Web hosting for beginners

Looking for web hosting for beginners?

Finding a webhost when you're just starting to think about building your site can be quite stressful.

You may have a great idea for a website, but find that all the technical jargon and tools just defeat you.

What does a web host do?
A web host provides the space on the web for your pages, and may offer domain name registration; some web hosts provide a web site builder feature, as well as design templates, so that newbies can start building a site fairly easily.

You can often find examples of websites built using the web host's site builders, so it's well worth taking a look at these.

Here we're going to look at three options for you:

• The lifesaver option
• Jumping in at the deep end
• The "wiggle your toes in the water" option

Let's dive in!

The lifesaver option - get someone to do it for you

• You can search Google for local webhosting, and contact someone in your area; that way, you can talk face to face with the person who will take care of the technical side of your website.

  The downside of this is that you can't always do the things you want to do immediately; and it can be pretty costly.

• It's worth asking people you know if they can recommend anyone, and comparing different offers to see what you get and how much it costs. This method is certainly one solution to finding web hosting for beginners.

Jump in the deep end

There are so many web hosting plans available - if you want a recommendation, I could send you to Bluehost which is well known and reliable. I use Bluehost for one of my sites, and I'm slowly learning how the whole thing works - and enjoying the process, as many of their features are new to me.

They have a free site builder, which I haven't used yet, as I am using my account so far with a Wordpress blog. It really wasn't very difficult to set up Wordpress for my domain at Bluehost, choose my template, and start writing.

Take a look at the Bluehost features page - if you haven't got a clue what any of the things on the list are (and even I don't understand all of it!) you have a choice... dive in, or think again.

Wiggle your toes in the water

The website package I use for my major sites - Site Build It - may not suit everyone, but I do think it's worth a little toe-wiggling, as this is the system I started with as a newbie in 2004.

• You don't have to understand the physics of swimming... to swim!
  SBI lets you build your site without having to get to grips with a ton of technical know-how.

• There is a learning curve with Site Build It
  And it's not so much the techie stuff you have to work through, but the planning and research for your actual site. SBI explains not only what to do, but why you're doing it, so that you begin to understand how the web works, and where you and your site are going to fit in. I like the very detailed, step by step instructions, available in video or written format - you're basically following a website building course with the whole thing.

• It's doable IF...
  ... you're ok with following instructions and spending some time on research and planning.

I get thousands of visitors a day to my sites thanks to the SBI system.

Find out more about Site Build It websites.

SBI isn't just web hosting for beginners, though - there are plenty of very experienced webmasters and computer techs who are very happy to use the tools SBI offers - so there's lots of interesting stuff for those of you who are a bit more techie :)