What is Web Hosting?
If you are familiar with the ins and outs of the internet or you already have your own website, chances are you know what web hosting is. But for those who might still be confused what it really is, this article is meant to shed light on this topic.
Web Hosting Defined
Web hosting is basically a service that guarantees web functionality 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days in a year. A web host keeps a web page online. This is also what makes a database server run on the web.
If you want to create a website that stays online for other people to see it, your documents should be published through a web hosting service that specialized companies offer. These companies have various servers and provide different plans to meet the needs of different users. When you sign up for a web hosting service, you are practically renting your own space within a server.
There are now lots of companies all over the world that offer web servers with unique features. Each of them has its own characteristics. The user is the one who decides which one suits him best.
How Did Web Hosting Begin?
It was during the early days of the World Wide Web when web hosting also came to existence. But back then, it was not yet as advanced as it is today. The internet together with web hosting is probably among the most significant technological inventions ever made.
With the 1991 ecommerce revolution, companies started to study and improve themselves to render web hosting to let internet users have their own online web pages. The service was initially complicated and expensive so only large companies use it. Through the years, web hosting has become simpler and cheaper so it rose to popularity until it became budget-friendly for anyone who wants to maintain an online page.
Web hosting services have definitely come a long way since their first introduction back in 1991. It continues to grow and develop every day as new features and technologies are created to cater to the needs of today’s consumers.
Two Primary Categories of Web Hosting
There might be thousands of web hosting services across the globe but all of them typically belong to any one of the two main categories:
- Dedicated Hosting – Only a single website is hosted in every server. It means that you got all the capacity of the server to yourself.
- Shared Hosting – There are several different websites stored in a single physical hosting server. Websites have their own dedicated section of storage or partition that is maintained separately from the rest of the websites using the same server.
What Type of Web Hosting Service Best Suits You Business Website?
Many websites opt for shared hosting as it is more affordable and still offers generally good access speeds. It is an ideal type of hosting for most medium-sized and small businesses with websites that are simple and not too complex. But if you have a large website with thousands of pages and complicated features, you will be better off with a dedicated web hosting service.
