What is web hosting? Plainly explained

Web hosting is renting space on a computer that is always switched on and connected to the internet, where your website's pages, photos and settings are stored. When someone opens your site, that computer sends them the pages. Your domain name is the address people type; hosting is the place the website actually lives. Every website has hosting somewhere, even when it is bundled so quietly into a builder plan that you never see the word.

A picture that helps

Think of a shop.

The domain is the name on your sign and the address in the phone book. It tells people how to find you.
The hosting is the building: the space you rent, with the lights on and the doors open day and night.
The website is what is inside: the shelves, the displays, the words on the walls.

You can change the inside without moving buildings, move to a new building and keep your name, or rent the building from one company and the sign from another. That last arrangement, domain at one company and hosting at another, is completely normal.

What happens when someone visits your site

In the second or so after a customer taps your address:

Their phone asks the internet's address book, called DNS, where your domain's website lives. DNS explained for small business owners covers that part.
The address book answers with the address of your hosting company's computer.
The phone asks that computer for your home page.
The hosting computer sends back the page, its pictures and its styling.
The phone puts it together on screen.

If the hosting computer is slow, overloaded or switched off, step four is where your customer waits, or gives up.

What a hosting company actually does for you

At its simplest, a host stores your files and sends them to visitors. Most also handle some or all of these:

Keeping the computer running around the clock, with backups of power and connection.
The security certificate, the thing behind the padlock in the address bar and the "https" at the start of your address. Most hosts now set this up automatically.
Backups of your site, so a mistake or a break-in can be undone.
Security updates to the computer's software.
Updates to your website's own software, on some plans. WordPress sites need this regularly; simpler sites do not.
Email, on some plans. Many hosts offer mailboxes on your domain, though plenty of businesses keep email elsewhere.
Support when something breaks.

What a host does not do: design your site, write your words, or bring you customers.

The main kinds of hosting

You will meet a handful of terms when shopping around. In a sentence each:

Shared hosting: your site sits on one computer alongside many other people's sites. Cheap, and you look after your own website software.
Managed hosting: usually for WordPress. The host takes care of updates, backups and speed for you, for a higher price.
Website builders such as Wix, Squarespace or GoDaddy's builder: the design tool and the hosting come together in one plan. You never touch the hosting part directly.
Static hosting: for sites made of ready-built pages rather than software that builds each page on request. Fast and low-maintenance. Static websites for small businesses explains it.
VPS and dedicated servers: a computer, or a share of one, that is yours alone to set up. Powerful, but meant for people who manage servers. A local business site almost never needs one.

The trade-offs between the first three, which are the ones most owners choose between, are laid out in shared hosting, managed hosting and builders.

How to find out who hosts your site now

If you inherited a website, or the person who set it up has moved on, you may not know where it is hosted. A few ways to find out:

Search your email and bank statements for regular charges from hosting companies or builders.
Look at the bottom of your site for a "built with" or "powered by" line.
Look up your domain on ICANN's lookup tool. The nameservers often name your host or builder, though they sometimes name only your DNS company.

There are more ways in how to find who hosts your website.

What a small business really needs from hosting

For a typical local business site, the list is short:

Pages that open quickly on a phone, even on a weak signal.
The padlock, so browsers do not warn visitors away.
Backups you could ask for.
Someone to contact when it breaks, who answers.
A way to change things easily, or someone who does it for you.
A clear yearly cost, without surprise add-ons at renewal.

You do not need the biggest plan, unlimited storage, or space for millions of visitors. A five-page site for a roofer or a dentist uses a tiny fraction of even the cheapest plan.

What is the price after the first term, not just the introductory price?
Are backups part of the plan, how often, and how do I restore one?
Is the security certificate set up automatically?
How do I reach support, and when are they available?
If I leave, can I take my website with me?
Is email part of the plan, or separate?

What to do this week

Find out who hosts your current site and what you pay them each year.
Check your site on your phone: does it open quickly, and is there a padlock?
Write down your hosting login and keep it with your domain login.

If your site lives on old hosting you would rather not think about, you can see your site rebuilt first and look at a version that keeps your domain but needs far less looking after.