Your website will be down all the time and who knows what kind of low budget security they’ve got setup. If you have an e-commerce store, you definitely need to aware because your database holds all your customer data and letting that fall into the wrong hands will end you. You also need to make sure that the web hosting you’re using has the hardware and software capable of powering the website you’re building. The worst feeling is having a website that’s actually do well, but keeps going down because your hosting plan can’t handle your success.

I’ll level with you, if you’re only building a couple pages and maybe a contact form, you can probably get away with spending the bare minimum. If that’s what you’re looking to do, I recommend Dreamhost. Pricing is competitive at $10.95 a month if you’re committing one month at a time, less if longer. Now if you’re looking to do something even medium sized that involves a serious monetization strategy, a dedicated server is the only solution in my eyes. You’ll need to be able to scale up as traffic demands, especially if you’re planning to sell products or services and dedicated is the way to do it.

When you’re a heavy hitter and you need some heavy hosting, I use Mediatemple’s dedicated virtual server and that starts at $50 a month. Their client list includes but is not limited to the likes of Sony, Toyota, ABC, Warner Bros, and the list goes on. Honestly I hate to name drop, but in this case you get the idea. I’ve used both web hosts for 10 years now without any problems. These guys are established and they’re going to give you the around the clock uptime you need to make sure that you’re always making money when there’s money to be made.

Nothing hurts more than seeing a huge order not go through because your hosting decided to take a break. Mediatemple and Dreamhost also have great support in case problems come up, and they do from time to time so you have to be ready. Alright, you’ve got hosting figured out; your domain name and web hosting have to come together. If you don’t have a domain name yet, that makes things easy. Both Mediatemple and Dreamhost will take care of the registration fees for your first domain name at no charge. You can’t beat free!

Just head over to their website by clicking on one of the links in this article and you’re on your way; they’ll ask you what domain name you’d like to register with the web hosting. If you haven’t yet, check GoDaddy to make sure the domain name you’ve got your sights on is available. At GoDaddy, you can check any domain name to see if it’s been registered already. I always go for the .coms and if I can’t get it, I think of a different name entirely, but it’s your call. If you’re really stumped and can’t think of something clever, they also make recommendations for similar domains based on keywords.

Unfortunately if you’ve already registered a domain name, either with GoDaddy or some other registrar, the process of changing web hosts is a bit more involved and requires a basic understanding of server administration. You’ll need to change the domain name servers that your domain points to. I suggest you have a chat with your webmaster to make sure he or she does a complete backup of all your files and databases, while making the transition as seamless as possible to ensure there’s zero downtime. If you don’t have a webmaster, please engage me for my services.

If you’re wondering why I use GoDaddy over anyone else, my reasoning is very basic actually. They’re the largest domain registrar in the world, offer competitive pricing and around the clock support. No one does it better! I was only supposed to talk about registering domains, but I figured web hosting is pretty important and should be addressed at the same time you’re figuring out your domain name. Now it’s almost 3 AM, time to get some sleep!