What is Web Hosting?

Do you have information that you want to share with other online users? Have you created a website? If so, you will need some form of web hosting. This will allow you to make your files, images, video and audio content and much more accessible by anyone using the internet. Without web hosting, no one would ever be able to access your information while online.

You can obtain web hosting by finding a web hosting provider. There are thousands of web hosts. The hosts themselves vary in size and in what they offer their clients. There are small and large hosting packages. Some hosts offer free hosting services. Others offer paid for shared hosting plans, virtual private server hosting or ecommerce hosting packages. There is also the option of dedicated server hosting.

With free, shared and virtual private server hosting, the hosting provider will own, manage and maintain the hosting server. They will also provide customers with the necessary internet connectivity to make their website available online. Hosting servers and other hosting equipment is held in data centers. Some hosts own their own data centers, while others simply have their servers in a data center owned by someone else. Individuals and most businesses do not own their own data center. These are typically owned and operated by web hosting providers. On the other hand, if you utilize dedicated server hosting then you will essentially be leasing a web server.

Let us look further at the role of the server. A website is stored on the server. Servers are essentially special computers which house your website and make your website available to other web users. Without a server, your site could not be accessed by anyone else on the Internet. This is why you need web hosting. A business or even an individual can own and operate their own hosting server and other equipment but for most this is just too expensive of an option and requires too much technical option. For this reason most people leave the “hard work” to the hosting provider.

Once you sign up for and set up your hosting services, your website can be accessed. People on the Internet can type in your web address to access your website. For example, they will type in www.yourwebsite.com into their browser. Within seconds they will be able to see your website. From there they can move around your website. This is why it is important to also remember to purchase a domain name when you are ready to launch your website. There are also sub domains. However, most web hosts other than free hosts, will require you to have your own domain. Sometimes you can sign up for a domain name through the web hosting provider.

After you have signed up for a domain name and web hosting, you are ready to get your website online. It can take between 24-72 hours for your domain name to propagate through the Internet. But in very little time your website will be online for any web user to access.