Learn About Web Hosting

What is Web Site Hosting?

Web hosting is a necessity for any Web site — it is the physical location of your Web site on the Internet, an online storage center that houses the information, images, video, and other content that comprises your Web site. Web hosting service providers maintain the server where the data associated with your Web site resides, and also manage the technology that makes your Web site connect to the Internet.

Web site hosting is typically measured in the amount of disk space you're allotted on the server and the amount of data transfer or "bandwidth" you need for accessing the server. For example, if you have a lot of customer interaction at your Web site, such as files to download, you will access the server frequently and you'll need more Web hosting transfer space than someone who simply puts readable text on their Web site. The more "items" or "content" you have on your site (i.e., photos, maps, PDF files, etc.), the more disk space you'll need for Web site hosting.

Many Web hosting service providers include FrontPage® extensions, which allow you to create your Web site in FrontPage®, and File Transfer Protocol (FTP), which allows you to easily upload files from your computer to the Web hosting service.