If you are planning a very basic website Google Apps will host it for free. You can purchase a domain name directly through Google, they provide website creation software,and templates so you can easily get your website up and running.

If you plan on creating multiple websites or a website with a forum, or database, you will probably want to find a dedicated hosting service like the ones listed below. The upside to a dedicated web hosting service is you pay a flat monthly fee to host your websites, some web hosting companies let you hose up to 1000 sites for $9.95 or less. Of course you have to purchase the domain name for eaach of your sites.

Google Apps

You can post your website for free on Google Apps. Google Apps is designed to be a complete business solution,  it includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Talk, Google Calendar,  Google Page Creator and more. 

Google will host your site for free but you will have to buy the domain name. If you want to have a professional website you should purchase a domain name (like www.start-amarketing.com), it will cost about $10.00 per year. You can purchase the domain name from a list of many providers when you set up Google Apps. By the way, good luck finding a short domain name!

Just a warning, Google Apps does not have fully functional web hosting. You use their page creator and templates to create your site. You can edit the html and and paste code into your site but they state that some html may not function correctly and javascript is not supported. I have not had any problems getting the Amazon  and other html widgets to work in my website and blog. 

The standard edition of Google Apps is free, they do have a premier edition that will cost you $50 per year. The premier edition is geared more towards small business needs than affiliate marketing so the standard edition (free) should suite your needs just fine.

Pluses for Google Apps

• It is free
• It includes web creation software
• There are many website templates to choose from to create your site
• Google make it easy for you to purchase a domain name
  
• Google provides support and there is a support forum

Negatives for Google Apps

• Google Sites are not a complete web hosting option, they provide templates and an editor and will post the site you create using their online software but the capabilities are limited. Chances are java script will not work with Google Sites. They even state that there may be problems with some html, but I did not have a problem pasting banners and other  code from Amazon and LinkShare.

Microsoft has a webpage creation software, email accounts, Microsoft Office online and they even provide you with a free domain name for the first year. The catch is after the first year you pay $14.95 per year for your domain compared to other sites where you will pay $10.00 or less per year. Microsoft Office Live offers one thing that Google does not, it is  e-commerce, you can set up a web store on Micorsoft Office Live, however there is an extra charge to do it.

As always with Microsoft they are a proprietary  software company, from what I have read you can not access Microsoft Office Online using Firefox or any browser other than Internet Explorer. Also, the website you create using the Microsoft Office online tools will not display properly in Firefox or other non Microsoft browsers. This could be a big issue because Firefox has become very popular.

Paid Hosting

MocaHost

Mocahost is one of the top web hosting companies. Click on the above link to check it out.

For $3.71 per month you get the following:

• 1 web site
• Lifetime domain name
• 42 free tools(blog software etc...)
• Website builder with templates
• Much more

 They also have $5.96 and $9.71 options. The middle cost option seems to be best suited for most affiliate marketers. You get unlimited domains plus up to 1000 web sites. 

Inmotion

They have a $3.00, $4.00 and $5.00 per month options for personal websites that included the following:

• 1 website
• Free domain name
• and much more

They have $6.97, $7.95 and $19.95 per month options for business websites.

Check it out by clicking on the above link.

ThinkHost

ThinkHost advertises the fact they are carbon neutral, their servers are powered by wind and solar power. They have a $7.95 plan that included many options.

These are just some of the many hosting option available to you. You can do a little seaching of your own to see what you can find. 

Domain Names

The companies listed above will provide a domain name at no charge or will allow you to purchase a domain name through them, but if you opt to go with a different hosting company and you have to purchase a domain name on your own the companies listed below may be helpful.

You do not need to buy a domain name but it is highly recomended. The reason that I say this is because your website appears to be fly-by-night if you have a web address that is not the normal www."something".com. For example, if I did not buy a domain name, my address of start-amarketing.com it would be www.start-amarketing.com-a.googlepages.com. Your customers would probably not remember that web address and it would probably raise a red flag that you are not that serious about you website if you will not spend $10 per year on a domain name. 

Listed below are just two providers of doamin names.

The most well known is:

Go Daddy does a lot of advertising, including super bowl commercials so you have probably heard of them even if you are not into the internet. Domain names are $10 but they regularly have sales of domain names for $6.95. Go Daddy also does web hosting.

 You can also buy a domain name from register.com for $10 per year.