Step 3: The space to show your site
Your Space on the Net - Get a Web Host.
To Publish your Site on the Internet, you will need web space to host your content
The space where you place content is provided by a web hosting company. They have
computers that are constantly connected to the internet and will keep your content visible to
the world wide web. You will have to pay for this service, unless you are happy for them to
have their advertising on your websites.
If their advertising doesn't bother you they will
provide you with:
- a free domain name (but it will be named something strange like: www.yourname.yourhostingcompany.com)
- free web space (how much varies from hosting company to
another)
- free Bandwidth (how much varies from hosting
company to another)
- free administration and sometimes free web authoring tools
Note: Bandwidth is the amount of web traffic generated by people visiting a
site
If you want total control (and I think
that is probably what you need if you are trying to set up a showcase for your business), there are
very cost effective web hosts out there.
In this case you will need:
- your own domain name (as per Step
1)
- your content (as per Step 2)
- your hosting account (free
administration and free web authoring tools are usually included)
Hosting Accounts - Your Web Space
The price for the hosting account packages varies with features provided and depends
on:
- size of web space included - the more storage space you
require, the more costly it usually can become
- Bandwidth included - this is the amount of traffic that is
generated when files are up or down loaded from or to your web
space
- included administration, web authoring and management
tools
How much web space you need
depends on the number of graphics you want to place on the
web page (pictures, videos and sound files use lots more space than text)
To start off, a basic hosting package is usually more than adequate (see links
opposite for some very reasonable and generous basic options)
Once you have a hosting package, you will need to set the domain name to match your
web space. This is usually done by accessing the administration area of the respective
accounts. This process is fully explained within these systems and is easy to
follow.
If you choose the same provider for your web space hosting as well
as domain name needs, the link between those two is usually part of the setup process
when you sign in the first time.
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