What is web hosting?

Web Hosting is a service to host your website on the Internet.

Website hosting begins with purchasing your own URL (uniform resource locator), and to do that you visit an online company offering domains for sale. (This is the domain name that you may have already purchased i.e. www.example.com)

Next you have to upload the site to a web-hosting company that will display it on the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A web host provides space on its server, so that other computers around the world can access your website by means of a network or modem.  Thousands of such web-hosting companies exist, and there are now web-hosting directories that enable you to select by cost, platform type, facilities, etc. — all of which are explained by on-site notes.

You make your choice of hosting company, click through their site, pay their hosting fee, and can then upload your site to that company’s server. The hosting company will provide instructions. It’s very simple, but you’ll need a cheap or free piece of software called an ftp program. This you can obtain from any software supplier, and use it to maintain your site thereafter.

Once uploaded, your site goes ‘live’. You’re on the Internet. You are visible in the World Wide Web!