive, however.

Don’t forget- I provide hosting too!