What is a Web Host?

Okay, so assuming you just read the previous page, you realize now that hosting your own website is pretty much out of the question. You need professional help. So let's start with some basic definitions.

Exactly what is a web host?

Well I'll tell ya:

A web host is a company that has computers that are hooked up to the internet 24/7. These computers are called servers and they are assigned IP numbers in order that they may be found by other computers hooked up to the internet. It is on these servers that all your web files are stored, be they HTML files (web pages), graphic files, CSS files, Javascripts or whatever.

Basically what happens is when you type a web address into the address bar of your web browser and then hit Go, your browser sends out a request to 'get' that web page. The request travels across the internet to the appropriate web server and attempts to locate the web page on that server. If the request is successful (web page exists) then that web page will load (or download) into your web browser.

These web hosting servers that store and serve up web pages to the internet cost money to set up, configure and maintain and thus web hosting providers that own these servers typically charge you a monthly or yearly fee to, at the very least:

1. Allow you to save your web files to their web server (called uploading)
2. Perpetually be ready to serve them up to the internet (make available for downloading)

Web hosting has become a very competitive business and, in order to entice more customers to sign up with them, web hosts now offer all kinds of bells and whistles to the deals or web hosting packages they make available.

And How Much Will It Cost?

With regards to cost, if you're just doing a little experimenting with hosting a website, you may want to consider trying some free web hosting (less reliable but you pay squat).

On the other hand, if you want to do it all up proper the first time around (and not be bothered with having to relocate your site after your free web host tanks) you'll be much more interested in paying a small monthly fee ($10 or less) to have your site hosted professionally. Commercial web hosting is readily available across the net. It's just a matter of finding the best deal with regards to all the options and features that typically accompany a web hosting package.

Which Web Host is the Best?

And in case you're wondering, my hands-down web host of choice is Hostgator. I have this website (IronSpider.ca) as well as several other websites hosted there and happily so for over 3 years and they simply have the best and fastest customer support I have ever seen in all my years of working online. It is a huge comfort knowing that, if need be, I can contact them within minutes anytime of day or night via live chat.

Their regular webhosting packages start from a mere $5 per month and they basically offer you more resources —i.e., unlimited bandwidth, unlimited diskspace, unlimited domain hosting, 4000 free templates, etc— than you could ever possibly hope to put to good use... :o)...

And hold on a sec—

Before you go there, grab one of these...

HOSTGATOR COUPONS

Copy-and-paste this special coupon into the coupon box when placing your order to save even more money!

Hostgator coupon

Use the above coupon to get 20% off your initial order (good until April 1st, 2013).

Click here to sign up with Hostgator...

Last updated: Saturday March 02, 2013