Hosting vs. ISP
I will write a more detailed article for this later because it can be really confusing. But for the sake of keeping people moving I will give a short overview here.
Internet Service Provider (ISP): This is the company that actually connects you to the Internet. For home users this may be like Comcast, AOL, Qwest or similar.
So when you say “I have DSL.”, or “I have cable”, the company providing that service is your ISP.
Hosting: This is the company that stores your files and sometimes database up on the Internet for you. A lot of time this is also the company that provides your email as well.
Thus, when you upload your brand new web page to the Internet, you are “publishing” it to your hosting service, or hosting provider.
Now here is where everything gets a bit confusing. This may or may not be the same vendor.
IE. I have Comcast cable at my home office. They provide me with a free email <my_email>@comcast.net. They also provide me with a small amount of free hosting I can use to publish a personal web page.
BUT… this blog is “hosted” at ning.com for me, and my business sites are located at several other vendor locations.
So to summarize… I get my high-speed Internet through Comcast my ISP. Then I build my websites on HostGator, my web hosting provider.
Hopefully this helps clarify things a bit.
Resources:
DW Kickstart - Learn to build and market your own website
Saturday 9 February 2008 6:32 pm
Hostgator? I had never looked into Hostgator. I guess in my mind, I related it back to the old Gator toolbar app that was actually a data mining ad application. The last time we talked, you were recommending GoDaddy. I have been a GoDaddy customer for a few years now, and have been very satisfied with their pricing, their support, etc. I am anxious to hear why you shifted to HostGator.
Saturday 9 February 2008 8:08 pm
Well, as I have mentioned in a previous blog response I am a least common denominator type of person. So I like to be able to learn and do everything in one place.
It has been my experience that if you are one of GoDaddy’s shared hosting members that you get great service and support. This has NOT been my observation in the virtual and/or dedicated hosting environment.
When you move into GoDaddy’s virtual/dedicated arena they tend to be, “here are the keys, don’t mess it up”. And I have run into that in several scenarios and with several of my clients.
Why might this matter to you? Well, one powerful ninja SEO technique is hosting your site on a dedicated server. We won’t get into why in this blog entry.
So if a business is doing well and needs to scale up, they need a hosting provider they can depend on. One that will work hard to keep them moving and be there when disaster strikes.
For me GoDaddy.com hasn’t been that vendor. Your results may vary.
Saturday 9 February 2008 9:20 pm
Hmm, ok, thanks. I will have to look at HostGator more closely.
Pete
Friday 15 February 2008 6:08 pm
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