How to Host Your Own Web Domain

Are you looking out for information on how to host your own web domain? The first step in this process is registering your unique domain name. Then you can apply for hosting. Once you manage to find a web hosting company to your liking, you can easily upload your site, which you have presumably developed yourself with the help of Frontpage, Dreamweaver or even Word or any other publisher program.

To host your own web domain you can choose from the following:

• shared hosting
• co-location
• dedicated hosting
• doing it yourself.

Though the option of web hosting on your own is more time consuming, it gives you more independence and flexibility than the other choices. The first and foremost step is to install a web server. Windows XP Professional, Mac OS, and Linux distributions come with a web server, and you just need to turn it on. The second step is to sign up for a DynDNS. These services will give you a domain name that always points to your IP address, even when it changes. The next step is to install the client for the domain name service to ensure that your domain name always works. If your computer is fire-walled, you need to open port 80 so that the web server is visible to the outside world.

The most suitable and economical way for more than 95% of new webmasters will be shared web hosting. Here you have to sign up with that web host and verify how often you will be charged for the services. Once the initial formalities are over, you can upload to your hosting site all the HTML, graphics, and programming files that were created when you designed your site. This can be done either by using an FTP client or by using the control panel of your site.

Now you can visit your own new domain in your web browser. Always realize that discount hosting plans you might choose are usually fairly inflexible. Make sure you know what features you are actually getting and whether they will meet your needs.