Demystifying Internet jargon is as simple as understanding the most commonly used words and phrases. Do you understand what is meant by ‘Web Hosting‘? What about the difference between ‘free’ and ‘paid’ web hosting? You need to understand the difference and choose the best option for your circumstances.
Demystifying Internet Jargon
What is web hosting? Firstly, I am going to assume you know that the ‘web’ means the ‘world wide web’; also known as the Internet, WWW, blogosphere, world of blogs, and many other names.
Some Other Common Terms
Before we touch on paid or free hosting, wrap your head around the following terms:
Blog
- (noun) Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
- (verb) To author a Web log.
- Other forms: Blogger (a person who blogs).
Host
- A computer that provides web-documents to visitors of a website.
Server, Web Server
- A computer running software, assigned an IP address - also known as a url (universal record locator) – and connected to the Internet so that it can provide documents via the World Wide Web.
- Also called a host computer. Web servers are the closest equivalent to what in the print world is called the “publisher” of a print document.
- An important difference is that most print publishers carefully edit the content and quality of their publications in an effort to market them and future publications. This convention is not required in the Web world, where anyone can be a publisher; careful evaluation of Web pages is therefore mandatory.
[Source: UC Berkely Library]
Abbreviations & Acronyms Galore
As a word of warning, the deeper you go into the world of computing, the more you will come across abbreviations, acronyms and additional words for ‘things’.
You will need to pick up what abbreviations, acronyms or short-form words are used instead of the full-length word.
- For example ‘Search Engine Optimisation‘ is usually just referred to as ‘SEO‘.
Sometimes many different words have the same or similar meaning. You also need to make sure that you understand the importance of these words, depending upon your own circumstances. That is, not only “What does it mean?” but also “So what? What does it mean to me? In my unique circumstances?”
Web Hosting: What is it?
- A service provided by hundreds of companies around the world – not necessarily in the same country that you live.
- ‘Hosting‘ means to provide a place where anybody on the Internet can come and see the content of the website. You will create content for your site and people will go to the place where a web address or search result link takes them.
- Hosting companies have air conditioned rooms with enormous computers called ‘servers‘ that securely store your information. When somebody wants to go to a website and clicks on a link or types in a web address – the hosting company’s server has a very fast connection that sends your website information to their computer screen.
- Hosting companies also provide support for email, multiple databases, mobile access and software such as Fantastico that allows you to set up a WordPress blog in less than 2 minutes.
Hosting Services Provider (HSP)
- An application service provider dedicated to providing hosting services.
- Typically operates a Web server farm, either at a data center or co location facility.
[Source: Webopedia.com]
Web Hosting: Why You Need It?
- To have your own website, and to own and control the information and presentation on your site, you need to have web hosting.
- If you don’t use hosting, you would need your own super-computer that is connected to the Internet. As this is usually ridiculously expensive for nearly everybody, we use space on somebody else’s.
- There are instances of smaller and cheaper ‘back-yard’ operators and start-up companies that buy additional computers as their client base grows, but they are usually unreliable. If you get a spike in traffic or bandwidth used by visitors (basically visitors are downloading lots of information, video, sound, files), you may have your service suspended. Not the best thing for growing a site!
- Web hosting provides you with the space to keep your website files and a secure place for Internet visitors to go and view your site, without the worry of buying your own technology (and basement).
Web Hosting: Why Free Hosting Is Not For Everyone
- If you use ‘free hosting‘ services, such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com, you do not control your site.
- You are restricted with what content you publish. For example many free hosted sites do not allow you to place advertising on your site, this includes Google AdSense. When you see free hosting that has advertisements on it – it is making money for the company who is providing the free service. Basically they are getting visitors to your site – their site really because they own and control it – and any revenue made when visitors click on a link, goes into to their bank account – not yours.
- You can have your free hosted site cancelled at their whim – read the fine print in the terms of use agreement. Sometimes there is no good reason.
- Your content can be used by Google (in the case of Blogger). It may be considered by some book publishers to have already been ‘published’. Who knows why Google wanted a clause in the terms of use to use your content. What grand plan are you feeding into when you write for them on their site?
- If you develop a wonderful following and want to start making some money out of your efforts – you will need to devise of and purchase a domain name. Too bad if your free domain name with the free host is taken, not appropriate or too expensive to purchase. You then have the problem of how to transfer your content and redirect your links to your new site – when it is developed.
- Be careful not to have the content on both sites for too long as you may be penalised by Google for duplicate content.
- If you want a permanent web address with the freedom to have whatever content you want and receive the full benefits for your efforts – from Day 1 - you need to pay for web hosting and establish your website on a domain name that you own.
Your Window Of Opportunity Is Now
Websites and the Internet are a great thing – over the past 10 years they have revolutionized the way the world works, and they are often a big part of daily life for a lot of people. Blogging is a continuing world trend and is only providing more opportunities by the day for people to become rich and famous.
This is the first of many articles to help you understand the basics, the essentials and the extra-fantastic terms, tips and techniques to get you on your way to Creating Your Own Website.
Websites are the future – the number of them are ever growing, what they can offer is always expanding, and they costs involved in owning a website are almost always dropping!
Technical Jargon & Extra Detail
If you would like to know more about the technical side of things, there are many useful websites.
Here are some articles to wet your appetite. Even though this is a static website (content is rarely changed or updated after it is published), the information is a fantastic grounding in the enormity of the Internet and its unlimited potential. Think of how much you already know (or didn’t know) when you are reading these articles. Most people will realise that they aren’t starting from scratch after all.
Webopedia.com
- Quick Reference: What You Need in a Hosting Plan
- Types of Internet Connections
- All About Web Browsers
- A Quick Reference to Google’s Consumer Products
- A History of the Internet (1958 – 2007)
- The History of Blogging
- Social Networking Sites
Subscribe
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
important point is that, you are bounded by some limitations in free hosting, while you can do anything or put up any stuffs to your website, if you have custom domain, so its better to have custom domain rather than free hosting.
Awsome and informative.Thank you.
Very informative – thanks for sharing your knowledge.
This blog clarifies all the unclear web hosting concepts I have in mind. I think paid web hosting is really great if you are going to commit on your blog. If you want to invest time and effort in making your site a money-generating one, then a paid one is the best choice. But what if you are not sure if you can commit writing useful content regularly? This means your site wouldn’t be attractive to advertisers. So, I guess it’s okay to opt for a free one.