Web hosting is the service that keeps your website online. A hosting company stores your website’s files on a server, a computer that is connected to the internet all day, every day, and sends those files to anyone who visits your domain. You need hosting for the site to exist and a domain name so people can find it.
What is web hosting?
A website is a collection of files: HTML for structure, CSS for design, JavaScript for interaction, images, and for most sites a database holding content such as WordPress posts or products. Those files have to sit on a server that answers requests from visitors’ browsers.
Running your own server means buying hardware, paying for power and a fast connection, keeping it secure and keeping it switched on around the clock. Web hosting lets you rent space on a professionally run server instead. Most business hosting also includes email on your domain, so you can use addresses like [email protected].
The three parts: files, a server and a domain
- Website files. The pages, images, code and database that make up the site.
- A server. A computer in a data centre that stores those files and runs web server software, such as LiteSpeed, Apache or Nginx, which answers requests from browsers.
- A domain name. The human-friendly address, such as yourbusiness.co.zw, that people type to reach the site. Domains are registered separately from hosting, though many companies sell both. Read what is a domain name for the detail.
How web hosting works when someone visits your site
- The visitor types your domain into a browser or clicks a link.
- DNS looks up the address. Computers find each other by IP address, not by name. The Domain Name System returns the IP address your domain points to, using the nameservers set for the domain, usually your host’s.
- The browser connects to the server. If the site has an SSL certificate, the connection is encrypted (HTTPS) and the browser shows a padlock.
- The browser requests the page, for example the home page or /contact.
- The server builds the response. A static file is sent straight back. For a dynamic site such as WordPress, the server runs code (usually PHP), reads content from the database, assembles the page and sends the result.
- The browser displays the page, then requests the images, stylesheets and scripts it needs and puts everything together on screen.
On a well-configured host this takes a fraction of a second. Caching, fast storage and a content delivery network make it quicker by keeping ready-made copies of pages and files close to visitors.
Connecting your domain to your hosting
When you sign up, the host gives you nameservers or an IP address. You then set them where your domain is registered, in one of two ways:
- Change the nameservers to your host’s, so the host manages all DNS records for the domain, or
- Edit the DNS records directly, pointing an A record to your server’s IP address.
DNS changes can take a few hours, and sometimes up to 48 hours, to reach everyone, because DNS servers cache old answers for a while. The Tremhost Help Centre explains how long DNS propagation takes.
Email works through DNS too. An MX record tells other mail servers where to deliver mail for your domain, while SPF, DKIM and DMARC records help prove your messages are genuine so they are less likely to land in spam.
Web hosting vs a domain name
- Domain name: your website’s address, rented yearly from a registrar.
- Web hosting: the server space where your website and email live.
You need both for a normal website, and you can buy them from the same company or from different ones.
What the hosting company actually does
- Supplies server hardware, storage and network connectivity in a data centre with backup power and cooling.
- Installs and updates the operating system and web server software.
- Provides a control panel, such as cPanel, where you upload files, create email accounts, manage databases and install apps like WordPress.
- Issues SSL certificates, takes backups and monitors the server.
- Protects the server with firewalls and malware scanning.
- Gives support when something goes wrong.
Types of web hosting
- Shared hosting: many websites share one server’s resources. It is the lowest-cost, fully managed option and suits most small business sites, blogs and portfolios.
- Managed WordPress hosting: hosting tuned for WordPress, where the provider also handles WordPress updates, backups and malware clean-up.
- VPS hosting: a virtual private server with reserved CPU and memory and full root access, for busier sites and custom applications. Someone has to manage the server.
- Dedicated servers: a whole physical server for one customer, for heavy workloads.
- Cloud hosting: resources drawn from a group of servers, so capacity can grow as you need it.
- Reseller hosting: a hosting pool you split into separate accounts and sell under your own brand.
Most new business websites start on shared hosting and move up only when traffic or the application demands it.
What to look for in a hosting plan
- Storage type: NVMe drives are faster than older SATA SSDs or hard drives.
- Server software: LiteSpeed serves dynamic sites such as WordPress efficiently.
- Bandwidth: how much data visitors can download each month.
- Control panel: cPanel is widely used and makes email, files and databases easy to manage.
- Free SSL: without it, browsers show visitors a “Not secure” warning.
- Backups: how often they run, and whether you can restore one yourself.
- Renewal price: many hosts advertise a low first-year price and charge more to renew, so always check the second-year price.
- Support: who answers, in which time zone, through which channels and during which hours.
- Payment options: whether you can pay in a way that works for your business.
How much does web hosting cost?
At Tremhost, web hosting runs on cPanel with LiteSpeed and NVMe storage, and every plan includes free SSL, unlimited mailboxes on your domain, daily backups and free migration from another cPanel host. Plans are:
- Himalaya: $30 a year (yearly only), 20 GB NVMe and three databases.
- Bvumba: $5 a month or $50 a year.
- Chimanimani: $8 a month or $80 a year.
- Nyangani: $10 a month or $110 a year.
- The Big Mike: $25 a month or $250 a year, with 500 GB NVMe, 2 TB bandwidth, LiteSpeed Enterprise and Cloudflare Pro for the main domain.
There is no introductory pricing: plans renew at the price you sign up at. Prices are in US dollars, payable by EcoCash, InnBucks, ZimSwitch, Omari, Visa, Mastercard or cryptocurrency, and new web hosting orders carry a 30-day refund on the first order.
Uptime and what it means
Uptime is the share of time a server is reachable. A 99.9% monthly target allows about 43 minutes of downtime in a 30-day month. The Tremhost service level agreement sets a 99.9% monthly availability target for hosting, email and servers. Whatever a host promises, read what its SLA actually covers and what compensation it offers if the target is missed.
Frequently asked questions
Can I host a website for free?
Free hosting exists, but it usually comes with ads, low limits, no business email and little support. For a business website, an affordable paid plan is far more dependable.
Can I host a website on my own computer?
Technically yes, but it would need to stay on and connected all the time, with a fixed IP address and good security. A hosting company does this more reliably and at lower cost.
Why is my new website not showing yet?
Usually because DNS changes have not finished spreading. Wait a few hours, clear your browser cache, then check that the nameservers or A record are set correctly.
Can I move my existing website to a new host?
Yes. Files and databases are copied first and the domain is switched last, so the site stays live during the move. Tremhost moves cPanel sites for free, typically within 24 hours.
Next step
Compare plans and features on the Tremhost web hosting page, or ask the team on WhatsApp at +263 73 563 9917 (Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00 CAT) which plan fits your site.
