It is seldom advisable to use your primary ISP (Internet Service Provider) - the company you dial up or connect by cable through - as the virtual host for your own website, unless you only wish to put up a simple, non-controversial set of personal or hobby web pages. Such pages are commonly referred to as "Home Pages" and seldom require their own unique web-location. They are usually thrown in free with your monthly access fee anyways

If you are making a distinct website with yourname.com (a domain name) as it's name, you need some other provider to Host it for you, using a method called "virtual hosting". This just means that their server also recognizes and fills requests for documents made by internet surfers, for documents in the domain "yourname.com" as well as their own and others. These hosting providers are also called IPP's a short form for Internet Presence Provider which means the same thing.

To choose a Host pick among thousands of companies who compete for this sort of business at: The WebHostList.com!

Using your own ISP for such a task, trusts them not to pass judgement on your site's content and gives them absolute power over your internet access, your communications (email) your home page AND your website! If your website is hosted by a third party, you can always get another ISP for internet access should problems develop. You most certainly won't get the best deal if you simply stick to one company for all of your internet needs. A Internet Service Provider makes it's money off of user accounts, and is optimized to request data from the internet for as many subscribers it can pack onto its connections as possible. Supplying data to the internet (serving websites) is cream for them, which actually clogs their pipes, and they are unlikely to be competetive in that business (the larger the worst). Service subscribers pay a lot of money for very little, and all come home from work at the same times...

If you desire, you can also park it for free until you do find a hosting provider you are comfortable with! Most domain name registrars offer free "default" parking for any domain name you register, until you have set up and completed your hosting arrangements.

Since ISP's, especially larger ones, can be very content-dictatorial and intransigent about issues such as bulk email and newsgroup posting and their pricing for "excess bandwidth" both for monthly use and homepage popularity, you can find yourself facing large bills without any warning. Such disputes and the viability of one outfit itself can put your website out of business and completely bar you from internet and email service all at once, unless you have taken this sole dependency scenario into account beforehand. Because the internet is so dynamic, it is not possible to get an iron-clad 'flat rate' hosting deal. If your site becomes unbelievably popular, your hosts will be back at you to discuss or bill you for extra "bandwidth".

When you find a prospective host, consider not only the price and features offered, but the limits, excess charges and guarantees they provide. Another gage is the speed with which pages in their domain download during peak periods (late weekend afternoons) and the timeliness and personality of their responses to your email inquiries about hosting! Be sure their acceptable use policies do not conflict with your own.