A Web Host is simply a company that provides you with server space for your website. This includes all of your web pages, graphics, scripts and files.

When your web address is typed into a browser, your web host is being contacted to locate and display the requested page.

Free Vs. Professional Web Hosts

All Web Hosts are not created equally. There are a number of free hosting services available on the Internet. However, if you're designing a website for business purposes, you should NEVER host your website with a free host.

In order to establish credibility, you must be willing to invest in your own domain name and professional web hosting. Websites hosted on free servers are not taken seriously and will suffer a serious loss of business.

Your visitors may feel that if you don't have your own domain, you may not be a credible company. They'll simply take their business elsewhere.

Not only is professional credibility a great reason not to host with a free service, but many Search Engines won't even index a site hosted on a free server.

In addition, free hosting services don't need to have a reason to shut your site down. You may get up one morning, try to access your site and instead of your site loading, you may receive an error message.
There goes all your hard work, your website, your traffic, your Search Engine positioning, your customers -- all gone.

Free hosting services aren't interested in your business or how hard you've worked to design your website and create a steady stream of traffic. Their main concern is their business. That's why they're doing it. They display banner ads on every site they host.

If you're serious about your business and you have a sincere desire to succeed, having your own domain name is a must. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity. Businesses using the free services are not taken seriously. Having your own domain name is just as important as a professional looking web site. They go hand-in-hand.

The cost to register your Domain name ranges from $12 - $35 per year. Very reasonable and well worth every dime.

WEB Host / Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting includes selling any type of web hosting but usually refers to smaller hosting companies that buy one dedicated server or a small reseller hosting plan and then setup a hosting company to sell hosting to other people. Even big companies like HostGator or BlueHost who have thousands of servers are doing the same thing as the small guy just on a larger scale.