Our primer on websites...
If you are one of the many people overwhelmed by how all of this works, we'll dummy it down a bit. This page is mainly all about hosting.

Hosting - what is it?
Once you have a domain name, you will need a place to store all the files required to present a web site to viewers. A hosting company will allow you to upload all your website files to a "server", which is basically a computer hard drive. This server is linked to the Internet via high speed network connections. The larger hosting companies will have secure rooms, back up power systems, redundant network connections, 24 hour staffing and other features. Most will guarantee that your site will have a 99.9% uptime, and that's usually true.

Most hosting companies co-host many sites on one server, saves $ for you but can be a problem if there are some bad boy sites on the same server. Another site on your server may send a lot of spam and your site may get banned from sending email just from guilt by association. Contact your hosting company if this happens, they will usually move you or do something to help correct any problems. You may opt to have your own server, just you and your sites on it - can be expensive compared to other hosting options (150/month or more), but if you have a large site or large company, this usually is the way to go.

How Much?
Fees vary all over the place, most prices depend on the features you need. Most of us want a decent stats program to monitor our progress, enough disk space for email and file storage, etc. Ecommerce and database sites require more functionality and cost more to host. Our prices range from $100 per year for small, simple sites, to $250/yr and up for Ecommerce and database sites.
Sites with movies use a lot more bandwidth and can expect to pay more as well.

How can I find a hosting company?
Just Google the term "web hosting" and jump back - there are a lot of companies and competing plans. It's hard to compare apples to apples, but look for a company that has a telephone that they actually answer, and/or 24/7 tech system that works when you have problems.  A stats program (even several) is nice to monitor your site performance - this is one of the big benefits of websites, you can see results. Most good ones will have server site access where you can add email addresses, databases and other functions to your site.

Rule # 1
You are going to have problems - count on it.
Make sure your hosting company answers the phone and has a trouble ticket system that they respond to.

Hosting Variables
Most sites need just a few hundred MB of disc space and minimal bandwidth. If you have a lot of email accounts and each one has 10 MB of storage - you may need more disc space - especially if you are downloading large files. If you run a movie or video presentation - that uses more bandwidth and you need to increase that.
Most simple sites do not need SQL (databases), however if you have interoffice spreadsheets, or other database apps, you will want this in your hosting pkg.