the ideas form in your head and you set forth to build your pages.

and just when you think you are ready to launch this fantastic idea onto the big wide world, your world suddenly stops.

somebody asks you what type of hosting you want .

what size of database, what format you need dynamic,perl,CSS etc etc.

The minefield of information that you were already wading through has suddenly become deeper. you need to know more stuff.

So do you suddenly do a crash course in hosting or do you just dive into the first hosting package you see.

here are a few options and things explained.

There are two main types of hosting account. The first is shared hosting. Where the resourses are shared beetween all the users of the server. Then there is dedicated hosting while more expensive you have all resourses available and do not share with anybody. It's a good idea to go with shared hosting to start with this keeps your initial cost down . And allows you to determine the profitability of your online ventures before you upgrade.

Does your new provider give you live support?

if you are a newbie, and sometimes even the computer savvy need a little help, who or what answers your questions?

if you are busy and trying to do stuff dosen't it make sense to have your question answered there and then and not by "posting a ticket" dont get me wrong sometimes these tickets get answered really quickly but it helps, if you really dont know what the problem is, if someone at the other end can work it out for you.

There are a lot of things to take into consideration when you host and sometimes you dont really know it all.

Go for the host that can guarantee you the most steady and reliable uptime. that is the time they can guarantee their server will be up and running so you and your millions of visitors (hopefully)can actually visit your site . for eg,99.9% uptime guarantee

How many domains can you host. how many IP's are you allocated. and more importantly is your domain on a separate IP or is it on what they now call collocation which is basically that you share your IP address with about 250 others. fine if they are all good and genuine but what if they are not and they drag your site down into the dreaded google sandbox. if that happens there is no way back without a unique IP.

If your site is ecommerce and you are selling to the public then you need to secure your payment options. these are put in place for your and your customers saftey. If I was buying from a site I would want to know that my details were safe and that nothing I put down on the order sheet was going to stray into unsolicted hands.So you need to ensure that you have the option for a Secure Socket Layer. This has to be done on a dedicated IP

Will your provider ensure backups. what would happen if your whole computer crashed and took every bit of information with it. scary isnt it. well you can retrieve it all if your information is hosted on the server, and if they have a crash? which does happen as these hackers enjoy destroying other peoples hard work, is the site backed up?

The point is Hosting along with Web production is a steep learning curve for a lot of us. there are those of us who just wanted our information out there, so I hope my little tutorial has helped to clear away some of the mystery. Visit http://www.u501.com/host/landing.html for a comparison table.

Whatever you decide i wish you well, and many happy hours of hosting.