What Is Web Hosting – Web Hosting Explained for Beginners
Web hosting is an online service that makes your website’s content accessible on the internet. When you purchase a hosting plan, you are renting space on a physical server to store all the website’s files and data.
Web hosts provide the hosting technology and resources required for the effective and secure operation of your website. They are responsible for keeping the server up and running, implementing hosting security measures, and ensuring that data such as texts, photos, and other files are transferred successfully to the visitors’ browsers.
In this article, you will learn what web hosting is, how it works, and what are the different types of web hosting available.
What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting involves a service provider reserving server space for a website’s data, enabling online access. It allows a website’s components, like code and media, to be viewed on the internet. Every visited site is stored on a server.
What Is Web Hosting – Video Tutorial
If you prefer to watch a video, check out our video guide on what web hosting is.
SubscribeHow Does Web Hosting Work?
The server that hosts your website is a physical computer that runs continuously to make the site available for visitors all the time. Buying servers for web hosting will allow you to store all the data of your website in the servers of your provider.
Once a user enters your domain name into their browser’s address bar, the web host’s server will transfer all the files necessary to load your website.
You can host a website yourself, but it requires extensive technical skills. Self-hosting entails setting up and configuring a web server from scratch, including the equipment, infrastructure, hardware, and software. Furthermore, you will also have to handle all the ongoing maintenance.
A web hosting service provider ensures that your website performs optimally and with better security protocols. In addition, it simplifies the many complex aspects of hosting a website – from software installation to technical support.
Types of Web Hosting Services
With numerous web hosting options available, it can be challenging to determine which one is best for your website.
Most web hosts offer different hosting packages for different types of customers – from business website owners to personal blog creators.
Ideally, you should start with the simplest hosting solution. Once your site gets more traffic, you can upgrade to a more advanced plan. Feel free to check Hostinger’s hosting prices to get a general idea of the different types of hosting and their costs.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular ones available.
Shared Hosting
With shared hosting, multiple users share the same server resources, including memory, processing power, and storage space.
Because of its simplicity and affordability, shared web hosting is an excellent solution for small businesses and personal websites that do not require advanced configuration or higher bandwidth. Hence, shared hosting is an excellent choice for beginners who need inexpensive hosting to start.