What is a web host?

Posted on Thursday July 18, 2019

Businesses need to have an online presence these days, and that usually starts with having a website. But to access your website on the internet, you need to partner with a web host. This blog post breaks down the basics of a web host and the two most common types of hosting.

What is a web host? A web host sells or leases memory space on its servers so your website can have a virtual location on the internet. Their services include online storage for all of your site's files and web pages.

Many web hosts also offer domain name hosting, which creates a web address that users can type to access your website (e.g. google.com, inc.com, etc.). Combine these two hosting services and you have the main foundations for your website.

You can also get domain-based email addresses (e.g. ryan@google.com) and website databases from web hosts. Essentially, your web host can store everything your website needs.

When you sign up with a web host, you will usually pay a monthly fee, which the company uses to maintain and invest in new servers for hosting, increase access speeds, and provide better services.

What are the two most common types of web hosting? There are hundreds, if not thousands of web hosts around the world, but they usually fall in one of two categories:

• Shared hosting - Multiple, different websites are stored on one physical hosting server. Sites have their own partition (section of storage) that is kept separate from other sites on the same server.
• Dedicated hosting - One website is hosted per server. This means you have all of the server's capacity to yourself.

Which hosting type is best for my business website? Most websites use shared hosting because it's more affordable while still offering generally stable access and access speeds. This is the ideal hosting type for most small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with fairly simple websites.

If your website is going to be large (e.g. thousands of pages) and you are going to host complex features like advanced eCommerce, streaming, etc., then it would be best to opt for a dedicated hosting service. Examples of large sites include Google, Amazon, and government sites, among others.

With numerous web hosts out there, selecting the right fit can be quite challenging. But with our IT expertise and solutions, we can help you find the web host that will work best for your business needs. Contact us today to get started with your online presence.