Web Hosting Guide for Beginners

If you have been thinking of making your own website to take advantage of the Internet boom but don’t know about website hosting and other services that are essential for creating and hosting a site, this article is meant for you. There are many basic questions about website hosting and other web hosting services whose answers are sought by the beginners. Here we try to answers all such frequently asked questions on website hosting to guide the beginners.

What is Website Hosting? 

Hosting a website means making a website available to public worldwide. When you create website, it is composed of web pages having text, images, videos and other content for people to see them. However, people can see your website only when it is available on the Internet. To make your website available on the Internet, you have to store it on a computer called web server. When you buy some space on a web server and store your webpages there, your website becomes hosted and can be seen by anyone.

What is Web Server? 

A web server is the computer on which the web pages of your website are stored. It delivers or ‘serves’ the content of your website to the users through Internet. The computer which acts as server has to have very high specifications. It is also connected to the Internet through very powerful link. The web hosts or the web hosting companies have their own servers on which they rent out space to you so that you can host your website and make it accessible to the general public. 

Who is Web Host? 

Any person or company who owns a server and rents out web space for website hosting can be called the web host. Some web hosts do not own servers but rent a server from some large web hosting company and then resell the space under their own brand. This is called  reseller hosting service and such web hosts are called web resellers. The large web hosting companies even own their datacenter (collection of servers) where they can host millions of websites. Datacenters have many computer servers connected to the Internet with fast connections, back up and high security. Most of the web hosts provide not only web space but many other services related to website hosting and are thus also called web service providers. 

What Services are given by Web Hosting Companies? 

Space on their servers is, no doubt, the most important product sold by a web host. Many other products and services, essential for website hosting, are also provided by them such as domain name registration, email hosting services, and SSL certificates etc. Some of the service providers also give the facility of website builder tools through which you can create your own website without the help of web designers and developers. However, the most important products of a web host are the different types of web server hosting so that their clients might choose the hosting space suitable to their specific needs.