If someone wants to get a website online, the most essential component (and the one that almost always requires some cash investment) is the hosting service.  The host stores the actual data of the website and connects it to the web, so the decision is an important one that will affect how fast your sites are and how reliable they are at staying online. In addition to physically connecting your website data to the internet, hosts also provide a lot of features designed to help you install website software and manage your domains.

One popular choice for non-commercial web publishing is free hosting.  This can be obtained at places like Blogspot, WordPress, or even Facebook and Myspace.  These sites provide the hosting for free and give you everything you need to publish content to the web, but with the exception of Blogspot they’re not interested in helping you build a commercial site.  They’d rather keep the profits your content generates to pay for their own hosting and promotion expenses.

Shared hosting – cost effective and business friendly

One step up from free hosting is shared hosting – a service that allows multiple webmasters to share the resources of a single server machine.  Shared hosting gives webmasters more control over the look and organization of their sites, and there are rarely any limits on commercial activity (other than legally prescribed regulations, of course).  Most hosting accounts also allow you to run multiple domains off the same service, so there’s really no external limit to the number of sites you can build.

Hosting coupons are available

Like any other business, hosting providers are competing for customers.  One way they do so is through coupons, promotional codes, and other discounts that allow the buyer to customize the service, features, and price they’re willing to pay.  To help get the word out, affiliates can also earn money when their personal hosting coupon or code are used to make a purchase.

Dreamhost Coupon Codes 2012:

Dreamhost is the shared host this site is published on, and its served me well for the installation of multiple WordPress and Pligg domains under a single hosting account.  They also have a huge selection of Dreamhost coupon codes to choose from, so there’s never a reason to pay full price when you’re signing up:

• Saves50 – $50 off
• 3free4life – 3 extra free domain registrations for the life of your account
• BizAndBlog – 1 extra free domain registration and $30 off
• BizCode – $20 off and a dedicated IP address
• 218233078703 – use this code to get $150 off a 5 year plan or $200 off a 10 year plan!

Hostgator Coupon Codes 2012:

Hostgator is another popular web host, but I don’t have as much experience using the service.  Its highly recommended and I’ll probably invest in my next hosting account with them (whenever its time to diversify again.)  Hostgator coupon codes are also available to secure a discount on shared, VPS, or even dedicated hosting in case your site is already bringing in heavy traffic and you need more CPU time.

• Green – 20% off the purchase of any new account
• WordPress – 1 penny for the first month of service

There’s no catch, just pick your favorite coupon code and add it to the promotional code field during account registration.  Entering a code will give you a new cost calculation or upgrade your service – so be sure to take advantage of this discount opportunity.