Once you’ve chosen a domain name and determined that it is available, you’ll need to start thinking about where to host your website. Hosting? What’s that?
Hosting simply refers to the company you choose for the disk space and direction to the content (text and images) you want for your website. It’s a physical location for your website. There are thousands of companies vying for your money to host the website you want to build. Some of them offer free hosting, others offer build-it-yourself tools, and some offer bare-bones disk space.
FREE. If it’s free, keep in mind that you are the product, and they will be using your website to advertise. To keep your website in your own control, stay away from these enticing “deals”.
DIY. Build-it-yourself websites will be covered in a later blog entry. These services could be ideal for you, especially if you’re just launching your organization. If you want your unique domain name on these DIY sites, you’ll pay a monthly fee.
Bare-Bones. If you’re a real nerd and don’t mind learning how to code, these services may be for you.
Chances are you want a company that has good technical support and a bundled package of must-have options. The companies I have used and am supporting are SiteGround and GreenGeeks – both offer great technical support and are WordPress friendly. They both have sales and first-time deals often, and I recommend that you buy the maximum number of years you can with their original deals.
Next up: Build It Yourself website services!
