Getting started on your website: the good, the bad, and the ugly in web hosting

I’ve had my own sites since high school and have pretty much seen it all when it comes to web hosting companies: the good, the bad and the ugly. If you are relatively new to the concept of having your very own place on the web this article will fill you in on some of the basics.

For the sake of keeping things simple I’m going to divide the world of web hosting into two main categories: dedicated hosting and shared hosting. Shared hosting I usually break down into paid and free. Usually, you can’t get dedicated hosting for free (but if you know the right people nothing is impossible…)

When you opt for dedicated hosting your web site gets an entire server to itself. You are entitled to all of the resources the server has to offer. With larger, busy web sites and blogs dedicated hosting can quickly become a must, but you might be able to get by with a virtual hosting solution in the early stages of your venture.

Luckily, for most individuals and small to medium sized business shared hosting…