What is Hosting?

A website is a set of files that has to live somewhere that is always on. A hosting company rents you space on its servers, the powerful computers that send your pages to visitors' phones and laptops.

Hosting ranges from cheap shared plans, where hundreds of sites share one server, to more expensive setups with dedicated resources. Some modern sites are served from a global network, which makes them fast wherever the visitor is.

Good hosting includes security updates, backups, an SSL certificate and someone to call when something goes wrong. Cheap hosting often leaves those to you.

Slow or unreliable hosting means a slow or unreliable website, and people waiting on a slow page on a mobile signal often give up and ring someone else. Know who hosts your site, what it costs to renew, and whether backups are included.