What is Web Hosting?

By Leah Hardy, Web Site Hosting & Support Coordinator

Do you know where your website is?
A lot of people don’t know the answer to this question, or they think they know and are surprised to find their website isn’t located where they thought. Everyone should know where their website is hosted. But we can’t talk about the importance of website hosting until we know what web hosting is.


So what is website hosting anyway?
A Web host is a company that provides space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. More simply stated, a Web host gives you a place to put your website and then makes it available on the Internet so other people can get to it.

Why do web hosting services matter?
There are tens of thousands of web hosting companies, and each of those companies offer a variety of hosting packages. So how do you decide which one to choose? The right fit for you depends on how much space you need for your website, how many people you want to be able to get to your website and how important it is that your website be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Things to consider include customer service & support, hosting platform (i.e. Microsoft or Linux), security, backups, reliability & uptime and website access (i.e. FTP access or Content Management System). These features may be extremely important to you or not important at all depending on the nature and the complexity of your website. You will need to determine the best hosting solution for your individual needs.

How do I choose a web hosting provider?
Web hosting companies provide services with increasing levels of available server storage space and traffic capacity.  A good web hosting package should include the following:

·         24/7 support

·         FTP access

·         Website backups

·         DNS hosting

·         Search engine optimization (SEO)

·         Website statistics

·         A limited number of free email addresses

One size does not fit all when it comes to web hosting. For that reason, it might be necessary to find a web hosting provider who can customize a hosting package to fit your needs. If you are unhappy with your current web hosting arrangement or uncertain of where your website is hosted, it might be a good time to reassess your web hosting features and services.