Step 2. Get Website Hosting: Web Host

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How to choose a Host for your Website

If you came directly into this page and want to know what web hosting is, or what the features are and what to look for, see Website Hosting.

Which website host to choose? How much does it cost to host a website?

It depends on your budget, and the functionalities you need.

There is a wide range of costs and features. Between $50 to $250 per year, more if you need eCommerce features. It's a trade-off between price vs features, reliability and support. In general you get what you pay for, though the most expensive is not always the best.

To save costs, you might want to just start with the essentials that your website requires. But pick a host that has all the functionalities you'd need when your site grows, so you can upgrade later.

Shared Website Hosting

This is suitable for most cases, including small business web site hosting, or money-making websites. A website hosting company typically runs many web hosts or servers (computers), each housing several tens of site. Hence the term shared hosting.

Here we list some of the best budget web hosting based on user feedback. Competition in this class of hosts is so intense that prices have been driven down really low, while maintaining decent response and reliability.

Where the host offers several price plans, just take the cheapest one that meets your needs, as long as it allows you to upgrade later. It's usually more than enough for a start.

Some budget web hosting with the highest ratings on the internet for support and reliability:

There are other web hosts below $7/month with good ratings on the web, due to previously good performance. Unfortunately they have lately been getting negative customer feedback, especially in the area of technical support, either due to overloading or outsourcing. The 4 above were shortlisted based on consistently good reviews and almost no complaints.

Having difficulty deciding? Here're some suggestions... (right-click links to open in new window)

If you've got a very low budget, and think you'll only need one domain: HostGator . If you want higher quality support, then ICDSoft .

If you need more than one domain, consider HostMonster ; with the free domain registration, it works out not much more than HostGator.

If higher quality of service is important to you, and you intend to use external site builders like Frontpage or Dreamweaver, then FusedNetwork.

Dedicated Website Hosting

For business web site hosting that needs a higher level of traffic and/or security, or you need to have a whole web host server to yourself, then get dedicated hosting from HostGator or FusedNetwork. Cost starts from around $150 per month.

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But if you're lost, confused by all the technicalities so far, and you're not quite sure which host to pick and how to proceed (especially when we move into building your website, promoting it, and making money from it), you might need an all-in-one web hosting solution instead.

All-In-One Web Building, Hosting and Marketing Solutions

These are systems which help you build, host and market your site in one integrated package. They cost a fair bit more than the web hosts above, as they include all necessary softwares and services.

There're a number of such Business-In-A-Box offers on the internet, but unfortunately, most of them don't live up to their promises. One of the few that do (from personal experience) is SBI, which is why I'm recommending it quite strongly here.

• Site Build It! (SBI!)
  
  If you need a system that will take care of all the technicalities, handhold you every tiny step of the way, and help you to make money with your website, then you'd probably want to look at SBI.

  It comes with everything you need: you do not have to register a domain nor pick a web host, nor buy any other software.

  It provides step-by-step action video guides. A keyword research tool helps you pick a profitable niche market. You create web pages using a simple point-and-click sitebuilder which also analyzes your pages for search engine optimization.

  There are pre-designed templates you can use, or you can upload pages from your own editors. Search engine submission and re-submission is automated. (Very time-consuming to monitor and do manually.) No technical expertise required throughout.

  If the success of your internet business depends on getting free traffic, then you need to optimize your pages to rank highly in the search engines. Of all the web hosts, only SBI helps you do that.

  Costs $299 per year, which works out to $25/month. Gives a 30-day money-back guarantee. Wholeheartedly recommended for money making websites.

  But it must be said that SBI! is not for everybody. It requires work and would not suit those needing to make money instantly. For fun sites and sites that do not need traffic from search engines, any of the budget web hosts above will do and be cheaper.

  To find out more, see the Quicktour for a free inside look. Or if you want to see how others have built websites that have freed them from their 9 to 5 jobs, see the Case Studies .

Here's another system, as an alternative. But I find it comparatively rather expensive, and not as much value.

• Traffic Genesis

  This is a membership product that allows you to create content or ecommerce affiliate shops easily, with professionally-designed web sites which are customizable, and populated with any of thousands of products that you can choose from.

  Hosting is included. No technical expertise or HTML needed. Charges a one-time fee of $497; then $97 per month (i.e. $1164 per year). It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

If you've bought an All-In-One package, it would have come with specific instructions on how to use it to set up your web business. You can go on to that and skip the rest of this guide.

If not, and you've signed up with one of the web hosts above, we move on to the next step to... Build your Website!

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