Web hosting companies have solved this problem for you. They have bought the big expensive computers, they have set them up to work for running a website, they have made sure they have a fast connection to the internet. They’ve done all the work.
When you get a web hosting plan, you are borrowing a bit of one of their computers (or a whole one, sometimes). This lets you put the files and software needed to run your website somewhere that it can easily be accessed by anyone who wants to view it.
To make this easier for you, they also provide tools for managing your piece of the computer and for building and running your website.
When you use a web hosting company for your website, your website isn’t in a cloud somewhere or floating in an alternate dimension. It is a collection of real, actual computer files sitting on a real actual computer somewhere, in a real building.
Where that building is, and what that computer looks like will depend on which hosting company you use. And you may never see the computer or even know where in the world it is.
But it’s not magic, and it’s not that much different than the computer you are using right now.
A website is a collection of files that sit on a computer. For a website to work well, a regular desktop computer isn’t a good choice.
Web hosting companies provide fast, powerful computers so that anyone can run a website without having any special knowledge or buying any special equipment.
Most people never really think about where a website is, or even what a website is. I turn on my computer, open a browser, and go to Google or Amazon or Yahoo.
But what am I doing when I “visit” a website? If I’m a visitor, where have I gone? And if it is a “site,” where is it located?
What will you learn in this chapter:
- What a website really is.
- Three different types of websites (and why they’re mostly the same).
- Where a website “lives.”
- What a hosting company is.
Running a Website
So, in order to run a website, you need a computer connected to the internet that is capable of receiving requests, taking appropriate action, and responding.
When people talk about servers for their website, this is all they are talking about: computers that store the files needed to run a website, along with the software to deliver those files to anyone who asks for them.
You could, in theory, run a website from your home desktop computer, but that would be a terrible idea. There are many reasons for this:
- You’d have to know how to set it up properly to run a website (which is not a trivial matter).
- You’d have to leave it on and connected to the internet all the time.
- Your computer at home is only designed to deal with one user at a time. If a lot of people started trying to look at your website, your computer and your internet connection would both reach their limits and your website would stop working.
Better than running a website on a personal desktop computer, you could buy a server. This is just a bigger, faster, better computer.
Assuming you could afford it (they’re expensive) and assuming you could set it all up properly (it’s not easy) and assuming you could get a fast enough internet connection with a lot of bandwidth (expensive and not always available), you could then run your website from that server.
Obviously, this is a terrible idea. Too expensive, too complicated, too difficult.
Web Hosting Companies
Web hosting companies have solved this problem for you. They have bought the big expensive computers, they have set them up to work for running a website, they have made sure they have a fast connection to the internet. They’ve done all the work.
When you get a web hosting plan, you are borrowing a bit of one of their computers (or a whole one, sometimes). This lets you put the files and software needed to run your website somewhere that it can easily be accessed by anyone who wants to view it.
To make this easier for you, they also provide tools for managing your piece of the computer and for building and running your website.
When you use a web hosting company for your website, your website isn’t in a cloud somewhere or floating in an alternate dimension. It is a collection of real, actual computer files sitting on a real actual computer somewhere, in a real building.
Where that building is, and what that computer looks like will depend on which hosting company you use. And you may never see the computer or even know where in the world it is.
But it’s not magic, and it’s not that much different than the computer you are using right now.
Summary
A website is a collection of files that sit on a computer. For a website to work well, a regular desktop computer isn’t a good choice.
Web hosting companies provide fast, powerful computers so that anyone can run a website without having any special knowledge or buying any special equipment.
How to choose the best web hosting service
The hosting services your business can choose from will usually mean making a decision whether a shared, dedicated or cloud based server is right for your business.
Very small businesses will usually opt for a shared or managed service as these are sometimes called. Costs are low, but your business will be sharing its server with several other enterprises. You can always move up to a virtual private network (or VPS) if needed.
A dedicated server as its name suggests is just one server reserved for your business. Dedicated servers are not as expensive as they once were and can make economic sense if you want your business to have its own server platform and not have to worry about other businesses on a shared server impacting your online business if they have problems.
It is important to look closely at the service level (SLA) that will be attached to your dedicated server. Look for any additional costs such as maintenance, or other ‘extras’ that are not covered in the rental cost.
And lastly, try and buy server space that you can expand into. You don’t want to find after a few months that you have outgrown your server and need to move to a new one.
Lastly as the cloud has made a major impact right across the business environment, business web hosting has also been touched by the cloud and now offers an alternative to the traditional hosting methods. The power of cloud hosting is the flexibility it offers. In effect your business can buy just the space and hosting services it needs now and expand at anytime with no disruption to business.
Our Recommendations
1. A2Hosting (Customer Rating 4/5)
Our #1 favorite best web hosting service
Unmetered bandwidth: Yes | WooCommerce hosting: Yes | Free domain: Yes | 24×7-US-based support: Yes
- User-friendly yet powerful
- Automated setup for WordPress
- Basic website builder included
1. Hostinger (Customer Rating 4/5)
Another fabulous website hosting option
Unmetered bandwidth: Yes | WooCommerce hosting: Yes | Free domain: Yes | 24×7-US-based support: Yes
- Excellent performance
- Great tech support
- cPanel and Softaculous-powered hosting
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