After you design your Web site you need a place to host it. A Web host is a service that gives you space on their server, a computer that is configured for public access to Web sites. 1.  Paid Shared Hosted Site: This is by far the most popular solution. Web hosting companies will host your site and register your domain name for a modest monthly fee. You will be sharing a remote computer with many other hosted Web sites. Two companies that I have used are Hosting Matters and 5 Dollar Hosting For less than $100 per year you can get a year’s worth of Web space and get a registered domain name <www.yourname.com>. Everything is arranged online with a credit card, and your name and space should be ready to use in a day or two. Two terms you need to know: Storage space: This is the megabytes (MB) of files that you can store on a server. At the least expensive level this is usually 25MB. Most Web sites will easily fit in this amount of space. Data Transfer/Mo:  Each time someone views the front page of the SAVAE site they transfer 15 files totaling 41KB. If he or she clicks on the “Music” link they transfer another 34KB. If they decide to listen to the audio clip of Mananitas, they are transferring 125KB more. At the least expensive level you will get 2-5 gigabytes (GB) of data transfer per month. If you exceed it the Web host will alert you and charge you more or, if you prefer, close down your site for the remainder of the month. Don’t buy more than you need, but make sure you can scale up if your needs change. For example, you might not need a shopping cart with the ability to accept secure transactions on your initial business Web site, but if this is in your future plans, make sure that it is available. Same with SQL (Structured Query Language), a standard interactive and programming language for getting information from and updating a database. Some Web hosts will provide tools to make it easier to construct and design your site. Yahoo, for example, offers a program called Site Builder, that walks you through menus to design your site. If you use Microsoft Front Page make sure that your host supports Front Page Extensions. Also, make sure it supports FTP and doesn’t require you to use a clunky Web-based interface to upload your files to their server. Most of the Web hosts will also give you free e-mail addresses and other services, but note that your Web hosting does NOT include basic Internet access – you’re just buying space for your Web site, not access to the Internet. Most Web hosting services offer a complete package – you can register your domain name, contract for the space and be online within a day or so. One of the advantages to having your own domain name is that you can transfer your hosting service to another company and still keep the same Web address. Take the time to make the best choice for your needs, but take comfort in knowing that if it doesn’t work out you can always switch. Free Web Hosts. This is free service that you pay for indirectly by agreeing to include advertising on your site. Some of the most popular are Tripod Angelfire Geocities . All of these include Web page building tools that use templates and wizards to help you build your site, or you can design them from scratch. The advertising - popup ads - are added automatically by the service. All of these also allow you to upgrade your service, for a fee, to eliminate the ads or use your own domain name. You address will look something like www.geocities.com/yourname. Free is good, but most people find popup ads irritating. Use this for a personal site, but not for a business one. ISP hosted services. Many Internet Service Providers — the company you get your basic Internet service from — include some free Web space. The address of such a site will look something like yourname.ispname.com or www.ispname.com/~yourname. Some ISPs restrict the kind of site you can host for free - some prohibit business sites. Contact your ISP to see if they offer free Web space. It is, of course, possible to manage your own server, but this is complicated, expensive and beyond the scope of the Lazy Webmaster. This is a decision you don’t have to make right away - your Web site can be designed totally off-line and only uploaded to the public server when you are ready to go public. The extra experience and breathing space might give you more data to ensure you are making the right decision.