# Understanding Web Hosting
What does web hosting mean?
Web hosting is where a service provider supplies space for your website so that it can be online for other people to browse at all times of the day and night. Because of the huge amount of disk space that web hosts have and the fact that they can provide constant access to the internet means they are capable of offering this service to others. The way in which a visitor will check out and view your site is by way of your web hosting provider.
Why is web hosting necessary?
It is technically possible to host your own website, but this would be very time-consuming and many personal computers just aren’t built for this type of activity. This would require files to be sent constantly from your computer to the internet and you would need a high level of technical knowledge to be able to maintain this service. Plus you could run the risk of having hackers being able to access your site more easily.
How do you know which is the best web hosting provider?
These days it is possible to get free web hosting, but like most things you get what you pay for. Most free web hosting providers will expect you to allow them to advertise on your site in exchange for this free service. A free web hosting provider makes money from these adverts. Free web hosting also has disadvantages when it comes to the amount of files you are able to upload to your site. It is also well known that you may not get a lot of technical support with a free web hosting provider.
Paid services can offer far more choice and reliability. Many of these will guarantee you uptime of as much as 99% – not bad. These commercial services will tend to be a lot more generous with bandwidth and they may well provide additional services like email. Plus they are much more reliable when it comes to technical support.
Whenever you make your decision to enter the big, bad world of internet marketing, you should really have hosting dealt with beforehand. Newbie’s can find, though, that the web hosting world can be rather confusing. For example, you may come across reseller web hosting or even linux web hosting when you are looking at different hosting plans.