Paid Hosting

[This is part of a series on Website Design]

There are 2 types of paid hosting available - shared and dedicated hosting.

1. Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is what most people use.
It usually has a web-based easy to use control panel system, such as cPanel. The provider is responsible for management of servers - if it breaks you call them.
Linux and Windows based hosting is available from most providers.
You will not be provided with a 100% unique IP address - hundreds of websites will have same IP.
The main advantage of shared hosting is that it is reasonably priced from a few dollars a month.

When you opt for dedicated hosting, the entire server is dedicated for your use only. It is not shared with anyone else.
Dedicated hosting is slightly more expensive.
Server administration is an additional service to get from the hosting company.
You are less likely to have a problem with spam coming from your server.
You will have plenty of space and in most can host more than one domain per account.
You will have the flexibility to do what you want - you are in charge now.

You've got your own domain name, plenty of space and in most can host more than one domain per account.
It puts forth a professional appearance for your site or blog.
Maximizes branding via domain name.
You can have email addresses with your domain name.
You can install web applications with databases requirements.
You have the flexibility to do what you want, you are in charge now.
You can implement SEO techniques and optimize your pages.
It adds credibility to your name.

I personally use Hostgator to host all my website.