WEB HOSTING 101:
Your Guide to Starting a Web Site

By Staff Writer What is Web Hosting?

So what is hosting anyway? Something having to do with a bunch of servers, space and your Web site, right? The truth is, not many people really know how it all works. It's time to get enlightened.

You can think of a Web server like an apartment building and the space you rent to host your Web site as the space you rent to live in.

To understand Web hosting easily, think of it in terms of apartment hunting. There are thousands of apartment buildings out there to choose from, just as there are thousands of hosting companies. And each apartment building has different sizes of apartments it rents. There are one-bedroom apartments for one or two people and two- and three- bedroom apartments for a greater number of tenants. Hosting is very similar. You can think of a Web server like an apartment building and the space you rent to host your Web site as the space you rent to live in. Web hosting is basically renting space on a server to house your Web site content and make it available on the Internet.

There are many benefits to renting an apartment compared to buying a house. For example, a house can be very expensive upfront and difficult to maintain on your own. When you rent an apartment, on the other hand, the landlord maintains the building, fixing clogged toilets and broken air conditioners. Similarly, a hosting company handles the problems related to your Web site and offers tools that help you improve it.


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