What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting companies rent out server space and bandwidth to you so that you can publish your website online. You can purchase server space and bandwidth directly from a web hosting company, or opt for free disk space and bandwidth from them that will be supported by pop-ups and online banners and ads (that you do not have control over).

What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is a unique letter/number string that, along with a top level domain (e.g., .com or .org, etc), identifies your website.

What is Disk Space and Bandwidth/Data Transfer?
Each website's content, including each and every letter of even the simplest HTML code, takes up a certain amount of space (disk space) on a server. Images, graphic displays, databases, and other applications take up large amounts of disk space. There's also a limit to the amount of data that can be transferred from the server to your website in any given month; this is the bandwidth. Should your website exceed this limit, your web hosting company might shut down your site's operation for the rest of the month, or just charge you a fee for each extra gigabyte of data transfer.

Why put Flash on My Website?
Flash allows a program to run on a user's computer, rather than through a web host, so long as their browser has the right plug-in installed. Putting Flash on your website helps ensure that the amount of traffic your website experiences does not affect its data transfer limits.

What are PHP, ASP, Perl, etc?
These are all different types of programming languages, each of which has its own distinct uses and benefits. Consult with an expert to determine which best meets your website's needs.

Will there be forced advertising on my site - things like banner ads or popup ads?
Not if you pay a web host for your own webspace.

How Can I Pay a Web Host?
Most web hosting providers accept credit card payments, while some also accept PayPal transfers or checks/money orders.

What are Subdomains?
These are extensions of your own domain name that are treated as separate sites from your main website. For example, www.test.domain.com is a subdomain of www.domain.com.

How Do I Upload My Site Online?
Though you can upload content to your website via SSH or through a web browser, FTP is by far the most standard method of uploading website content to a server. Software like CuteFTP and WS_FTP allows you to log in to your web host and drag and drop files onto your web host that become live online instantaneously.

What is Uptime?
The amount of time your website it online (measured monthly). Since many web hosting providers offer 99.9% uptime guarantees, if your website is offline for more than 43 minutes in a calendar month, they will likely reimburse you.

What is the Difference between UNIX Hosting and Windows Hosting?
The Linux OS is used far more commonly by web hosts than the Windows OS for many reasons. First, a majority of websites simply don't need to support Microsoft products, such as MS Access, VBScript, or ASP. Second, the Linux OS is considered to be more stable. Third, and most importantly, the Linux OS is not only a fine product, it's also free.

How Can I Decide Which Web Hosting Company to Use?
Based on factors like pricing plans, reliability, and amount of disk space and monthly bandwidth offered. You also need to find out which operating system the web hosting company uses, and what sort of technical customer support they offer, and choose the web host that best fits your business' needs based on these factors.

What is SSL?
An acronym for Secure Sockets Layer, SSL refers to the mechanism used to ensure the security of financial transactions online. An SSL certificate costs about $100 per year and can be purchased through a company like VeriSign.

How Do I Know How Many People Visit a Website?
Most web hosting companies provide you with the tools and technologies to measure your website's traffic and better manage your website's content. Some types of information your web host may provide you with are: how long viewers spend looking at the different pages of your website, how your site ranks on various search engines, and where dead links are on your site Knowing this information empowers you to try and fine-tune your online content to increase the amount of time viewers spend on your website.

I've Made My Choice for a Web Hosting Provider, Now What?
First open and set up an account with your new web hosting company. You can pay on a monthly basis or try to negotiate a better price by paying for a year of web hosting services in advance. Next, follow the web host's instructions and protocol for uploading your website's content (usually through an FTP server). Your web hosting company will then tell you what their nameservers are called, so that you can enter this information with the company with whom you registered your domain name. Within 2-3 days, your website should be fully functional.