Step 2: Web Hosting

web hosting : a business providing hardware and services to store, maintain, and present Web sites and provide Internet connection to those sites.

After you have your domain name registered, the next step you'll need to take is securing web hosting. A Web Host allows customers like you to rent space on a monthly basis to store your website. Simply put, Web Hosting is the space where your web site will be located so that it is accessible on the Internet. As an example, there are data files on your computers hard drive. No one can view your data files unless they use your computer. Web Hosting allows people from all over the world to view your computer's data files on the Internet. You take files that are stored on your computer and upload them to your web hosts space so that visitors on the Internet can view your files. For example, Billy might have a new school photo. You can upload the picture to your web space and friends and family members can view the picture on the Internet.

Also if you have business and want to sell something, you can let potential buyers look at your product on the Internet. I would like to add that securing web hosting does not make your computer accessible to anyone on the Internet. You use your computer to upload files that can be assessed on the Internet. If you are uploading files that you want to be private, you can password protect your web directory so that no one can get in without a password. We will learn more about that later.

There are a number of free and paid web hosting providers. The web hosting provider that you go with will depend on your the needs of your website and your personal preference. Overall I would recommend paid web hosting. The quality and service are so much better when you pay. The downside for Free Web Hosting Providers is that they require that you have their advertisers banners on your web page or maybe you won't have all the capabilities that you need to work on your website such as a cgi-bin, mysql databases, etc. [Don't know what those terms mean? Check out the webmasters encyclopedia]