Now that you have this great website design, you need a way for the millions of Internet users out there to see your site. One cost that goes into every web site project is the monthly hosting fee that you will have to pay to keep your site "online". There are actually a myriad of options in choosing a web host, everything from free to thousands of dollars per month, so which option is right for your web site?
In the first sentence of this article I noted that a monthly fee is involved so how can it now be free?? I'll tell you. Many ISP's, or internet service providers, such as Optimum Online, Verizon or Time Warner Cable will allow you to host your own website off of your computer at no additional monthly fee. The downside here is you are responsible for your website being up. If your computer turns off, or your Internet service goes down, so does your website. Another negative is you have to know how to set up your computer for proper website hosting.
Rather than go through the nightmare of hosting your own site, many web hosts such as GoDaddy, offer webhosting starting at about $6 a month. Now don't be fooled. For this amount of money you will not get a lot of storage space or bandwidth, but many people don't need it either.
If your website was made using asp.net programming you have another problem. This must be hosted on a Windows based server. Windows based servers often cost more money than their Linux or Apache counterparts and can start at about $10 per month. Generally you will want to consult with the company that created your website if you have complex programming to make sure your site will work with the web host you choose.
One final thing to consider is that less expensive hosting plans are less expensive because you are sharing a hosting computer with hundreds of other websites. If these sites use up a lot of bandwidth, your site will suffer. There are dedicated hosting plans that are offered which allow you to have your own machine and can cost a few hundred dollars per month, but may be worth it for your website.
While this is only a brief overview of web hosting it should give you an idea as to the direction you need to go in when getting your web site ready to go live.
Jason