A website host (or sometimes referred to as a website hosting provider) is a company that offers the technology and services necessary for a website to be viewed on the internet. You connect your domain name to your hosting provider so that when users visit your small business website address, they are shown your website that you store on your hosting account.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eHosting services can cost anywhere between $5 to $100+ per month, depending on the kind of technology and support you choose. You can usually get a discount if you purchase a yearly plan as opposed to a monthly plan. Here are some guidelines for choosing a good website hosting plan:u003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e- Shared Hosting:u003c/strongu003e Although you can get a u003cstrongu003e“shared server” u003c/strongu003ehosting plan for as little as $5 per month, I would typically advise against this. Shared hosting means you are sharing a server and its resources with other customers, which can make the performance of your site suffer. Also, if one of the other websites on your shared server is hacked, it is possible for your website to also be infected.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e- Dedicated server: u003c/strongu003ethis is the most expensive option, cost can range from around $100 to $2,000 per month but it would make your website perform the most optimally. Having a dedicated server plan means that the physical server machine is entirely dedicated to your site; therefore, all the resources are yours and it is more secure than a shared hosting plan, as long as the technology is optimal. However, it is much more expensive than what most small businesses usually are willing to pay. Once you have a very high-performing site, this may be what you need, but it is overkill for most early stage and small businesses.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e- Virtual Private Server (VPS):u003c/strongu003e I typically recommend a u003cstrongu003eVPSu003c/strongu003e hosting plan which offers the best of both worlds. The cost ranges from around $20 to $50 per month, which is affordable for the hosting services you will receive. A VPS is one machine that is partitioned to act as multiple machines, which gives it a similar affordability to shared hosting, with similar security and performance potential as a dedicated server hosting plan.