No matter what your level
of experience or needs, there is a hosting service (hosts are the
various companies who will put your pages on their web servers)
that is right for you.
Even just in the free hosting
range, the services range from Tripod
and Geocities which are
especially suited to first time users, through ones like VirtualAve,
and up to the ones that actually pay you for the visitors you get,
such as the way at TerraShare.
If you are building for the
first time, I strongly recommend using either Tripod or Geocities.
These hosts are both specially geared to first-time users and have
tools that take absolutely all of the hassles and worries away.
The Tripod service is my
preference of the two because it gives you a cooler web address
- like http://your-member-name.tripod.com . However both provide
excellent easy-builder tools and have 'communities' that help others
find your site.
For more advanced users who
want to use CGI programs then you need to shop upmarket a little
more and may be happier with hosts like VirtualAve who provide extra
features.
If you were going to build
a commercial site you could do worse than look at hosting services
such as hypermart. The Open Directory Project provide a very useful
directory of free hosts that helps you to compare size allowances
and features at a glance.
Take your time when selecting
a host, and pay attention to just how helpful their help files and
support stuff really is. If you find that the help doesn't then
you should almost certainly look elsewhere.