Content
I. The history of web hosting
II. What is web hosting and why do we need it?
III. What is a domain name?
IV. What does it mean to create content for your website?
V. In-depth
VI. Indexing a site in search engines
Web hosting is a service you need when you want to launch an online site. This is a service offered to companies and individuals, providing the necessary framework for publishing a website on the internet. In short, the web hosting service provider offers the client space on a dedicated or virtual server connected for storing the used data. Usually, this server is colocated in a data center. In the case of Hostico, the servers are colocated in the GTS Telecom data center in Bucharest, Romania.
Most of the time, the service provider gives each site a unique domain name on the internet, and the client also receives both storage space for the site and customized email addresses, along with access to many other services.
There are several options for web hosting. The first is the free option offered through platforms like WordPress and Blogspot, for example. Although they are free, they have many limitations. The user cannot customize the appearance or other features beyond the limits provided by the platforms.
Then, there is shared web hosting, meaning the site is located on a server that supports multiple sites. This type of hosting is not free, with the payment period falling within monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual values depending on the provider and the chosen solution. This type of hosting is superior to the previous one because it offers the possibility of customization and running a wide range of applications.
Last but not least, there is VPS hosting, which allocates a virtual private server to the client. This type of hosting is recommended for high-traffic websites and/or certain specialized applications. For more details about VPS hosting, visit the about VPS page.
Hostico offers free SSL certificates to every client for securing the connection between web applications and users. Google, the largest search engine in the world, favors the possession of SSL certificates by providing a higher score and a higher position in its search engine. In other words, Google prefers sites that ensure the security of these connections.
I. The History of Web Hosting
In 1969, Thomas Merrill and Lawrence Roberts created the first computer network. The network consisted of three devices: one at the University of Utah, one at Stanford Research Institute, and one at the University of California. Today, these are considered the first hostings in the world.
The removal of internet trade restrictions brought about a major and welcome change at the level of the internet network. This happened in 1991 and created the need for web hosting precisely because the freedom of the user has increased. That was a turning point in the history of the internet because since then it has been in a continuous metamorphosis and grows day by day.
There are over 1 billion websites on the internet: blogs, commercial sites, presentation sites, government sites, and many others, all dedicated to facilitating communication between people and all benefiting from a web hosting service.
Thus, with solid web hosting foundations, even in 2020 to have a functional site you must meet three basic conditions:
- To have a web hosting service
- To have a domain on the internet
- To create a website.
II. What is web hosting and why do I need it?
Web hosting is the "land" on which you will build your future home. A functional website cannot exist without web hosting, just as a house cannot be built without land.
Web hosting is a service provided by specialized companies. The purpose of hosting is to store and process data that can be accessed by users via the internet from all corners of the world. Essentially, the user accesses texts, photos, and other data from their own device, whether it's a smartphone, desktop, or laptop, as long as they have an internet connection. The website owner chooses how to interact with the user, thereby creating a brand image.
Web hosting offered by dedicated companies is purchased in the form of a package. I mentioned earlier about free hosting provided by platforms like WordPress or Blogspot and said that their use is limited. If you want a blog to express your ideas, for example, initially these can be an excellent option as the investment is minimal.
The same cannot be said about a larger project, such as an online store or the presentation website of an institution.
Therefore, the purchased hosting packages have as a defining characteristic, first and foremost, the storage space and the data processing speed. Most often, this also determines the price of the hosting package. And if we go deeper and consider that a website user desires high speed, our recommendation is that the storage space should be SSD. This is much faster than the classic storage medium that operates with magnetic spinning disks.
At the same time, the processor speed, physical memory, and the number of processes allocated are also important, as all of these provide the user with a more pleasant and faster experience.
Storage space - must be estimated and correlated with the purpose of the site and the number of users who will access it. Insufficient storage space can result in service interruptions.
Resource usage - must be established before choosing a web hosting package. A site that will use many resources, such as an online store, requires a high number of parallel processes.
Technical support - is essential. We recommend choosing services that offer technical assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
III. What is a private domain?
The domain is essentially the name of the website. To continue the analogy of "land" in the case of web hosting, the domain is the "address" where the land is located and where we aim to build the "house," that is, the website's content.
