What is Hosting and Why Do I Need It?

I just had someone ask me the other day, "What is hosting?" and "Do I need it?". If you have a website, the short answer is it's a web server and yes - you need it, but let me elaborate a bit.

Exactly how all this plays together is like this. A website itself is a compilation of files that shows off your awesome website, blog, store or whatever it is that you might have on the web. These files are no different from the Microsoft Word or picture files that you have saved on your computer and with the proper application you can view them just like you would view a list of files on say your thumbdrive.

Now, because websites on the internet (intranets are another story) are publicly accessible, your files need to be stored in a publicly accessible place so that other people can view them and this is where web servers come in. Web servers are computers whose only job is to store and make accessible your website files. By providing this functionality, internet users are able to pull up your web site by typing in your web address which in turn sends them to a web server which in turn delivers to them your web files for viewing in their web bowser (i.e. - firefox, internet explorer or any of the other browser available today).

So, if you have a site or looking to get one, getting in place a reputable hosting service provider is something you can't live without and now you know and knowing is half the battle.