The term "Web Hosting" is simple; web hosting is a term that was coined to explain the services performed by someone that "hosts" a Web site on the Internet. You already know that a host is someone that facilitates an event, or a function, like the host at a party, or an emcee on the radio or TV. In our case, a "host" involves a computer that is setup to control the networking and communications necessary to allow a Web Site to display specially formatted documents on the Internet. Typically, these documents are formatted using a special language called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that supports mouse click connections to other similar documents on the Internet. These HTML documents are normally called Web Pages, and you are looking at one such page now in your browser window. To keep track of these Web pages in an organized manner, individual and specific areas are set-aside for them called Web Sites. A Web Site may hold one Web page, or thousands. Web sites are stored on "host" computers that are connected to the Internet and setup to communicate their contents to the rest of the Internet. The people and companies that handle these special computers are called Web Hosts. The computers that handle the Web Hosting chores are called Servers, and they may serve any number of Web sites, one or even hundreds.

A Web Host ensures that the Web Servers that contain the Web Sites are functioning properly all of the time. That may include adding a customer's Web sites to the Servers, moving Web sites from one Server to another, deleting old Web Sites, monitoring the amount of Internet traffic and activity taking place and a multitude of other tasks required to ensure smooth operation. Web Host companies come in various shapes and sizes, and many specialize in certain types of Hosting. Our staff at WebHostMagazine.Com classifies Web Hosts into groups we call Web Host Communities.