A Few Good Web Hosting Providers

Occasionally, the person or company who built your Web site will offer to host it for you. While this may sound convenient, consider the option carefully.

To start, ask your designer where the actual server that hosts your site will reside. Any reputable designer will outsource the actual Web hosting to a professional provider; under this reseller's agreement, your designer will rent a chunk of hosting space, manage the relationship with the vendor, and bill costs to you.

Be sure to find out the specifics of the hosting package you're being offered. Will you get the same type of storage, bandwidth, email service, upgrade path, and ability to check Web stats that you would get from working with a reputable outside provider? (See "Basic Shared Hosting," below.)

Also, keep in mind that hosting with a Web designer can be more expensive than hosting directly with a provider; after all, the more channels you have to go through, the more people there are to take a share of the fees. It's also important to keep an eye out for unscrupulous resellers who may overcharge you.

In most cases, it's better to skip the middleman and go straight to the source. However, if you have a long-term relationship with a Web consultant, it might be worth the extra money to have him or her serve as a liaison between you and the hosting company, interpreting any hard-to-understand technical jargon. Some consultants can also offer specialized or customized software that may be harder to obtain elsewhere.

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