What is hosting exactly?
In order to understand what hosting is you first need to know what a website consists of. Website content consists code ( HTML, CSS and other files) and images. Webhosting is buying or renting space to put these files so they can be made available to the World Wide Web.
The hosting provider stores your files on their server. In other words: when someone types in your web address into their browsers, their computer connects through the internet to the web server holding your website files. It locates your domain’s IP address (where it’s stored on the domain name system) and directs the users to the right website. Their browser will then show your website information (all the data that makes your pages) so that they can browse your web pages anytime.
Reliable webhosting is very important. If your website can’t be reached (fast) it is unlikely a visitor will return to your website. Also, it will negatively influence SEO ranking.
Hosting packages can be bought with many different hosting providers and there are different types of hosting. You can store your files of a shared hosting platform. This will be cheaper but because you share the space you share the resources. If can be slower and less secure. VPS hosting users are more isolated from each other. You can make more customizations. Then there is the option of hosting on a dedicated server. More space and more options to control the space but also more expensive.