Web Hosting 101: Here’s what you need to know about it

Need to establish your presence online, but not sure where to start? Start by understanding web hosting. The process of creating websites may be easier nowadays, but it still pays to learn the fundamentals at work.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to the basics of web hosting.

Defining web hosting: what is it?

Essentially, web hosting or website hosting is a service received by consumers from web hosting providers. But by definition, web hosting is an online service that allows the publishing and/or storing of any form of online content. This pertains to everything published on a website, from the code to the text, down to the videos and images. 

How does it work?

Web hosting providers supply the server space that you need to start a new website. The web host stores all your files, information, databases, and more on their server. Finding a web hosting provider is a start — the next step is identifying your domain name and signing up for a hosting plan. More than providing the online space for your website, a web host stores all your assets and data onto the server and prevents any security breaches all while ensuring the server is running.

To paint a better picture of how web hosting works, here’s a scenario: as you know, anyone who has access to the Internet can access a website. Once published, anyone who types your domain name into a browser will see all files needed for that request, which are transferred by your website host.

What are the types of website hosting?

There are various types of hosting that can meet the demands of different types of clients. Some people want a personal blog, others want an online business website and more. Whatever your needs are, here are the available options commonly used:

• Shared hosting is when several different websites are on the same server. It is practical because the costs are split among those you share the server with.
• VPS hosting, or Virtual Private Server, is similar to shared hosting but is most suitable for highly experienced users with server management skills. The main difference is each VPS user enjoys the advantages of a partition with guaranteed resources, and more storage, memory, and processing power — at a pricier cost.
• WordPress hosting is an optimized type of hosting for WordPress on a server level to ensure a seamless experience. Hosting packages vary per provider, but most providers commonly offer quick one-click installation, server configurations for faster loading of WordPress sites, and security measures against the usual WordPress vulnerabilities.
• Dedicated hosting is high-tier web hosting usually intended for enterprise-grade websites. This type of hosting provides access similar to VPS without sharing the server with other sites or apps.
• Cloud hosting started out as a VPS setup scalable to multiple servers. But with the rise of cloud computing, this type of hosting now includes a variety of advanced tools for cloud-based operations to keep things running smoothly.

There are quite a several options available, but choosing the best one highly depends on your needs and your budget. Know your priorities, and keep functionality and costs as the balancing factors when choosing a web hosting provider and the type of web hosting.