Now you have this great website but you don’t know what to do with it? The next step is hosting.
The example I have used for many years with my customers (and really easy to understand) is to imagine that your website is a car and hosting would be the parking. You need a web hosting service to “park” your website so that it can be visible on the internet. These companies offer “space” on a server (a dedicated “computer” running services to serve the needs of programs running on other computers).

Hosting prices start at a very low price. Godaddy’s hosting services have a great promotion at $1.99 a month. Click here to check it out. I have personally moved all my websites with GoDaddy and I have been pretty satisfied so far with their great hosting services and easy to use interface. They also have hosting packages with WordPress, you don’t even have to install it! Make sure that you choose a package that includes everything that your website needs for it to work. If you only have a static website with no extras (just pages with text, images and basic stuff) you should be ok with the most basic package. If you have a shopping cart or a database, you need to check that these extras are set-up on the server (for example Mysql database, shopping cart and credit card processing,…) and included in your package or your website will not work.

The people who created your website know what is required on the server, and if they are professional, they will help you with the transition to a server and even help you find the right package or company for your website (if you are not hosting with them or if they don’t offer that service). If you created the website yourself, you know what is included in your website design and you just need to find a package that will offer the functionality that you need.

Just make sure that you read the hosting contract or agreement before signing up for any kind of service because, while some have no long-term contract or set-up fees, some of them can force you to sign up for a year at a time. Also watch out for the hidden fees…

If you need to put your website on the server yourself, you will need an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program to transfer the files to the server. There are some free ones on the internet, and the other ones are usually free for 30 days so that you can try them. It gives you time to upload your website and make sure that it works before the free trial expires. If you plan on making a bunch of changes to your website, you should definitely invest in a good one (they are still pretty cheap, around $40) but make sure that you compare the features (speed of transfer, multiple file transfers, pause-resume,…) to make sure you get a good deal.