What is web hosting? Do I need a web hosting service for my website?
Here’s an analogy: a website is like a cell phone, and a web hosting company is a like a cellular carrier. Without buying the service from a carrier, your cell phone is pretty much of no use.
The same is for a website, without a web hosting service, your website is useless because it’s not online, and thus nobody can access it. Most mid-size and big businesses, with plenty of resources, can buy [and maintain] equipment and host their websites themselves. For small businesses, it probably makes more sense to buy a hosting package from a web hosting provider with a monthly, quarterly or yearly fee.
Web hosting, simply put, is moving your website onto a server so that people can access it through the Internet. A server is just a computer on a network that stores information, data, applications for using/sharing among users.
To bring your web site live, in most cases you need a web hosting provider. This is a company who rents or gives out a part of their own servers to those who wish to publish a website like you. You can design and view your web page on your computer with a browser, but for others to see your site on the Internet, you usually need to use a web hosting company.
Choosing the right/reliable web hosting provider is important as their servers store your information. Therefore, anything goes wrong with the hosting provider or their servers will likely affect your website, your [confidential] data and your business. I’ve had a chance to use different web hosting companies, and here is a list of recommended web hosting providers for your reference. Those companies have been in business for years and are serving clients worldwide.