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There are a number of hosting options, from free to dedicated servers. Let's spend a few moments and look over the options.

Free Hosting

The first and not recommended is free hosting. Remember what they say, there is nothing free. Well it's the truth about this also.

Your webpage on a free hosting server may have banner ads from companies that may not compliment your business or page theme.

Another common problem is the third level domain (http://yourpagename/theirdomain.com) Now that doesn't look professional as a business. Would you share your business name with some other company on a business card? I'm sure that would be out of the question.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting for the small business is the best way to go. Shared hosting has the server divided up with other websites allowing a lower cost for hosting. In most cases you are allowed more than enough disk space (Usually Between 100-500 Meg) and data transfer per month. The rule of thumb for small business is a minimum of 100 Meg of disk space and 1 gig of transfer.

Dedicated Servers

The big boy on the block and the most expensive! Dedicated servers are used usually by medium and large size companies. The advantage to this form of hosting is complete control with the most disk space and the largest amount of transfer (Most companies selling dedicated servers allow a minimum of 500 gigs of transfer a month). Keep in mind that this requires a lot of technical ability; most companies hire a network administrator to oversee this form of hosting.

As you can see there are many options based on size and needs of your business. Hopefully you are a little more aware of choices out there now and will make the right choice on one that best suits your companies' needs.

Copyright 2005 Terry Henry ( Henry Marketing and Development), all rights reserved