Web Hosting
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.
Also known as: hosting · website hosting · web host
In plain English
Your website is a collection of files and data that has to live on a computer that's always on and always connected to the internet — a server. Web hosting is renting space on that server so anyone, anywhere, can reach your site at any time. If your domain name is your street address, your hosting is the actual building at that address.
Why it matters for your business
Hosting is the foundation everything else sits on, and it quietly decides how fast your site loads, how well it holds up under traffic, and how often it's online. Slow or overcrowded hosting drags down your speed and your search ranking, and cheap hosting often means your site shares a crowded server with hundreds of others — when one has a problem, they all feel it.
What to look for
Good hosting is fast, reliable, and built for what you're running (WordPress has specific needs). It's the least glamorous part of a website and one of the most important — the right hosting prevents a long list of problems before they start.
Common questions
- What's the difference between hosting and a domain name?
- Your domain name is your address (yourbusiness.com); your hosting is the actual building the site lives in. You need both — the domain points people to the hosting, where your website is stored.
- Does cheap hosting really matter?
- Yes, more than most people expect. Cheap, crowded hosting is one of the most common reasons a site is slow or goes down under traffic. Hosting is the foundation — when it's weak, everything on top of it suffers.
Related terms
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WordPress Hosting