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If you have a website online, you have a hosting account. As I've mentioned in previous articles, hosting is similar to paying "rent" on the Internet. In order to be visible, you'll need to be on a server.

I decided to write about hosting today when out walking this morning with a friend. We were discussing how many companies are still paying a hefty monthly price for hosting when it really isn't necessary.

Some companies went out and got their website in the early stages of the Internet. They were cutting edge by being up on the latest trend and getting involved early. However, since that time, they haven't updated their site, optimized it for the search engines or even looked at the numbers in quite a while.

If you fall into this category, you may be surprised to know that you don't have to pay $100.00 a month for your website hosting. You can get hosting for less than $10.00 a month for your small website.

In addition to hosting, if you are wondering whether or not your site is optimized for the search engines, try doing a Google search using your keywords for the products/services you are selling. Do you come up within the search engine results? If not, then you aren't optimized for search.

Another exercise you can try is to Google your company website (domain) name. Are you the first result? You should be - this is your business! Most likely if you aren't coming up, your site was built using the old methods and you really could have so much more visibility on the web and more success as a business owner if you were to opt for a site re-design.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to continually update your site with fresh content. If you are stuck with your old hosting company/website design firm and they haven't contacted you to help your business grow - you are throwing your money away every month.

Steps you should take:

• Do some research and see how much companies are charging for domain name renewal (often times you are being over-charged), you can usually pick one up for around $12.00. The longer period you purchase the name for, it will be cheaper and it has a benefit for your SEO! Some algorithms rank your site higher if you have a longer registration of your domain name.

• Find out what hosting packages are going for these days. You can move your existing site to a new host for a nominal fee and start saving money right away!

• Learn as much as you can about SEO and then find a new website design firm that can help you with all of the elements you need. You don't want to get stuck in the same situation you are in now. Plunk down a few extra bucks to invest in a CMS so you'll be able to update your site yourself and keep your content fresh.

Remember, you don't have to pay a small fortune for hosting and the company that you are doing business with should pay attention to your needs and not just leave you out there floating in cyberspace without guidance.

Joanne Pele is the Vice President of Operations at Complete Business Systems. Complete Business Systems provides a ready-to-go branding package for your company, including website, logo, business cards and letterhead. Additional services include postcard design, databases, press release and web content writing. For more information, visit Complete Business Systems or call 800-479-9186.

For many small businesses, having a website is essential to growth. With the widespread use of the internet, business hosting for a website is a normal business expense. Websites can draw in new clientele, and a good company offering business hosting for your website can bring a lot of traffic and business for your company.

Business hosting for a website allows your site to have a place to live and grow. Your computer connects to the internet and is provided with an address, commonly referred to as an IP address. This IP address is how people find your computer to communicate with you. A business hosting company for your website allows you to take advantage of a DNS, or domain name system, instead of an IP address. This way other people can find your computer via a URL, or uniform resource locator. A URL is basically what most of us refer to as a web address.

A business hosting company allows you to put your website on a server that makes it available on a permanent basis, as that server will always be connected the internet. Keeping that server running all of the time is a lot of work, and business hosting companies are the ones responsible for the daunting task. By paying a small fee to a business hosting company, they will make sure your website can be seen by the public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Some business hosting companies do it all from designing your website to maintaining it. However, in many cases, you will be responsible for uploading your website onto the server from your computer. However, a business hosting company will provide you with some essential for maintaining the operation of your website. Many business hosting companies will offer you a domain name and an e-mail program to give your company that professional edge.

If you are going to be using a business hosting company for your website that does not do the design and maintenance, you may want to consider hiring a web designer before you pick a business hosting company. By designing your website first, you will know more about what you will need from your business hosting plan, like how much storage space you will need and what operating system will be required.

Business hosting for your website is fairly inexpensive, and there are a multitude of business hosting companies available to get your website on the internet. Yet, you should make sure that you look closely at each business hosting company to make sure they have the features you will need. For instance, if you want chat rooms, bulletin boards, or a shopping cart, you need to make sure that the business hosting company for your website offers you that capability.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.home-based-business-world.com/articles/business-hosting.htm

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Charles Fuchs is an established Six Figure Income earner and one of the top online marketer's. He specializes in showing people the fastest way to Starting a business.