There are lots of web hosting service companies. We recommend first that you choose one with definite ties to the United States. Some companies have servers here, but when you read the agreements, you discover they are covered by the laws of Belize, or Panama, or elsewhere. Other companies are US-based, but use servers off-shore. Such are valid business models, and you certainly can use them if you wish, but we think US-based is a wiser choice.

Using those thoughts, we chose HostMonster.Com because the company and its servers are based in the US -- and they are not expensive. Use the link below to sign up.

We also recommend that you do not HOST your website using the same company with whom you REGISTER your domain name. Simply put, if one company holds both your domain name, and your website, you could have difficulty if a dispute arises. The exception to this might be registering the temporary address to make the Drupal installation easier, as we mentioned earlier, but we still advise that your primary domain be registered with a service other than your site host.

Now, read all the fine print about the hosting service, to see what limits there are on usage. The operant thought here is to have no surprises down the road, with the hosting service informing you that you are violating their usage policy and they've just shut you off. Those hosting "terms of service" are long and full of legal language, but you should get a cup of coffee, some vitamin pills, and an energy drink or two... and read them.

You are following this tutorial in order to create a site like the ORP site, and that depends on a content-management system called Drupal. Be sure that the hosting service fully supports Drupal websites. Usually, that will mean that not only do they allow Drupal to run, by granting you access to a database engine and such, but also that they provide an installation tool for Drupal on their maintenance page. Don't be bashful, ASK them first: "Do you fully support Drupal-based sites?", and "How do you facilitate Drupal installations?"

Be sure that the hosting service supports site backups, and gives you access to backups you can off-load to your own computers, just in case. This is ESSENTIAL, because no one in their worst nightmare wants to have to rebuild a site from scratch if something serious happens, like the hosting service goes out of business. So be sure (1) the hosting service does frequent backups of your site and (2) gives you access to them, then be sure also that (3) you quickly learn how to download those backups, and (4) assign some person in your organization to actually DO those downloads.

Next, be sure that the hosting service provides full "FTP" access for doing things like partial backups, file management, and installation of components. Some services, like HostMonster, provide FTP through their maintenance page, but I think you will find complete FTP access more flexible. You'll need a client program -- that is, a program that lives on your computer and talks for you to the server -- to support FTP, and we discuss that in the next section.

Finally, be sure that the hosting service provides for direct session access, where you are enabled to login to the server just like you used to do on your computer during the DOS days (remember those command prompts?). This is extremely useful, and I frankly don't see any alternative to good, old-fashioned command line intervention during the whole process. This will require some education, but it's not overwhelming. The hosting service customer service staff can help you with most of it, and we'll write what we learn as folks get stumped by issues. We discuss a client tool for this in the next section, too.

All that investigation done? Good, now sign up. Usually, a short term like a year will net pretty good monthly rates (paid in advance, usually), and avoid an account setup fee. Acquire your login and password information, and methods of access while setting up the pages. Usually you have to identify the domain that you will be creating at signup time, and you need not be concerned about declaring the same domain name as your current website, since the site does not become active UNTIL you notify the domain registrar that you have "moved". In the interim, the hosting service will let you know how to temporarily access the website for setup and testing. Take notes, and make sure you're not the only one who has them. That Jamaica thing, remember?

And don't worry. You can do this, given patience and determination. Everything can be fixed if you break it, as long as you don't use too much dynamite and keep your backups. Around here, we practice keeping copies of postings that are placed on the site, and copies of modules, and lists of things to do.