Creating a website and making it available to others requires several things. These can be condensed into three basic areas. The first thing you will need is software that will help you write the pages of the website. The second thing is a server on which to store these pages. Finally, you will need access to the Internet in order to allow others to view your website. For a personal website, a web hosting company may be your best option, as it can provide all of these things.
Website Software
In order to create a website from scratch, you will need software to build it. This software will let you put images, banners, text and videos on your web pages. It creates the pages in a language that a browser, like Internet Explorer or Firefox, can interpret and display.
This software can cost hundreds of dollars. It also takes time to learn. A web hosting company will have basic web pages, called templates, which you can use to build your website. You can take a template and quickly customize it using software provided by the hosting company. Most of them will also offer professional website design. Using a web hosting company’s templates can be much quicker and cheaper than trying to create your own web pages.
Servers
A server is a computer that is more powerful than the average home desktop computer. Servers are used, among other things, to store websites. A server is needed for this task because they have capabilities that desktop computers don’t have. They have much more hard drive space and memory. They have backup systems so that if part of the server stops working, the data on it can be recovered. They also have the capability of sending and receiving large amounts of data. Servers also have special operating systems that are designed to make the best use of the server’s capabilities. Like website software, servers are expensive.
A web hosting company will have many servers, and will rent space on one to store your website on. They will usually have multiple options with different prices for each. A business may rent an entire server. Another option is to share space on a server. This is much more cost-effective and will meet the needs of most individuals.
Internet Access
The last thing you need to host a website is Internet access. Because the point of a website is to let many people connect to it and view the pages, you will need a large amount of bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred at one time. A service plan from a commercial Internet provider that would meet this need would be very expensive, if the provider even offers one. Web hosting companies provide Internet access with sufficient bandwidth as part of their service.
A web hosting company will give you all of the tools you need to create and publish a website. It will provide software to let you create your web pages. It will supply space on a server to store your website. Finally, a web hosting company will connect your website to the Internet with plenty of bandwidth. If you want to have your own website, a web hosting company may be your best option.
