A 'Web Host' or 'Website Hosting' refers to the person/place where all the information about your website is stored and kept permanently online so that anyone can access it any time of the day anywhere in the world.

There are a few free website hosts, like Geocities who will do this for absolutely no cost, with the only caveat that they can place adverts on your site. However storage space is often limited, and in most cases you have to access through their URL name e.g instead of your website address being: www.yourcompanyname.com it would be: www.freewebhost.com/yourcompanyname.com. If you are not concerned about the adverts, and the only people using your site will know the address and not need to use a search engine to look it up, then this solution could be fine for you, and will save you money.

If you already pay for a broadband on a business tariff (usually recognised by the larger usage allowance and greater support) it is possible that as part of the package you are already paying for web hosting. Space can be restricted and you may not be able to use a CMS (Content Management System see section on "Self-Maintainable Websites"), but we can help you check this, and if suitable are happy to publish your website through your broadband provider.

Otherwise you need to pay for hosting. We provide hosting services at a reduced price (£35 pa) to users with light traffic when they use our website design services. Otherwise we recommend UK2.net although there are many other providers out there, just do a Google search for ‘web hosting’. Expect to pay from around £50 to & £150 a year.

The key things to look at when deciding on a host, and which contract you would like are:

• Do you want a dedicated server or are you prepared to share?
• How much bandwidth do you require?
• How much storage space do you need?
• Will they support a CMS like Joomla (see Self Maintainable Websites)?
• Do they provide secure access if required for shopping (https) ?
• Can you FTP to them? (a program to bulk upload your files in one go)
• What is their help / support function like?