Complete guide to hosting: understand what it is, the types that exist and how to choose the best service for your websi

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Host, also known as hosting, lodging or host, is any computer or machine connected to a network through a defined IP number and a domain, which offers resources, information and services to its users. An example of a host service is the Internet, which connects devices such as personal computers, servers and more.

When we are going to create a blog or a website, we must why choose vk database take into account a series of details so that we do not have problems in the future. One of them is the choice of hosting for the page.

Do you have questions about what a host is? Don't know which one to choose for your blog? In this article we will tell you everything you need to know about website hosting and what the best options are.

Keep reading!

What is hosting?
A host is any computer or machine connected to a network through a defined domain and IP number. Its function is to provide resources, information and services to users.

The most widely used hosting service is the Internet, which connects devices such as personal computers, servers and workstations that transmit data through websites, images, texts and the like.

This is why website hosting servers are also considered internet hosts, as they have a central machine that is connected without interruption while storing and sending data to websites.

Additionally, a good hosting service should ensure that if a problem occurs on one server, another will immediately take over .

After all, if your website goes down, it needs to be back up as soon as possible so your business doesn't suffer, right?

For this reason, the central machine must be connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.

To ensure that your information will not be lost, we recommend working with services that have this guarantee, in addition to making backup copies of your website files, so when looking for a server to host it, remember this observation .

However, when we talk about hosting we must remember that there are other forms of network besides the Internet.

For example, a router responsible for the network where several computers connect to each other through an IP can also be considered a host.

Therefore, if your company's computers are also connected through the network using the same IP, we are talking about a host.

But here in this article, we will focus on website hosting services and how they work.

How does hosting work?
Every time you open your browser and enter a website address, a connection is established with the server where the website is hosted, which is how you can access it.

Through this process, the website name is converted into an IP address and all the content appears on your screen.

For example, our website, rockcontent.com , is connected to a server via the IP 66.216.67.22, which connects every time someone accesses it.

Since each IP is unique, it is not possible to have two different sites with the same URLs , as this would cause several different addresses to refer you to the same page on the web.

In order to coordinate all of this globally, meaning that you can access any website anywhere in the world, there is an organization called ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

This entity is responsible for assigning domain names and IP addresses so that they can function on the Internet worldwide.

How important is website hosting?
Are you going to create a landing page ? Do you want to bring your ecommerce to life ?

Well, regardless of the project, hosting plays a decisive role in ensuring that your website runs smoothly and is always available to users .

This has always been an essential service for those who wanted to have an online presence , but with the advancement of digital transformation, the relevance of this topic has increased considerably.

From basic hosting resources to security features, everything makes a huge difference and is simply essential.

Below we will discuss the main points that make hosting such a relevant service today.


Keeps the website up and running
Web hosting services generate a fixed cost for their users, since it is necessary to keep the website running.

Although there are several channels nowadays, such as social networks , an institutional website is essential in any strategy. Without hosting, it is impossible to have an active website.

Informative sites, with company data and contact information, are essential to convey credibility, seriousness and professionalism, especially for those just starting out.

The role of web hosting in this need is to be the service that ensures that a website is always available.


Offers a selection of services
The increase in competitiveness and the emergence of new hosting companies capable of offering good services for all levels of users is due to the increase in the range of features offered.

Nowadays, users who hire a hosting service receive much more than just the possibility of having their website online. After all, this is extremely basic!

Web hosting works as a selection of services that every website administrator needs to have, such as:

email accounts,
safety features,
marketing automation ,
SEO optimization ,
domain,
inter alia.
So, if a new business is taking its first steps, when it hires web hosting, it also receives a selection of features that will be essential.

Ensures the performance of a website
Among the concerns that a professional must have when managing a website is its performance .

Keeping it relevant and prominent depends directly on the position of said site in the SERPs of search engines, such as Google.

Among the main requirements evaluated by the algorithms are issues related to the performance and availability of web pages.

Nowadays, web hosting services are more committed to ensuring a good loading speed and, above all, keeping a website always online, avoiding as much as possible that it goes down.

Find out how fast your website is with Stage Analyzer, a tool we created to analyze the technical performance of websites:

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These companies therefore have a huge impact on how the website performs and, most importantly, its position on the first page of Google results.


What are the main resources that a hosting should offer?
Now comes the best part! We are going to show you the main resources that a hosting service must have to be efficient.

Disk space for storage
Disk space on a hosting service refers to the size of the space that a server makes available to store the content of a website. That is, both your texts and your images, files and the like are stored in this space.

In this way, when creating a website or blog, all the content is stored in that space so that each new content published begins to occupy a part of it.

