subject: So You've Got Your First Website [print this page] You've jumped off the deep end and decided to start your very own website. Congratulations are in order, this is a great decision that will allow you to interact with people online and give you a wonderful creative outlet! Now your time online won't just be spent browsing other peoples hard work. Those people will be browsing yours. And best of all you may even be able to make a few bucks while you're at it.
At this point you've probably done at least a little bit of research, so it won't seem as daunting as it may have just a few days ago. The two things most people know about is web hosting and domain registration services. After looking into the various web hosting options you may be really confused as to what you need. The options you'll see discussed most often are shared, reseller, dedicated and VPS hosting.
The best advice you'll ever get is to take a deep breath and relax. Yes, it is a bit confusing, but with a couple of hours of research, you can pretty much know everything you need to know about putting up your very own website. Of course, some knowledge can only come from experience, but don't worry. The amount of trouble you can get yourself into is pretty limited in the area of Web hosting and websites and the most dangerous pitfalls can be avoided with a little bit of research, some forethought, and then just some good old common sense.
One thing that you should keep in mind though, is that Web hosting is one of the most important aspects of having your own website. It's always recommended to start as small as you can with any site, so web hosting is where most people should start. At some point your site may outgrow shared hosting. At that point you can start looking into VPS hosting or dedicated servers. Fortunately it is not a difficult process to change hosts in the future if the host you picks now doesn't fit your needs down the road, but you may still want to find a host that allows you to grow through VPS or dedicated servers.
