Hosting for your website

I have published a series of hubs on setting up and designing your own website.

In this particular hub, we will be discussing hosting, and looking at what you need to know in order to have your website hosted and available online for peopel to find

All the jargon involved in setting up a website can get quite confusing, including words like 'host' or 'hosting'


One definition for a host is, 'a place where an event is held: a place or organization that provides the space and facilities for an event such as an international sporting competition.'


In website terms, hosting is similar.


A company that hosts your website provides you with space online that you can use to put your website up for everyone to see.


In basic laymans terms, hosting is like renting an appartment or house.
You pay someone else so that you can stay there!

Your website needs a place to  'live' on the internet. In order for people to view your web pages, they must be somewhere on the internet to be seen!


So just like your domain name is like your telephone number - it's what people type in to find you online, so hosting is like where your site lives.


It is where people's computers will be directed to look for the content of your website when they type in your domain.

Most people are not in a position to host their own site, as they do not have the necessary equipment to do so, so they pay another company who provides this hosting service for them.


Often the same company that you get your domain name through will also offer hosting of the website, but it does not HAVE to be like that.


You can have the domain with one company and another hosting it, but that just complicates things, as you then need to instruct the one company that you purchased the domain through to forward your site to the place it is hosted


There are companies that do offer free hosting of your website, but there are disadvantages to their services as well.

Really it is better to get your own domain and get it hosted. Paying the small fee to do these things is worth it.

If you choose to not use a free company - then there are companies that start from a few dollars or pounds a month.


Once you have a domain and your website has a host, you need to think about the design of your site, it's content: what you will actually be putting on the site for people to see