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How to Find Web Hosting 629
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URLs and receive email at that domain. Your site will have an address such as http://
http://www.example.com/.
Many ISPs and web hosts can assist you in registering your domain name. You can
register your domain directly with an authorized registrar such as Network Solutions
(http://www.networksolutions.com/), Register.com , dotster.com , or Google Domains
(https://domains.google.com/about/). Most of these services also offer domain parking ,
a service that allows you to host your domain with them temporarily until you choose
a hosting provider or set up your own server. The prices vary, so shop around before
registering your domain.
Commercial Web Builders
A new area that is becoming more popular in the web hosting space is web builders.
These are companies that offer hosting, building, and management software all in one
package. The advantage of these tools is that they offer sophisticated sites and site tem-
plates without requiring the work involved in building and maintaining it yourself.
These tools are especially popular with small business owners who want to maintain their
own website but don’t want to learn a lot about web design or building web pages. If
you’ve gotten this far in the book, you already know more about building web pages than
you need to use these services. But they are a quick, and sometimes free, way to get a
website up quickly. Some of the best of these include Weebly (http://www.weebly.com/),
Squarespace (http://squarespace.com/), and Webs (http://www.webs.com/).
Setting Up Your Own Server
If you’re really courageous and want the ultimate in web publishing, running your own
website is the way to go. You can publish as much as you want and include any kind of
content you want. You’ll also be able to use forms, scripts, streaming multimedia, and
other options that aren’t available to people who don’t have their own servers. Other web
hosts might not let you use these kinds of features. However, running a server definitely
isn’t for everyone.
You have two options here. The first is to set up an actual computer of your own and use
it as a server. However, the cost and maintenance time can be daunting, and you need
a level of technical expertise that the average user might not possess. Furthermore, you
need some way to connect it to the Internet. Many Internet service providers won’t let
you run servers over your connection, and putting your server in a colocation facility or
getting a full-time Internet connection for your server can be costly. However, this might
be the right answer if you are setting up a website for internal use at your company or
organization.