#2 - Get Website Hosting

Website hosting is the service that will connect your data to your visitors. As such, it is one of the first aspects of a new website venture that must be addressed.

For first time webmasters and small website projects, free hosting and shared hosting providers may be a good low-risk choice. The most expensive hosting services are designed for websites with huge traffic and processing requirements - most personal and e-commerce sites can run without problems on discount hosting services. Even free hosting like used on this website you're reading right now is an option, but its usually worth spending the extra few dollars a month to get more control over the data and site customization.

Hosting reviews can help you find the provider that offers the services you need. Make sure to look past some of the technical metrics like bandwidth and disk storage to look at the software management and file transfer options available with the host. What good is a ton of resources going to do if you don't have the tools you need to efficiently build your website?

Since script installations and software management is provided at the hosting level, this should be one of the most important factors a new webmaster considers in choosing a first hosting provider. Being able to install popular content management software will provide a great boost to getting started with an online business or personal website, so take a look at the Fantastico, Simple Scripts, and One Click Installs that various web hosts are offering to their users. There are even plenty of WYSIWYG editors, but these often present a lot of SEO problems and I wouldn't typically recommend them.

When you find a host you like, make sure you also look around for hosting coupon codes, too! Sometimes, there are better deals buried throughout the web with limited time promotions and affiliate-based offers. There's no reason to pay full price for a lot of services because there are free coupon codes and discounts available online.