1. Where do I start?

The 3 components of every web site:
Every web site needs three things: (1) a hosting service, (2) a domain name, and (3) a way to build and maintain the site content. This tutorial will give you a brief overview of these components and help get you up and running with your own website even if you have no previous web-building experience.

2. What does a web host actually do?

A web hosting service allows you to "rent" or "borrow" space on very fast hard drives called servers. You can either share space (shared hosting) or have your own hard drive (dedicated hosting.) These servers are connected via a backbone to a huge communications network called The Internet.Your web site can then be accessed by anyone worldwide through a special address called a URL which contains your unique domain name. The amount of space your host provides you is called disk space and the number of times your site is accessed by you or users is called bandwidth. Prices vary widely based on what your host is willing to provide. Since you will have questions each host provides a means of getting help. This is called customer support or tech support and is probably the single most important asset to look for in a web host. Usually tech support is minimal with free services which is a good reason to consider low-cost paid hosting instead. No host can stay online all the time due to hardware maintenance needs, but you should not consider a host who cannot guarantee at least 99% uptime. Most of these areas are covered in the individual web host reviews you'll find on this website, and will help you as you choose your web hosting service.

3. What's the difference between shared and free hosting?

Shared hosting is the most common and certainly the least expensive way to host your site, and is the primary focus of this web hosting directory. Web hosts in this category usually provide anywhere from 20megs of web space to 200megs and range in price from free to about $30 a month. Since 20 megs is equal to about 1000 pages of text, that is usually adequate for small sites. Free Hosting usually includes a free subdomain (yourname.150m.com) but often includes advertisements on one or more of your homepages, which pays for the free service. However they do provide a paid upgrade option which eliminates the ad banners and provides additonal web space, bandwidth, and support. Dedicated Hosting costs several hundred dollars a month and is feasible only for businesses with very large and active web sites.

4. How do I get my own domain name?

It is always desirable and presents the most professional image if you acquire your own top level domain name (www.yourname.com.)
You can get your own domain name by paying as little as $8.95 a year for registration with ICANN approved sites such as Godaddy.com. You can find out if the name you want is still available by using the free search tool on the sites. The most common suffix is ".com", but other popular suffixes are .org, and .net. Hosting sites such as Doteasy will provide free hosting with no monthly charges if you either purchase or transfer your own domain name (www.yourname.com). A subdomain is similar but tacks your name onto the web host's domain such as (www.yourname.150m.com.) Subdomains create a longer URL, but are often provided free, which is their main advantage.

5. Do I have to know HTML code to build a website?

HTML is the code language used in creating webpages, but you no longer need to learn it to launch your web site. With commercial site-building tools such as MSFrontPage and Dreamweaver you can create quality designs and upload your content to the server via anyFTP program. However, the easiest way for a beginner to start out is to utilize an all-in-one host that provides free hosting, subdomains, and web-based site-building tools. 150m.com and Freeservers are some good examples. This type of host provides ready-made web layout templates which allow you to select the look and feel of your web page, and then just fill in the content, making it easy for even a novice to get on the web quickly and easily.