You need a web server to put your web site on the internet. Sometimes, owning and maintaining a web server can cost money and it requires someone who knows what they are doing to maintain the server and the web-site.
A web host can do this for you. They provide equipment and other technical programs that are required to build a customer a web-site. These hosting companies charge a monthly fee for the service of storing your web site and allowing your web site to be seen on the internet. Within that fee, it allows web-site visitor traffic to flow through their servers so people can view your site on the internet.
The physical web server does not reside at the consumers home or business which means that the web host services are designated as outsourced services. This means that the hosting organization that you choose has the responsibility to maintain your site structure, files and web pages.
Many web hosts provide excellent services that really assist individuals and business owners. All the weight of maintaining the host servers and application fall on the hosting company and not the individual and as a business owner, this is great because there are so many technical routines that you have to do daily to maintain a server.
When you pick a web host to handle your internet server needs, you achieve the following:
You streamline your internet costs getting the maximum from your hosting provider;
Work with knowledgeable technicians;
and pass IT control functions to the host so you won't have to worry about maintaining servers and other equipment.
You can self publish your site and use the web host to handle the technical aspects of server management. The host that you choose will give you the capability to load your own site to the server for updates and revisions to your web page. Web hosting doesn't include developing your site (unless they have a special development program) or the development of certain customized programs. You can develop the programs (web-site or server side code) or have someone do it for you.
Web hosting is offered in multiple formats based on cost and infrastructure.
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There are different types of hosting services that you can choose from depending on what type of web development and web site that you want to host.
Dial-Up Access Hosting ? This is the most basic access/hosting service and these providers also provides a web page for hosting your site. Dial-up access hosting was the first hosting available and is still around. Most ISP's specialize in just internet access and it's rare that you will see an ISP do both. These companies make their money off of providing access to the Internet.
Development Hosting - Web site developers are buying their own servers and offering independent hosting services for their clients. This is called development hosting in which they provide web development services along with a host server located at their place of business. The consumer gets charged for the development and the maintenance of the web-site.
Web-Hosting ISP's. ? These are companies that specialize in hosting business web sites. There is no dial up access needed and site owners access their pages via File Transfer Protocol (FTP). This is what the majority of small businesses use to put their site information on the internet. Other services are also included in the Web Hosting ISP package depending on their service plans.
These types of hosting plans are usually for corporations that need a lot of bandwidth to run their web applications. These companies run T1 access lines for big packets of internet data and have multiple connections to an internet backbone. They have fully staffed data processing facilities and the prices are substantial for using these types of services.
Corporate/Industrial Hosting - Companies like Hewlett Packard, Dell or IBM, run the server infrastructure for most of these host companies.
The SOHO business owner will usually need the Web-Hosting ISP services. It is the middle ground between the basic and advanced services.
