If you are thinking of building a website then there are many things that you should understand including the terminology.  Understanding the different terms used will help you make a better decision on which service provider you decide on.

The first term you should understand is what a web host is.  A web host is someone that hosts your website.  This means that all of your web pages and files associated with your web page are stored on the web hosts computers.  The computers the web host uses are called file servers.  These are computers with massive amounts of space and that can handle a heavy load of traffic.  Traffic is a term used often on the Internet.  This term is used to explain the amount of people that are visiting a web page.  If there is a high amount of traffic, then there are a lot of people visiting the site.  If there is a low amount of traffic, then not many people are viewing the website.

E-commerce is a term that is used on the Internet also and it is a common web hosting term.  This term is used to define the functionality of making purchases on the Internet.  When people sell commerce and purchase commerce it is called e-commerce.

Another term that is used when people are considering web hosting is the term domain name.  A domain name is the name of the website that you want to call your company.  It will also be the URL or the Internet address for your website. 

You should also understand what the last .com means versus others.  .com means that the website is a company.  .gov means that the website is a government site.  People cannot opt to have a .gov site unless they are a government firm.  .edu is used for schools and the educational systems.  There are many more different suffixes that you can immediately guess what type of organization the company is.  If you are looking for a government website, you can be sure that the organization has a .gov extension and not a .com.  If there is a .com website that has the same address it is most likely not related to the government firm.

Site builder is another term you should understand when you are considering a web hosting service.  The site builder is the tool that you will use to build your web pages.  If you don’t know how to build your own website, then you should be sure the web host has a site builder that is easy for you to figure out so you can build your site.

A term that you will here often with a web hosting service is a blog.  This is a common thing used on websites today.  A blog can be considered a journal that develops an audience of people.  People are able to post comments to a blog and add photos and other things.  People discuss things like music, politics, controversial issues, and more on blogs.  It is common today for people to use a blog as a tool to add the keywords that they need for their site to be found in an Internet search.  Keywords are what make your sight searchable from sites like Google and Yahoo.  If you are selling blankets and quilts, then you will have keywords like quilt, blanket, comforter, bedding, and more.  When you type in these words as your keywords, then your site is indexed in the search engines and when someone searches with the words you used, your site will be in the list of websites associated.

A term that will be helpful to you if you don’t know how to build a website is a template.  A template is a replica of a website which gives you the structure and layout of a website to work with.  All you have to do with a template is type in your information on your site and add pictures.  Most of the hard work that needs to be done with a website is already completed is done with a template.  This is the easiest way to build a website if you find it too difficult to build it yourself.

It is important to understand the different terms that are used with web hosting companies if you are interested in building a website.  Understanding the different terms will make it more helpful for you to make a good decision on the web hosting company that you choose.