Imagine your website as a house! It needs a safe and secure place to live on the web. That’s where reliable web hosting comes in. It is just like renting out space for your website on a big property (a server) with all the utilities and maintenance included. This blog post explains that web hosting provides a foundation for your website to exist online. We will also explore how it works and different types of web hosting available.
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service that rents space for a website on a computer known as a server. All of the website data and files, including the code, pictures, and videos that comprise your website, are kept on this server. When a user inserts the address of your website into their browser, their computer connects to the server, retrieves those files, and displays your website on the screen.
The size of the space assigned to you depends on the hosting plan you choose for your website. There are many types of hosting, such as shared, dedicated, VPS, and reseller. All of these types vary from each other based on technology, web management, and other services.
Types of Hosting Plans
There are multiple types of web hosting that may confuse you with which to choose from your website. Hosting companies provide various hosting plans to users based on which they can decide which options suit them best. If you are a beginner, then it is recommended to start with the basic one, and if you get more traffic in the future, then upgrade it to an advanced plan. Here are some of the most famous hosting plans that are offered to users while buying:
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1. Shared Hosting
In this type of hosting plan, multiple users share the same server, including all its resources such as memory, processing power, and storage space. This plan is simpler and more affordable than the others. Small businesses and personal website owners choose these plans as they do not require advanced features and higher bandwidth for their sites. It is the best choice for beginners who want to buy a hosting plan at a cheap rate.
2. Virtual Private Network (VPS) Hosting
Users also share the same server with each other in this hosting plan but the main difference is you will get a separate virtual partition. This means you will receive a large amount of resources to host your website. Mid-range companies like e-commerce stores, large blogs, and other enterprises prefer this ghosting plan as their websites gain huge volumes of traffic and there is not any impact in their web’s performance. This plan provides robust customization options, but it requires technical expertise to manage it.
3. Cloud Hosting
This type of web hosting plan uses multiple virtual servers to provide effective hoisting to large-scale websites. When a website gets a huge volume of traffic, and the server starts experiencing some problems then the remaining servers take over the site and maintain its overall performance. It is a cloud-based hosting that is operated on multiple clusters of web servers. Large businesses that have multiple websites prefer this type of hosting plan as their websites do not face any accessing or lagging problems with the adoption of this plan.
4. WordPress Hosting
This hosting plan provides a WordPress-based server environment to users which helps them to load their site faster and reduces issues that affect the site’s overall performance. You can install WordPress on other hosting plans also but this plan offers robust features like pre-installed themes, plugins, enhanced security, and more. These types of hoisting plans are beginner-friendly and cheaper as compared to other plans. You can get optimized performance for your WordPress site with the use of this hosting plan.
5. Dedicated Hosting
A dedicated hosting plan provides a specific; physical server for a single website. It allows you to arrange the server, select the preferred operating system, and personalize the entire hosting environment of the website according to your needs. This plan is similar to renting a dedicated server for your website but the main advantage of adopting this plan is to get professional support from the web host. This plan is best for large online enterprises to manage heavy traffic easily. This plan is extremely expensive as compared to other hosting plans and requires professional expertise in server management to operate the website on it.
How Web Hosting Works
Web hosting allows individuals and other enterprises to make their sites available over the Internet. A website needs storage on a server in order to be accessed by users, which is the most powerful computer that can easily manage large amounts of data and traffic. Hosting companies provide these services to web owners which helps them in managing and securing, optimizing the site’s performance, and always remaining available to users. When a user tries to open your site by entering a URL in the web browser, the hosting server receives the request and sends the files of the website to display on the screen.
Site hosting contains a lot of complex procedures like storing, managing, and serving files to users. The files of your website are stored on a solid-state drive, and the server executes multiple software like Apache and Nginx, which understand and process requests from web browsers. Hoisting companies also provide robust security measures to users like firewalls, SSL certificates, and secure the site from cyber threats and data loss. Users can manage their website, email account, and other hosting settings from the control panel easily and efficiently.
What we Conclude
The first step after registering a specific domain name is to decide how and from where to get web hosting to make your site accessible to users. It is essential for you to learn the basics and its types, which will help you in finding the most effective and cheapest solution for your website. You can also consider the advantages and disadvantages of multiple hosting companies while deciding which one to choose. Some hosting providers give users multiple valuable features for free, such as site migration, integration with various CMSs, and coupons to make your plan cheaper.
