First problem is hardware and computer. You must not expect a home PC can act as server. You need a powerful server with 24 hour 7 days a week internet connection which is expensive.

In addition to hardware expenses you will also need to pay for software licenses and labor.
There must be some technicians to supervise your server functions and keep it bug and virus free.

Keeping the above points in mind, the best option is to host and publish your site through a reliable web hosting provider. But before you get a host you need to consider some important points and based on that you purchase your hosting plan.

1- Cost:

First you need to decide how much you are going to spend. If you do not want sell anything in your site and your site express your hobby and personal interests, then a free hosting like GeoCities might be suitable for you.

There are some restrictions and limitations imposed by free hosting providers like disk space, limited technical support, and no domain name and they publish their own advertisements on your site.

But if you need more professional web site with less than $3 to $10 per month you can publish your own site with more freedom.

2- Support:

Purchasing a hosting plan without proper support from hosting provider means throwing away
your money. It is important to make sure they will provide you a solid 24/7 support to all your technical sales questions. Email support, Toll Free phone must be part of their support system.

3- Backup:

A good hosting provider makes daily backup of your files, so if anything happens to server or your files, you are sure you will get back and can restore your site again.

4- Bandwidth:

If you are going to have lots of picture and image on your site, or you want to publish audio and video online, then make sure have sufficient bandwidth.

5- Disk space:

These days most of popular web hosting providers give you plenty of disk space but pay attention to allocated disk space.

6- Email:

Email is an important section in your decision making to purchase a hosting plan. Make
sure hosting provider supports POP and IMAP email, autoresponder, email forwarding, Catch All email, and spam assassin protection.

POP stands for Post Office Protocol. POP is a standard protocol to send and receive emails. You can read your mails using an email program such as Outlook or Thunderbird.

IMAP is an abbreviation of Internet Message Access Protocol. Like POP you read your mails with any email program. The difference between POP and IMAP is that with POP you access your emails only through one computer, but with IMAP you have access to your emails through different computers like one at home and one at work etc.

7- Database access:

Notice that your hosting company provides you with database access and the number of it. Most hosting providers give their customers unlimited MySql database access.

Normally you can not use your own computer to act as a server and publish your site until it is connected to a network. In order to connect your computer to a network, you need to use an ISP which stands for Internet Service Provider.

They best choice which is cheaper and from technical point of view possible, is to use one of the hosting providers. In the next tutorial, I talk about how to choose a reliable web hosting.

If you do not want to pay for your hosting, then there are many free hosting such as GeoCities. There are more tutorials about different types of web hosting.

If you want to make an informed decision you should know know different types of hosting.

Free web hosting:

There are many hosting providers that do not charge you for hosting your files and site, in other words they are free. They normally cover their expenses through advertising which is added to your site like pop-ups, banner, and frames.

Advantages of free web hosting:

1. It is free.
2. You usually get a free email as well.
3. It is a good choice for hobby or small family sites.

Disadvantages of free web hosting:

1. You do not have your own domain name.
2. Limited or no technical support.
3. Lots of advertising in your site.
4. No security guarantee.

Paid web hosting:

If you want a decent web site with enough tools to build and manage your site and proper security and technical support, then paid web hosting is the way to go. In this type of web hosting you normally pay a fixed amount of money monthly and in return you get space in the hosting system, bandwidth, necessary software, and technical support.

There are three options for you purchase a hosting:

1. Shared hosting:

In shared web hosting your site is hosted in one server along with many other sites on the same server. This type of hosting is most common type of hosting that people buy and it is very popular. There are many advantages in shared web hosting such as having your own domain, very cost effective (between $2.00 to $19.00 per month), 24/7 support, and wide range of software.

2. Dedicated hosting:

If your site gets lots of traffic or it need special software, then you might need a dedicated server that exclusively hosts your site and you get root access to the server to control it completely. It is the most expensive type of hosting and you have unlimited control over software.

3. Collocated hosting:

It is exactly the same as dedicated server with one difference: In dedicated server you rent the server but in collocated hosting you own the server not the hosting company and you just pay for physical place in their facility and internet connection.

Both dedicated and collocated hosting are available as managed and unmanaged. In managed dedicated/collocated hosting you pay additional charges to hosting company to manage and maintain your server on your behalf, but in unmanaged dedicated/collocated hosting you have to manage, administer, and maintain your server including security, software update, and server hardware.

When choosing an operating system for a dedicated server, there are a number of factors coming in to play. Price of the operating system, employee familiarity and support (bug fixes, patches) are some of these parameters. Linux variants have become more popular among dedicated hosting services as you get it free and you have the full freedom of customizing it. Unlike Microsoft Windows Server versions, Linux does not require any additional license and subscriptions for support. Someone can argue about the poor support Linux distribution makers offer you when it comes to commercial hosting! Yes, this has been a burning issue for Linux variants and few of these companies now offer extended support for little money or no money at all. As an example, Redhat Linux offers the operating system and support following the same model as Microsoft but for a fraction of the price that you would end up paying for Microsoft. When it comes to Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. offers an extended support for their server versions totally free.

When it comes to software, again Linux based software dominates the industry. The simple fact is that this software is free as the operating system itself. You don’t have to add or buy this additional software since these are bundled in to the operating system. Most of the web services now run on LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) technology and the expertise is everywhere unlike the dark days of Linux. On the other side, Microsoft offers variety of software for server hosting which is again expensive. Therefore, most of the dedicated web hosting is not done on Windows platform mainly due to the cost involved and lack of control over the operating system.