Most of the time, the domain is related to the activity carried out online, but this rule is not generally valid. google.com, for example, is the domain name of the largest search engine in the world. We know that Google is a search engine because of its popularity, but the name itself does not suggest this.
The domain helps you to be found and recognized. When the user enters your domain in a search engine's search bar, your site will be suggested. The process behind this action is complex, invisible, and most often understood only by specialists in the field and those interested.
A domain name is a string of characters that correlates and corresponds to one or more IP addresses allocated to a server with a permanent connection.
IV. What does it mean to create content for your website?
As I mentioned above, content is the "house" that you build on your "land," web hosting, at the "address" set by you, the domain name. And just because it's like a "house," the content must be welcoming like a good host. The site owner and industry specialists decide what type of content they want to create in order to convey the message of the project further.
Practically, content is that thing that someone decides to show to the user. There are two aspects to mention in this regard - the content is what you want the user to see and the design is the structure of the information. Users are not interested in how you do "cleaning" for example, they want to feel comfortable in your "home", to be properly served, and to find the information they need.
For a website to be pleasing to the user, it needs not only well-structured text and descriptive images. It also requires good functionality and optimal speed. The most well-known content management system for a site is WordPress. This platform greatly simplifies both the process of creating the site in terms of appearance and functionality. It is easy to install and configure, providing an easy management path that does not require advanced knowledge.
Its installation facilitates the creation of the layout through various themes that can be customized and adapted to the project's requirements. There are thousands of modules (plugins) and applications that help you create exactly the site you need, whether we are talking about a blog, an online store, a news site, or a product showcase.
V. Deepening
So far we have discussed the three main pillars that make a website functional:
- Web hosting
- Domain name
- Content
It is time to delve deeper and take a behind-the-scenes look to understand as precisely as possible how a website works.
The web hosting server is a computer designed to operate continuously for long periods of time, sometimes even for several years. It is dedicated to storing data and running necessary processes for multiple users simultaneously. Servers require dedicated locations called data centers and are far more powerful than regular computers.
Data centers are specially arranged spaces for hosting and ensuring the proper functionality of servers. They are usually equipped with multiple internet connections, cooling systems, and electricity. These data centers require special conditions such as low, constant temperature and controlled humidity, and the fact that there are multiple internet connections, multiple cooling systems, and multiple electricity connections is called redundancy. In the event that one internet connection fails, for example, there is a second one that takes over the function of the first. The data center differentiates one web hosting service from another.
The server and data centers are the physical part of a whole ecosystem, the hardware part. If we look at the software side, we understand what the processes and services offered and run are.
FTP stands for file transfer protocol. It allows data to be transferred from one location to another. This can be done through an FTP "client," which is a software that acts as a bridge between a computer and the server where we want to upload or download files. The connection is secured by a username and password that correspond to the hosting account. This function is most commonly used when a change occurs on the site – either content updates or the publication of a new site.
HTTP is a server-level service that handles user requests. Then, it provides the requested web page to the user. When we enter a web address (the name of a domain/site) in the search bar, a request is created. The hosting server will respond to the request, and the browser displays the information received from the web hosting server in a structured manner.
The email server is a service that ensures communication via email. It allows the sending of messages to the server and between mail servers using a protocol called SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol). Email messages will be received on the MX server (mail exchange) and subsequently downloaded to the client's device (laptop or smartphone) through the POP3 or IMAP protocols.
VI. Indexing a site in search engines
Google is the most well-known search engine on the internet. After a website is published on the internet, a “bot,” in this case Googlebot, finds it by following the links from other already indexed sites. This robot essentially serves to expand the network of the internet and to help the user find the most relevant information they are looking for. Thus, having links to other sites, it will be indexed faster, better, and more efficiently.
Perhaps the entire process seems complicated, but you have nothing to worry about. There are numerous specialists who can help you create the website you need. Starting from choosing a domain and developing the image of your brand, to the administration and implementation of the site. The most important thing, from our point of view, is to know what you want and to be willing to invest resources and time in your project.