Previous sections covered domain name management and web site development. Now we can focus more on core issues regarding hosting of your web site and email.

All hosting companies offer two types of service:

• Type 1: Your site and email live on a shared computer at the web hosting provider along with web sites and email for other businesses. You all share the cost of that computer. The hosting supplier should ensure that this sharing is transparent e.g. another business sharing the computer with you will not be able to read your emails. This type of service is called ‘co-hosting’. It is the normal arrangement for small businesses e.g. those that just want a fairly simple web site (maybe a few pages) and the use of a few email addresses.
• Type 2: You have your own dedicated computer at the web hosting provider. You do not share the computer with other businesses so it is almost impossible for their hosting to clash in any way with yours. This type of service is called ‘co-location’. It is really only for bigger businesses.

The cost of co-hosting is very roughly $10-$20 per month. The cost of co-location is usually $100 per month or more. If you talk to a web hosting provider, they will quickly figure out if your business should even consider co-location. You will typically know if you need co-location because a) you started with co-hosting but outgrow it or b) your business already has quite a lot of computer equipment.

The rest of this site is focused on people who should consider co-hosting - although a lot of issues also apply to co-location.

	Introduction
	Email-only Internet service
	Worried - get advice
	Domain name - basics
	Domain name - things you must do
	Web site development
	Web site hosting - types of service
	Web site hosting - basics
	Web site hosting - business systems
	Web site hosting - backup
	Web site hosting and outsourcing
	Summary

For details of my company and how to contact me, please click here. Frank Vipond. August 2010.