With the billions of websites on the Internet and millions of hosting companies, isn't it time to leave your footprint on the web? By signing up with a web hosting company, you can do so for personal or business reasons. Isn't it about time you see what all the fuss is about?

By now, you undoubtedly know that there are many reasons one would want to start a site online. Profit is certainly a major motivator, as thousands of online entrepreneurs, business owners, and vendors can attest. Information is another reason; think of all the sites that exist just to increase people's knowledge. Some people just want a personal site to tell the world about themselves and their lives. No matter what your motives, you can make a site that suits you.

With the proliferation of sites out there, a huge industry has naturally grown for web hosting. There are literally thousands of hosts you can choose from: some well known, others less known. Just because a site is obscure, however, does not mean it is bad. On the flip side, not all of the well known hosts are suited to everybody.

Some things that you will want to take note of when searching for a hosting service are their price and their limitations. Many hosting services will have a limited amount of space or bandwidth that your site can utilize. This isn't much of a problem for smaller sites, but limitations like these can have a signficant impact on larger enterprise, who will generally opt for sites with large or unlimited amounts of space of bandwidth. These limits are linked to the price that is offered as well, with cheap hosting options generally giving you what you pay for, so don't be afraid of spending some money to get a little better quality hosting.

Be sure to read the small print when selecting a web hosting service. Most companies are honest in their policies, but there are always bad eggs that will hide fees or technicalities deep in their privacy policies and terms of service. Make sure this doesn't happen to you by reading all of the materials that the company provides before making any deals with them.

There are hosting alternatives available for those who don't want to use a full blown web hosting service. Blog sites are one of them. Usually these are more suited to personal pages, however they can be customized for many purposes, are free, and take a lot less time to set up. Many social networking sites will allow you to create a personal space on the Internet. Starting with these cost-effective, simple websites can be a great way to make your mark online.

These free spaces are intended only for personal business. When the time comes for creating a business identity online, or for creating a web site designed to appeal to potential customers, only a web site hosted with a reputable web hosting service will do.

If you look carefully and do your research you will find that very often price is not a good indicator of quality of service. In some cases very inexpensive cheap web hosting services can be very reliable.

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