What Is Hosting?

What Services does a Hosting Company Provide?

As you start your online business, one of the first things you do is to identify a hosting company to host your website.

You need to host your websites for a number of reasons. I list just a few of these reasons here.

1. Most websites are online 24 hours a day; seven days a week. Your computer needs to stay on irrespective of the time or day. Most personal computers are not built for such performance. Hosting companies have very powerful servers that are meant to stay on without powering down for years at a time.

2. Website Performance

   Your website needs to load as fast as possible. Most home networks are connected via Internet Service Providers lines which are not conducive to high speeds. Hosting companies have high speed backbones that make your website display at high speeds.

3. Handling High Load

   Preferably, many people are using your site at the same time. On a personal computer, any kind of load will cause the processor to suffer and people start getting Page Load Errors. Hosting companies have high performance multi-processor machines that easily handle heavy loads with ease.

4. Security:

   There is a need to constantly update your computer with the latest anti-virus software and security updates. Hosting companies have the manpower and the technical knowhow to carry these out constantly.

5. Space:

   Over time, your website may grow to consist of many pages. A web host can offer you more space depending on your needs.

6. Email:

   Your website also needs to have your own email address. Your web hosts provide the SMTP server for sending and receiving your email.