From the very beginning I would like to explain you something. There are plenty of reasons why you need your web site to be professionally hosted. In some cases people prefer to host their web sites by themselves. For instance if you are just starting your business and trying a new approach and are not sure that it will work, you do not want to pay a web hosting provider to host your web site from the very beginning. If you host your web site yourself, you can save a lot of money that can be used for developing your business. And when you notice that your business started growing and there come more visitors to your web site, then you can employ a web hosting company to host your web site.
You can host your web site if you have a PC and high speed internet connection (Cable / DSL). You will have to keep your computer online 24 / 7. Moreover, you will have only to follow 7 steps that I am going to describe below, to make your website available online:
1) Install a web server: Many Windows operating systems either come with a web server, or the web site can be downloaded freely, it depends on the edition of Windows. The web server is the program functioning in the background on your computer snooping to requests from people online. It is a program that helps to find your pages in your PC and sends them to the users requesting it.
2) Configure the web server: at this stage you just show your web site server where to find your web sites that is placed somewhere in your PC.
3) Get a domain name: at this stage you think about the name that you would like to choose for your web site and purchase it from a provider. Traditionally, domain names are not expensive and you are charged a yearly payment.
4) Set DNS: this is where you link your web site name with the IP address of your computer in order the users are moved to your computer when typing the name of your website.
5) Install your router: Your router should know about the computer that has the web page in order it knows where to direct users to.
6) Active IP solution: Many people have a dynamic IP address provided by their ISP. This means the IP address of your computer may alter. And this is the main problem, as DNS should know the IP address of the computer that people need to be directed to when typing a domain name. You can solve this problem with the help of applications that will automatically update DNS when your IP changes.
7) Securing your server: The last thing that you should do is to check if your computer is secured from malicious programs online with the necessary software set and configured.