what is web hosting: Your Clear Answer
Web hosting is basically a way for individuals and companies to store digital media (websites etc.) on the Internet for others to access. This giant storage facility normally comes at a cost owing to the services it provides, but in some instances (normally non-business or commercial) they can be offered free. Digital files like websites, videos and programs for instance are stored on a web host server sometimes called a data center where they can be retrieved by anyone who wishes to view the slide or video footage for example.
A large number of companies even supply free hosting to individuals, not generally companies, where they are able to have websites and blogs without any charge. However, if you’re planning to expand you should shift to a paid service as free web hosting only gives you limited space and sub-domains for your site. There will be a large number of companies offering paid hosting but the prices do vary and this is usually down to how much is actually supplied as part of the package; any confusion is normally quite easy to overcome by using one of the internet comparison sites that are becoming very popular.
In the early days you may be quite happy to have your files on a server which is shared by many others while you try their hosting services. When the need for more space and security is required then a dedicated server at extra cost can be used. With web hosting you get your own web space, but you do need to have a registered domain before you can use it, then you are allocated with enough storage to keep all your files for online publication. The term ‘file’ is a generic name for anything that is uploaded (the opposite of downloaded) to your website with the space allocated normally not less than one half of a full gigabyte but these figures are always increasing.
Web hosting also provides the facility to have your own email address unlike those supplied by Google and Yahoo for example, this means, your e-mail address is exclusive to your website. People who are serious about their internet presence will want to have their own identity and to prove the point; you will never see a company using someone else’s domain in their email address. The next thing to consider with your hosting package is how much information will be stored on the server that can be downloaded from your website as it will use a facility called bandwidth; the greater amount of files stored that can be accessed, the greater amount of bandwidth will be required.
If your package cannot provide this or the company cannot meet your needs then visitors will not always be able to access your site during busy periods so a new package or company may be needed. Of course this won’t matter if you only have a basic website but as soon as you start adding large images, audio tracks, video footage and other big files, your bandwidth will be used up very quickly. In almost every case it is a wise decision to use a web hosting company and not consider using your own computer as a host due to the risks, especially for those unfamiliar with internet security.
