Hosting your site
Your site needs to sit on a server (a computer that handles requests for data, e-mail, file transfers and other network services from other computers) so that it can ‘serve’ or send out web pages to the computers of web users around the world. This requires specialist server software and can be quite a complex job to do yourself. So most organisations, even many big ones, have their website ‘hosted’ by an internet service provider (ISP).
Using your ISP’s domain name
If you are a small organisation and want to save money on hosting costs and don’t require a separate domain name you can use the ISP that you have probably already contracted with for email purposes
Most ISPs will host your site for no additional charge above your existing connection costs. There will usually be limits on the size of your site and the amount of traffic to and from it, but unless your website becomes wildly popular this will not normally be a problem.
If you go down this route then your site is effectively a subsite of your ISPs.
Using your own domain name and a specialist web host
The alternative is to acquire you own domain name and use a specialist web hosting ISP. You will need a contract with that ISP (separate to your contract for email and internet use) for web hosting services. The yearly price will depend on things like the size of your site and the number of visitors.
You do not have to have your website hosted in your city or town so look Australia-wide for the best solution for your needs.
These ISPs can help you make decisions about the optimum speed for your website, the degree of security required, and the level of service, e.g. backup and what period of downtime for your site is acceptable, if any. If the choice of optimum speed, security or service level results in a server and hosting solution that is too expensive for your budget, then you may need to revise your expectations. The server and hosting solution you can afford will also dictate, to some extent, the design of the site and the functional elements you can employ in it.
