You have your website built. This means you have a set of files stored on your PC. They contain information you would like to place on your website: text, pictures, photos, audios, videos and (if you have a commercial website) software to simulate a “shop basket”, “check out”, etc.nSo, what now? Now, you are ready to make your website visible to other people on their computers.In other words, you are ready to publish your website on the Internet.nAnd this is what web hosting companies do for you.nYou might ask:n n
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- “Why cannot I publish my website myself?”
- “Why do I need to pay somebody else to do so?”
- “After all, my computer is already connected to other people’s computers!”
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nSure it is connected to the Internet (or you would not have been able to read this article), but this is not enough if you want to publish your website.nLet’s illustrate this point by a comparison.nTelephone.nYou have a telephone set (say, landline). It is connected to the net of other telephone sets by a cable.nBut this is not enough to be able to talk to someone.nSome switches are needed to connect cables.nRemember telephone operators? They used to manually connect calls with cables at a telephone switchboard. Nowadays this is done automatically, but the principle remains the same:n n
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- A unique telephone number is assigned to your set
- When someone dials your number, a switch connects a cable attached to your telephone set to a cable attached to a telephone set of a person you want to talk to…
- And your telephone rings…
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nThere are lots of similarities between the net of telephones and the Internet:n n
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- Your PC is connected to the Internet.
- Your website has a unique domain name.
- When people type this name on their PCs, your website pages pop up on their PC screens.
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nAnd, comparing with the net of telephones:n n
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- Your web hosting company acts in fact as those “switches”!
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nHow does this work?nWithout going into detail, you can think of a web hosting company as a big computer. It is connected to the Internet. You copy all the files you need for your website to your web hosting company’s computer. And when your web host, by means of special software, recognises that your website domain name has been typed in an Internet browser of a certain PC, it loads your website files onto that PC.nBack to the above question:nCan you publish your website yourself, bypassing a web hosting company?nIn theory – yes. You can let people load your website files directly from your PC. But in real life, this is generally not a good idea. Just one issue of security will add you a lot of headache, not to mention other issues.nSo, unless you want to take on a web hosting business, let web hosting companies worry about all these issues! For a monthly payment of a few dollars, you can concentrate on your own business and maintaining your website only. Just make sure you choose a web hosting company that will match your budget, is reliable, and provides you with everything you need for your website and business.nLena Morrish & Dima NikolayenkonOwners of www.InternetBusinessBTS.com where you can find about web site hosts and why you need an inexpensive reliable web hosting.
