In theory, you could host the website yourself, on your own PC. However, you probably don't want to! Hosting a website requires a computer to be switched on 24/7. A commercial website requires a robust connection and a guaranteed power supply. Most domestic computers and broadband connections are not really suitable. Also, most websites are hosted on computers running Linux or Windows Server operating systems, the administration of which is not for the faint-hearted.

You could use the free webspace that your ISP provides, but they don't usually offer you any clever dynamic content - for example, you couldn't run a mailing list database, and your contact form would not be very sophisticated. Worse, they probably won't let you use your own domain name, so you'll might end up with something like mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/fredsflowers, rather than the more professional www.fredsflowers.com.

If you run your own business, you could probably host your website on your server in your office. However, for security reasons it is best to have a dedicated computer isolated from the rest of the computers in your office, so it might end up costing more than you think.

Thus, the best option is to choose a dedicated web hosting provider. Malvern Web Solutions use a specialist UK-based hosting company to host all our websites.