In shared hosting, which we will discuss later, you share this space with other clients. In dedicated hosting and VPS services, the space is fixed and restricted to a single website.

Transfer rate
Transfer rate refers to the amount of information sent by a page. It is usually measured monthly in gigabytes, and the larger the rate, the higher the hosting price usually is.

Therefore, if you have a corporate website or blog , hiring a web hosting that has 1 GB of transfer may be enough.

On the other hand, for sites that receive more than a thousand visits a day, such as virtual stores , a web hosting of between 2 and 5 GB as a minimum is recommended, especially if you have many multimedia files.

Let's imagine, for example, that you place a presentation video on the home page of your website and it takes up 1 MB of space.

If you have an average of 100 visitors per day watching the video, that means your site will need 100 MB of throughput per day, which is equivalent to 3000 MB or 3 GB per month.

Email accounts
Some hosting services allow you to have email accounts with the name of the contracted domain, for example, [email protected] .

This is important for professional websites or blogs that want to convey a more serious image than those using personal email servers like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo .

However, we must know the limit allowed by the server to create and maintain email accounts. After all, if your idea is to have only one account to exchange messages, there will certainly be no problems.

However, if the intention is to create unlimited emails for many people, it is important to consult this possibility beforehand with the web hosting service.

Data bank
The database is the tool used to store and organize the information on your website or blog . Let's look at an example, you have a blog and you have a form that the visitor must fill out to download an ebook.

This information, after being sent by your visitors, is stored in a database. One of the best-known managers is MySQL, offered by servers that allow you to easily create databases.

In fact, a website or blog created in WordPress requires the identification of the database in order to be installed correctly.

If your company's website is on WordPress, I invite you to download our complete ebook on this CMS for corporate blogs:


What are the types of hosting?
Choosing the type of hosting is the first step to take when hosting a website and this decision must be made very correctly to avoid future problems.

To do this, you need to know what resources your website will need, the specific configurations, among other points.

Below you can see some of the host types that are available.

Cloud Hosting
Cloud Server is the term adopted for the processing and storage of data across multiple interconnected machines and committed to performing the same tasks that would be performed on a single machine.

All cloud servers process these applications virtually .

The advantages of cloud computing are high availability, easy connectivity and low initial investment with this type of web hosting.

Shared hosting
Shared web hosting is the most widely used type of hosting in the world, mainly due to its cost-benefit, since the user can have several tools at a low price.

In this mode, the website is hosted on a group of servers whose resources are shared by many users . In this way, each site shares a server with good technology and security systems.

Therefore, shared hosting is best suited for beginner or intermediate sites that have low traffic.

Dedicated server
A dedicated server is a computer that is configured for data processing and allows you to access files and run software remotely.

In the case of hosting websites, this is a server connected 24 hours a day via a high-speed link .

This makes it the preferred choice for website owners with a high volume of traffic or those that are intended to host applications that require maximum performance and confidentiality of the hosted information.

Free vs. Paid Hosting: How to Know Which is Best for You?
When choosing hosting for your website or blog, you can choose between free or paid hosting. To find out which one is best for you, here are the main points to consider.

The first step is to identify what stage of Digital Marketing your company is in, to know what type of hiring will be most appropriate.

If you don't have a website or blog yet, you can start with free hosting. They usually have limitations, such as a maximum number of monthly visitors , for example.

Despite this, it may be sufficient for sites that are just starting to generate traffic .

Discover the benefits of free hosting
Now let's see what are the main advantages that you will have by having free web hosting.

Economy
The first benefit, of course, is the fact that you don't have to pay a single cent for the service.

This is particularly interesting for those looking to start a personal blog or simply test out the hosting services before signing up for a paid plan.

Immediate start
Unlike a paid host, which is only released after you pay, when you choose a free server, it is released instantly.

Since a website is the main channel of a Digital Marketing strategy , it is worth getting yours up and running in a matter of minutes by creating your website for free.

Benefits of paid hosting
Now let's look at the main advantages when hiring a server.

More accommodation space
All of your website's components — text, images , files, and more — take up space on the server. When you sign up for a paid host, you get more space to store them .

This is especially important when creating websites or blogs on WordPress , since depending on the theme you choose and the plugins you use, you will need to have much more space than that of free servers.

Greater capacity to receive visitors
The digital media purchasing journey typically begins with a visit to your website or blog, so attracting an increasing number of visitors is the first step in building your sales funnel .

Unlike the free host, the paid service offers a higher monthly visit capacity.

Therefore, it is better to opt for a paid server when the goal is to attract many visitors, both organically and through paid ads.