What Is A Website Host And Where Is A Website Hosted
Web hosts are companies that offer web hosting services.
They provide the technology and services required for you to display and keep your website on the Internet.
Websites are hosted on web servers, where all of your web files are stored.
When you pay a dedicated hosting company, you are essentially paying to rent a space on their server for your website to obtain an online presence.
Think of it as renting a physical space from a landlord.
Imagine the web hosting service is a tower block, and your website is one of the multiple properties within that building.
Most service providers ensure the webserver is running efficiently so that your site remains active and functions properly.
How Much Does Web Hosting Cost
image source: pixabay & edited.
Prices for web hosting vary according to the service provider and the type of hosting.
Check out the average price for hosting according to type:
- 2 15 dollars a month.
- VPS hosting: 15 80 dollars a month.
- Dedicated hosting: 80 300 dollars a month.
- Cloud hosting: 4.50 240 dollars a month.
What Is A Web Hosting
Web hosting is the storage location where your website content files are placed. Its like the home of your website.
If your domain name was the address of your house, then the actual house is your hosting server. You need both a domain name and web hosting to create a website.
When a user tries to access your website by entering your web address in the browsers URL bar, the domain name points them to the files stored in the web server. Then, they can see your website online.
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How A Domain Name And Web Hosting Work Together
Your web hosting server has its own IP address for the exact location of your websites files.
So, rather than expecting people to remember this odd combination of numbers and periods, we use domain names that point to that location, instead. When someone visits your domain, theyre actually redirected to your servers IP address.
And after that redirect happens , users are able to see your website on their device.
How Do Domains And Web Hosting Work Together
Lets say you have your web hosting sorted and your site files in place, you also have a domain registered. Your site may still not show just yet, you see these are two separate services that need each other and they need to link together to display a website. Every hosting environment has its own unique address known as an IP until you tell your domain to point to that, it will not show your website files and translate that to showing your website in an internet browser.
You may often hear this process referred to as editing the DNS or nameservers at the domain. This basically means telling the domain where the website files are and to point to them. You can read more about this and watch our video here where we demonstrate linking domains and hosting.
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How To Move Your Website To A New Web Host
Web hosts arent equalsomething weve mentioned before. While some offer you excellent service all the time, some are simply below par.
And considering the importance of web hosting, you must try to get your hands on the best web hosting provider you can. This can mean moving your website to another web host to get better uptime, faster loading times, and even more affordable plans.
Heres how you can change your web host:
Do I Have To Purchase Web Hosting And A Domain Name Together
No, its not necessary to buy your domain name and hosting together. Like we mentioned above, it does make your life easier, and you can save money up front, but its not a requirement.
However, if you do purchase your domain separately, remember to change the DNS settings and point your domain to your host.
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Ok I Need To Figure This Out Can You Help Me
Of course! , let us know what your domain is and we can do some digging to find out where it is hosted, or you can forward all those emails with users/passwords that you dont know what theyre for and we can help you out! If you want to move everything to a new hosting company to start fresh, click on this link to learn more about our hosting services.
Can I Purchase A Domain Name By Itself
Yes, you dont need to attach hosting to every domain name you purchase. Maybe you found the perfect domain name for a future project? Or, youre buying a fun domain name as a joke, or a gift? You can purchase as many domain names as you desire. Then, if you ever do want to build a website on that domain, just point that domain to your web server.
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Can I Move My Website To Another Web
Yes, but you need to own the domain name and change its settings to point it to the other web hosting company you have purchased web hosting.
You can move your website from one web host to another by just transferring your files and data. You must then edit your domain name settings and set them to your new web hosting service provider company.
What Is The Difference Between Web Hosting And Domain
The easiest way to understand the difference between the two is to think of them this way:
If a domain name is your houses address, then web hosting is the actual house that the address points.
A domain name is an address forwarding service. You need to type the address of the website they wish to visit. It directly points to the IP address, which contains your website.
The main reason behind using a domain name instead of IP addresses is that names are easier to remember than long string numbers. An IP address is a series of numbers, such as 155.155.234.45. This IP address points to the location on the server, which includes your website files.
So, we can say that the domain name points to your IP address, which points to your website. That way, users around the world can easily access your website by just typing your website domain name into their web browser.
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Does Your Domain Have To Match Your Business Name
Your domain name and business name dont necessarily have to be the same. With that said, it can be confusing and slightly misleading for people trying to find your website if your domain name doesnt match your business name. So, its best practice for them to match.
But oftentimes, new business owners settle on a business name before considering if that specific domain name is available. And with so many websites out there , theres a pretty decent chance your name may already be taken.
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Why Your Web Hosting Provider Is Important For Your Online Business
The correct host for online business owners is dependent on multiple factors, including your business offering, size, stage, and support/technical/storage requirements.
As outlined in our article on Web Hosting for Beginners, there are numerous factors to consider when choosing which hosting plan to purchase.
Weve outlined and summarized these below.
Pricing Options
As with any business decision, you should ensure that the cost outlay aligns with the value it brings.
Once you have decided which type of web hosting plan you require, be sure to compare pricing.
Just be careful not to go for the cheapest option purely due to this factor.
Some hosting websites may even offer free hosting.
Be sure to read the small print on anything offering free web hosting. It often comes at another cost, such as the obligation to place ads on your site.
Customer Service And Technical Support
You should also choose a reliable web host known for good customer service and technical support.
