Using Your Web Server

The simplest case is to host your podcast media files right on your Web server. When you're starting out, this is probably the way to go. Most Web hosting agreements usually include a fair amount of bandwidth these days, which cover a fair amount of downloads. For example, here are a few of the better-known Web hosting companies and the deals they're currently offering:

• IX Web Hosting (http://www.ixwebhosting.com): $3.95 a month, 100 GB storage, 1,000 GB throughput

• Host Excellence (http://www.hostexcellence.com): $2.95 a month, 5 GB storage, 50 GB throughput

• iPower Web (http://www.iPowerweb.com): $7.95 a month, 50 GB storage, 750 GB throughput

• Dreamhost (http://www.dreamhost.com): $7.95 a month, 200GB storage, 2TB throughput

• 1 and 1 (http://1and1.com): $2.99 a month, 5 GB storage, 250 GB throughput

As you can see, killer deals for cheap Web hosting abound. However, as the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The only way they can offer these kinds of prices is by putting hundreds if not thousands of Web sites on each server. You'll be sharing resources with lots of other folks. In some cases, this may not be a problem. However, sometimes it can be problematic. Your listeners may have to wait longer for your pages and your podcast files to download.

When you're first starting off, prices like these with the amount of storage and throughput they're giving away are pretty hard to pass up. Many of these services also offer fairly comprehensive tool sets that allow you to build Web sites and create e-commerce pages, blogs, and forums, and they'll even host your e-mail.

If you're thinking of going this way, it's really important to comb the comparison sites and the forums of your potential partners. See what people are saying about them and whether their existing customers are happy. Don't just go by the testimonials they put on their home page; dig into their message boards if you can, and search them to death. It's not that the couple of dollars a month is going to break your budget; it's more that after you're settled into a Web host, changing can be a painful experience.

Tip

A number of sites out there regularly update the ratings for Web hosting services. Just search for "best web hosting" and you'll have a number to choose from.