Website & Hosting terms

A 404 error is the 'page not found' message visitors see when they land on a web address that doesn't exist on your site — usually from a broken link, a deleted page, or a mistyped URL.

A 500 internal server error is a generic 'something went wrong on the server' message. Unlike a 404 (page not found), a 500 means the page exists but the server hit a problem trying to build it.

Bandwidth is how much data your website can send to visitors over a given period. Think of it like a highway: more bandwidth means more visitors can reach your site at once without it slowing down.

A CDN (content delivery network) is a network of servers around the world that keep copies of your site, so it loads from somewhere physically close to each visitor. The result: a faster site, everywhere.

DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's address book. It connects your domain name — like yourbusiness.com — to the actual server where your website lives, so visitors who type your name end up at your site.

Your domain name is your website's address — like yourbusiness.com. It's what people type to find you, and you rent it (usually yearly) rather than owning it outright.

Managed hosting is hosting where the provider handles the technical upkeep for you — updates, security, backups, and performance — instead of leaving it all on your plate. You run your business; they run the server.

A server is the always-on computer that stores your website and delivers it to visitors. When someone visits your site, your server does the work of sending them the pages.

An SSL certificate is what puts the padlock and 'https' in your web address. It encrypts the connection between your site and your visitors, and it's why browsers do (or don't) label your site as secure.

Uptime is the percentage of time your website is online and working. '99.9% uptime' means your site is almost always available — and the small gap is the downtime that costs you customers.

Web hosting is the service that stores your website on a server and keeps it available on the internet. It's the 'land' your site is built on — without hosting, there's nowhere for your site to live.