Not being able to reach your host when your website is down could cost you money and impact your business.
Most providers will provide an average site uptime. This refers to the time a site is live. Ideally, it should be higher than 99.9%.
Server Speed
A key factor to consider when choosing your web host provider isserver speed. Unsurprisingly, this is the most important factor for your sites speed.
Proven by Googles Algorithm Speed update, site speed is a direct ranking factor.
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Choosing A Website Builder
There are many website builders to choose from. Heres a handful that also include web hosting and will be the easiest to connect to a Hover domain name:
22Slides 22Slides is a light-weight portfolio builder for photographers that makes it easy to make a website, sell prints, or deliver files to clients. Its lack of complexity and personal customer support make 22Slides a great option for those looking to keep things simple.
Big Cartel Big Cartel helps makers, designers, musicians, and other artists build a unique online store and run a creative business.
Carbonmade Carbonmade helps you create and manage an online portfolio website. Show off your best design, illustration, photography, and other types of creative work.
Duda Duda is a responsive website builder that allows small and medium-size businesses and the web professionals to build beautiful websites quickly.
Dunked Build a professional online portfolio. The perfect tool for photographers, artists, designers and those who like to create.
Format Format makes it easy to build your professional portfolio website without learning to code. Tens of thousands of photographers, designers, artists and illustrators use Format to beautifully showcase their work online, attract clients and grow their career.
Jimdo Create a free website in minutes with the Jimdo website builder! Add text, galleries, videos, even create an online store.
Zibbet Beautiful websites for artists, crafters & vintage collectors.
How Do Domain Names Work
Domain names follow a set pattern and are actually read from right to left using a standard naming hierarchy. The link gives directions to the computer which then loads the page requested.
As an example, the domain name www.names.co.uk is made up of three key elements:
- The .co.uk is the top-level domain
- The .names is the domain
- The www. is the sub-domain prefix for the World Wide Web
The most common top-level domains are .com, .org, .ac, .info, .net and .biz.
Country codes are regularly added to the end of these TLDs to indicate where an organisation is based. For example, www.ox.ac.uk is the domain for Oxford University , and www.bbc.co.uk is the domain for the BBC in the UK. Alternatively, many global organisations do not have a specific country ending e.g. www.google.com.
The domain is to the left of the TLD, and is usually the organisations name and the part that is most recognisable.
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Real Example Of Server And A Domain
I own the domain buycompanyname.com and in my domain settings, I changed the nameservers to ns1.hostinger.com, ns2.hostinger.com. Hostinger is my hosting company so with that change what I indicate is that they are responsible for where my domain points to.
A name server is a specialized type of server which is responsible for recording a big list of domain names and what is their associated IP . In my case, if a browser asks for my website and after a long journey the nameservers will point them to a specific IP. As we discussed that IP represents actually a physical machine which is called server. This server stores all my website data and it returns a full website back to the browser.
If I would like to change the hosting provider then after I transfer all my files to their server, I am updating my nameservers settings to something like that: ns1.xyzcompany.com , ns2.xyzcompany.com .
The Concept Of Web Hosting Different From The Domain
Web hosting must not be misunderstood as a domain. The domain is just an address of a particular website, whereas the web hosting stands for the storage location. Websites have some pages and files to be stored. Web hosting decides where all the data on the website will be stored. Now you can understand the difference between hosting and domain. Let us make it more clear for you.
In simple words, you should understand the fact that the domain is just like the address of your house, and web hosting is the actual location of your house. For a website domain name work like an address and web hosting provide space to store the data of the website where the visitor will reach to explore the material.
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Difference Between Domain Hosting And Web Hosting
It can get confusing on understanding the difference between domain hosting and web hosting. Often when I ask a client Where is your domain hosted?, they say one of the following:
- Oh, I have everything in GoDaddy or X service.
- Whats domain hosting? I bought the domain many years ago, I dont know.
- Dont you host my website? You should know.
- I dont know, ask my IT guy.
What Is A Domain Vs Hosting
Heres the short version.
Domain Name Is leasing a human-readable word that directs people to specific website files via a browser.
Web Hosting An account on a computer that can store and serve website files via the Internet.
As an analogy, a domain is an address on the Internet. Hosting is the land or space where your website files live.
Theres much more to web hosting and domain registration than their definition.
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Requirements For Registering A Domain
When you are registering a domain, you are supposed to provide the following information to your domain registrar.
- Administrative Contact This is the contact of the domain owner, and it is the highest administrative control of the domain. You are required to provide your name, postal address and important contact information for you to be officially associated with the domain.
- Technical Contact- The technical contact is one that manages the domain at the technical level. The one who has the permission to manage the name servers, configure and update them. You can have a different contact from the administrative contact.
- Billing Contact This is the contact that will be receiving the invoice for the domain renewals and updates of upcoming renewal dates.
- Name Servers- Majority of the domain registrars provide two name servers by default that are related to the registrar. You can substitute the name servers with your custom name servers if you are not hosting the website with your name registrar- some registrars like Godaddy, also offer web hosting.
How to Register a Domain Name
Domain names are the real business names and are the foundation of a website. The first step to building a website is registering a domain name. Buying a domain name is easy and can be accomplished in the following steps:
Save with Domain Coupons It is possible to buy a domain name for as low as $0.99 for the first time using domain coupons that are issued during several promos.