What is web hosting?

Web hosting is service provided by a company (such as ourselves, which we highly recommend) that allows a person or business to place their own web pages on the Internet. Those web pages are stored (or hosted) securely on a type of powerful computer called a Server that allows Internet users to view them from anywhere in the world.

When you get a hosting account, the hosting company will provide you with a set amount of space on their Servers (e.g. 30Mb) and a certain amount of data traffic allowance (e.g. 3Gb) depending on how large your web site is and how many users are expected to view it. The server is set up so that your web site is connected to your domain name. When a user types your domain name into their browser window, (to save a whole bunch of technical jargon) their search request will go through the Internet and get to the server that is hosting that particular web site.

Many Internet Service Providers (ISP's) give you free web space with your account and many people will then try to host their web site on this free space. This works fine however the website will have a domain name that is half ISP and half your account name, for example http://users.myISP.com.au/accounts/myName/website/index.htm. If you are trying to gain a web presence while running your business, the above example will not look highly professional and hence, viewers of the website will more readily turn away.

So in short, you need two things to be able to fully host your own web site:

1. Your own domain name
2. Your own hosting plan provided by a reliable and respectable web hosting company